The General Store in Halkirk, Alberta.

In Halkirk, Alberta, Canada, not far from Big Knife Provincial Park, you’ll find the Halkirk Snack Shack. Halkirk is like many towns in this part of Alberta, tiny with a population of just one hundred and seventeen. So when the town’s old grocery store (circa 1907) reopened in 2006 as the Snack Shack, I’m betting it was a welcome sight for local residents. Thirsty and needing a snack on our road trip through this part of the Canadian Badlands, I visited the store while Glenn checked out the Halkirk Hotel. My snack choices turned out to be pretty limited but the back of the old store was a real find. Amid all the second hand stuff I discovered some great old fishing lures, Redcliff and Medalta pottery, and a mint-condition Edison Fireside Gramophone. There was also a kick-butt old wooden counter which I immediately fell in love with and, I asked about its origins. “From the old general store that closed in Botha”, the gal at the cash told me. Bummer, I thought. Another one bites the dust.

The Halkirk Hotel, aka “the Pearl of the Prairie” is right next door to the old store. Built in 1910, it’s been refurbished and is up for sale. We’re hoping it finds a good owner who understands this region’s roadtrip potential. I’d stay there if I was going through here again. The place has real wild west appeal and its saloon serves good homecooked meals and cold beer.

The Halkirk Hotel – "purveyors of clean rooms, fine food and potable spirits".

On the same roadtrip, we later stopped at the Sedalia Co-op, the only store in Sedalia, Alberta. This place sells everything under the sun from fan belts to camping equipment to groceries. You name it, they have it. We sat and chatted with a couple of friendly folk here. Just when a young family of four walked in, Glenn was asking one of the guys what the population of Sedalia was and the guy quipped, “half the population is in this store right now” and he wasn’t kidding.

Interior of the Co-op in Sedalia, Alberta. If they don't have it, you don't need it.

There are very large areas around here called the Special Areas, which I think may be unique to Alberta as far as Canada is concerned. The three Special Areas total about 2.1 million hectares of southeastern Alberta. First established in 1938 due to extreme hardship of the drought years of the 1930s, they’ve more less remained intact to present day. Total population today is only 5,300 so, you can see why I wax poetic about the lack of traffic and light pollution and the abundance of wildlife in this part of the world. In fact, just south of Sedalia, I snapped this pic, one of several deer we saw on our way to Cereal, about 40 minutes south. This sleepy community is home to the Gurlitz kid, a bullriding champ who Glenn and I saw ride at the Oyen Bullarama.

The deer and the antelope literally do play on the prairies of western Canada.

If you have a favourite old store in your part of the world, we’d love to hear about it.

Open road near Cypress Hills in the Canadian Badlands

BIG sky dominating the landscape. You can’t help but aim your camera skyward to capture the cloud formations. Land fertile and green from irrigation or rain abruptly changing to desert and sagebush as we descend into one of the river valleys.

Abandoned homestead near Little Bow Provincial Park

Abandoned grey-timbered homesteads dating back to the dirty 30s. Bright yellow canola fields contrasted against stands of dark green spruce. Miles and miles of prairie wheat waving in the constant wind. Mini dry bed river valleys intersecting the prairie – the locals call these coulees. Big river valleys too, dotted with hills that look like giant beehives. Each has distinctive black rings that we’re told are veins of coal and other minerals. Massive mushroom-like rock formations unlike anything we’ve seen before. No traffic. In fact, NONE for hours as we drove along the back gravel roads between Cypress Hills and Foremost.

Mother Mountain Tea House, Delia, Alberta

Lots of tiny towns with false storefronts just like old spaghetti westerns. Places with names like Etzikom, Rowley, Champion and Cereal. A store in some, open, maybe. Few if any people milling about save for the odd old man.

The Halkirk Hotel and Halkirk's last remaining grain elevator

Old hotels run by middle-aged chinese couples with very little english.

Pick up trucks of all types, some old, some new. Weathered churches and grain elevators. Off-the-beaten-track Canada. Amazing road stories.

The Delburne Hotel and Cafe