Starting The Brazeau and Beyond Travel Guide: A personal story

After our first attempt at a travel guide concept in 2020, it became clear that the idea just wasn’t going to fly during a pandemic so we waited. We started the column “Backyard Bucket List”, and then added to our website – Brazeau and Beyond and then waited some more. 

Finally after two years we are able to bring the original concept to fruition. 

Looking back, I’m glad that we waited until we could do things right. We have been able to get several seasons worth of photos, as well as experiences under our belts. From day one the whole idea of promoting travel and tourism in our region was something that got me very excited. Up until seven years ago I was a local who knew much about a few specific places but not much about many others. I stuck to my usual routines and never made a point to travel in my own region. I was always planning the next vacation – away. 

What happened seven years ago? I got pregnant and I found out really quick that babies were great to travel with, toddlers and kids not so much. So I started to treat our region like a tourist destination. I attempted a blog, well before the creation of this newspaper called the “10 mile tourist.” I basically plunked a pin down and everything within 10 miles of where I was was treated as a tourist destination. This led me to realize there was so much to do and explore right here close to home. My husband, an unofficial tour guide, took me to locations I have never visited before. We started hiking, sledding, dirt biking, and camping in the region. I added that to the list of things I was familiar with like: kayaking, road cycling, motorcycling and golfing and we were well on our way to a whole new world of discovery. 

After baby number two I leaped into marketing and, inspired by a client who published an Alaskan travel guide (Bell’s Alaska), I started thinking about bringing a similar thing to our community. Finally it happened. 

Travel guides are an amazing tool for people new to our community and for visitors as well as locals who are entertaining folks from out of town and are looking for something to do. For an undiscovered region such as ours, a travel guide has even more value as many great places are almost unknown and cannot be easily searched on the internet. 

This travel guide will emphasize day trips in the region, using Drayton Valley as the hub location. Of course we are always looking for advertisers and honestly the more businesses we can get in the guide the higher the value is for someone looking to do something cool in our region. 

Our goal is to get locals and the broader region so interested in what we have right here at home that everyone can become a travel guide. So if you spot someone new at the gas station or at your restaurant you can help them discover a reason to stay in this community just a little longer and go home with an amazing story. 

First and foremost we need to get you in this thing!

-Brandy Fredrickson