wayne, alberta

On the fourth of September, we took the highway beside a golden and scarlet brushed prairie until we found ourselves in Wayne, Alberta. The sky was threaded by rain clouds and our windows were marked by tiny rain drops, it was the kind of weather that has the power to hide mountains and keep sparrows from soaring high above the wooden telephone poles. Some might call it dreary, some might call it strange, I called it cozy and welcomed it like a warm bubble bath after a day spent in the dirt.

On this particular day, I was happy to see and smell the rain. You couldn't pick out which wildflowers were growing on the roadside, nor could you count how many horses stood grazing in the tall grass, but you could hear the rain falling like a spoken poem. I felt safe and close to C as the wheels rolled in puddles below our feet. We took turns talking as we always do, but I can't remember what we talked about. That is the beautiful thing about traveling in a car with your loved one, you are yourself being yourself, always on your way to somewhere.

 

This was my first time visiting Wayne, Alberta. I had never even heard of the place until C got asked to do a gig at the Last Chance Saloon. I felt like a dog with the worlds biggest bone when I realized it was a ghost town. If only you could see the faces and stories my imagination conjures up when I hear the words ghost and town seamlessly strung together. This was once a mining town, prosperous and bright, a place where children were born and people were married. There was hope in the hoodoos and hills until the great depression came and mines were closed down. 

We stopped to take these photographs next to the Rosebud River. Clouds of rain continued to dampen our hair and give rise to the scent of earth at our feet, we listened to the river roar and tried to imagine how everything must look when the sun shines on it. I worried not for the lack of cell service, instead — I felt free like a bird who grew wings after years of being flightless. It was a joy to be standing in the rain, away from the city, no other faces in sight, a quiet symphony of solitude, the taste of a simpler life, with only C and the sagebrush beside me.

I could have stayed in this moment for longer or until my hair grew heavy, but there was music playing in the saloon and we were thirsty from catching raindrops all day. From the time we walked in until the late hours of night, we sipped and we swayed like the whole world was ours. Then we slept close together in the back of our van. It was a sweet tasting nightcap to the summer of 2015.

outfit details: value village blouse & boots, oasap skirt c/o, crown & glory flower headband

location details: Wayne, Alberta, Canada 51.382°N 112.660°W