Frozen in time in Southern Alberta | Budget Adventure Travel

this blog post is specially inspired by and dedicated to moby, who i met once in new york. this piece is written in the style and images that moby has published on his blog on architecture in LA.

at first glance, southern alberta and the artist moby and hollywood don’t connect.

but dig deeper and a story unfolds.

i always pass through the town of fort macleod, which is located along a remote highway in between not much else. nearest city is lethbridge in the south. the city of calgary is a major hub located further north along the highway.

map of southern alberta

something very uncanny has happened on three occasions i have driven past this town.

each instance as i drove through, my ipod player in the car, which is always set to random, played a particular title by moby. the title is ‘look back in’. as they say, first time is chance, second time is coincidence, and third time is planned action.

so i stopped to take some photos of the historic streets of fort macleod on my return trip from lethbridge in april of 2012.

as i was writing this post, and investigating the history and images of fort macleod, i was stunned to learn that a famous oscar winning blockbuster hollywood movie was shot right here in this town. and the legendary late Heath Ledger has walked through here.

A cowboy hat worn by Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger sits on Table 25 in the Java Shop alongside roses sent by an admirer following the actor’s death.
Photo by Frank McTighe, The Macleod Gazette.

The hat used to be placed in the Java Shop Cafe in the old Greyhound station. Sadly, the shop closed down in 2008. Whereabouts of the hat are unknown.

i made a brief 2min 15sec video montage of the photos i took. click the video image below to view it. the chilling nostalgic soundtrack is by moby – “look back in” – from his album 18.

for those interested to find out more about fort macleod or heritage of alberta please visit the travel alberta website by clicking here. There is also a UNESCO world heritage site located nearby from here –Head–Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. I highly recommend a stop here as well.

For those interested to see the images above in technicolor, here they are.

Tags: Abi Paul, ang lee, brokeback mountain, Budget Adventure Travel, canada, Fort Macleod, heath ledger, Heritage, Historic, History, Lethbridge, moby, Movies, Tourism, Travel, Travel Alberta, ufo, Vintag

Category: Budget Adventure Travel, Canada Travels, Travel Alberta