A Few Random Pictures from My Trip Home

I’m from a small town in Canada’s Rocky Mountains called Cranbrook. Cranbrook has a population of about 20,000 people. The main industries are mining, logging, and tourism. There are numerous trailer parks and it’s likely there are more people living in trailers than houses. The surrounding area is checkered with farms. Wide brimmed cowboy hats, belt buckles that could double as coffee tables, and blue jeans so dark they look wet worn tight enough to induce infertility are always in style. The vehicle of choice is the pickup truck. Trucks suspended less than three feet off the ground with tires smaller in circumference than hula hoops are considered to be “for pussys”. Bingo night is big news. Hockey is religion.

This July I went home to visit for two weeks. I didn’t take out my camera much (just a few times to take some pictures of my family and a trip to the lake with friends), but I got a some good shots. Here they are.

Family

Dinner at my father's house (with my sister's fiancee).

My lil' sister Brianne.

(From left to right) My Auntie Patty, cousin Holly, and mother.

My Uncle Fred and my mom.

My Uncle Fred. He's 86 and lives in a cabin in the woods that has no running water and, until recently, had no electricity. When he wants to go to town he has to shoo away the bears that sleep on the hood of his truck with a broom. I took this picture in a nursing home where he was recovering from knee surgery. He told me about his days doing construction in Northern Thailand, Turkey, and Iran. The last time he visited my mother he brought a grocery bag brimming with uncashed pension cheques and asked my mother what he should do with them. I suggested he go traveling. He had just finished reading Seven Years in Tibet, and decided he should go there. "I'd rather die over there than stuck in this place, where ya' need a damned security code just to go outside," he said. He's everything that I want to be when I'm 86

A Trip to the Lake

One afternoon my friend Theresa, her daughter Jaidyn, and her friend took me to nearby Jim Smith Lake. It was entertaining.

Rednecks fightin' at the beach. It all started with the guy in the green shorts mouthing off the other trying to impress some 16 year old girls.

It was a really pathetic fight. Here the dude who ended up losing is hugging the other guy's leg.

Then he tried to pull the guy's shorts down. Just sad.

This is the groundhog that lived in a hole beside our our spot on the grass.

We fed him chips.

I said that the chips would probably give him diarrhea so the girls tried to give him a raisin, but he was wouldn't take it because he liked the chips better..

This picture epitomizes Cranbrook - a big ol' pickup roaring down the highway with mountain in the background.

About the Author, Matt Gibson

Matt Gibson is a the owner of Matt-Gibson.org, a blogger for the Huffington Post, a columnist for Transitions Abroad, and a freelance writer and photographer everywhere.

6 Comments

Mark

04 Aug 2010 11:08 am

great pictures! What kind of camera are you using?
Matt Gibson

04 Aug 2010 12:08 pm

Thanks a lot Mark! I shoot with a Nikon D80 (the new model is the D90) with 18-135mm and 50mm lenses.
Thomas

12 Aug 2010 08:08 am

It’s great to see your family and where you grew up. I especially liked the story about your uncle Fred. Life in the woods must have served him well – he does not look 86!
- Matt Gibson
  
  13 Aug 2010 12:08 am
  
  Thanks Thomas! My Uncle is an awesome old guy. It was cool getting to talk to him for a while. I only wish I'd had more time with him.
Joey Phi

17 Jan 2011 10:01 am

I really love the picture of your uncle Fred!
Brendan

(@Twitter) 16 May 2011 12:05 pm

Fantastic Matt. Uncle Fred is, as we say, “worth bottling”. A truly inspiring man.

Love the Groundhog, gorgeous!

P.S.- I’m no zoologist, but I’m thinking the Mr. Groundhog, might just be a Miss, judging by the photos.