Grande Cache AB ?

How's the churches out there or raising kids? I grew up in Ft. Mac while it was still a smaller community and it was great as a kid. 6 months of winter's no big deal when you have nothing else to compare it to :) Now that I'm an adult..might be another story. Now that I've been in the Fraser Valley for 20 years, it might be tough going back to very small town? Still, might be a great place to raise the little ones, without all the major issues going on down here. I've heard a lot of goog things from people who've moved to the Valley from GC and Alberta has way cheaper insurance. Shhh...be quiet about the awesome hunting out in GC.... ;)
 
anyone on here from the area?

My gal and me are planning a move out of the lower mainland in the next 3-5 years.We are considering the GC area , We spent a day there on a recent road trip and fell in love with the area.
My gal has an excellent paying job waiting there when she wants it but I am not sure what there is there for me.
I am a ticketed carpenter with my speciality being maintainance and renovation but would be willing to do something else. I know the big employers there are the mine, mill and prison.I still have a good 20 years of work ahead of me.We checked out realestate and are considering buying a new lot in town for $60k and sit on it till we are ready.

some q's I have are:
what are the employment opportunities there for someone like me?

We saw countless deer ,moose and elk on the drive in so I am assuming that the hunting aint too bad??;)

What do you think of the future potential for the area to grow? there is talk of trying to get a banff type resort in the area.

Sounds like the closest shopping is at Grande Prarie 2hrs north? How about Hinton for shopping?

any other thoughts on the area?
thanks in advance for any input.

I worked for McIntyre Mines (now Smoky River Coals) at the #9 mine site back in the early 1980s and lived in Grande Cache, Alberta.
Grande Cache had a well developed town site back then with shopping centers, banks, schools, hotels and bars, an RCMP detachment and all the amenities.
This is no tent peg camp. It's a full fledged town.
 
Lived there for total of 12 years. as has been stated clickey town. only had one store and they charged what ever they want to. I found that there was not much to do if you didn't drink. You also have to remember that the mill and the mines are up and down all the time.
Coal is not a sure thing to be working at. Hunting seemed to be all right at first but you have to go a long way up the trunk road to do it, not many side roads off of the main high way. The logging makes it hard to find a good hunting spot and dodging logging trucks makes for an exciting trip. Nice country if you are into hiking or horseback. Shopping GP was the place to go and depending on what you were driving you could save the cost off fuel or more shopping out of town. Highway 40 to Hinton in the winter could be a mayor adventure in the winter. 40 to GP was much better as road was wider but watch for the loggers. I have been back a few times in the last few years area has built up some but stlll not much in the way of shopping. I didn't mine it too much and if fact would prefer it to Fort Mac If the work in the area was stable which it has never been.
 
Beside work, it is very hard to make friends in this town, just a note.

There is no:

1) Tim Hortons :)
2) Cdn Tire, they have a small home hardware,
3) 1x grocery store, another is being built soon.
4) 3x Liquor store
5) No movie theatre or cinema
6) Rec center is vague at best, very small weight room, pool, curling & ice rink.
7) Lots of drugs running around but low crime rate.
8) Quad/ATV trails everywhere & inter connects the town.
9) Everything pretty shuts down at 10PM no 24h gas bar etc..

3 liquor stores in a town you could spit across.
That says it all.

A small gym and 3 liquor stores.
A guy could leave there after a few years packing alotta "Molson muscle". ;)
 
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