Road Trip for Book Three

My husband and I went to Fort McMurray so I could do a little research for the 3rd book in the Marie Jenner mystery series.

What can I say? Traffic was rush hour all the time, the people were friendly and helpful, and I was lost most of the time!

These photos will not give you a real sense of the city. After all, I was there to find Marie's mother's house, Marie's father's house, and the oldest cemetery. Which I found!

Back yard, Marie's mom's trailer

The windows of Marie's mom's trailer

 The cemetery was called, not surprisingly, the Fort McMurray Cemetery. There I found the real history...

 

And then we found all the huge equipment. This was in a small "museum" on the way to the oil sands. (Just so you know, my husband is 6 foot 5.)

And, Syncrude. One of the drivers behind all the wealth in this part of the country.

Interesting note: I found Fitzsimmons Avenue while I was there. This is named after Robert Fitzsimmons, a man who was the first to commercially sell bitumen in Edmonton, in the '30s. He was also a friend of my grandfather's, and he and I were friends. What a small world it is!