Looking for Dinosaurs - Drumheller and Dinosaur Park

This update is out of sequence. I am recalling a trip to South-western Alberta that Bronwyn and I took back in July. We were fulfilling a life-long (all 8 years) dream of Bronwyn's. It was such a fun trip and Bronwyn has remembered every detail and talks about it often. And so I feel I must record it here. Also, I enjoy recording trips that we have made.

We left for Calgary on July 17, arrived in the morning and went straight to pick up a rental car, ready for a whirlwind tour of South Western Alberta. Bronwyn has always wanted to see the desert and go were the dinosaurs once roamed. So instead of a trip back to the UK, which we couldn't really afford, we decided on a trip to Drumheller to see the Royal Tyrell Museum and the badlands. Not quite desert, but close enough.

We flew into Calgary, which is a short, easy, hop on the plane. We got our rental car (about half an hour from the airport) and headed out in search of our motel, the Super 8 on Crowchild Trail. Calgary at first glance seemed like a mess of highways and I didn't have a clue where we were going. The GPS on my phone was not helping (and was proving distracting and, well, dangerous) and I am not used to driving a car (we have our VW van). So we lurched every time I tapped on the breaks of the Toyota Corolla...the vehicle that would take us on our next 1000km. After a number of wrong turns, we arrived at our motel - more by accident than good management. The Super 8 motel seemed like something out of a (low budget) movie. I've never stayed in a motel before. It was pretty cheap; holes in the towels, worn out paint and stained covers on the beds. There was a small swimming pool in the parking lot, and this was enough to make it a luxury hotel for Bronwyn. Had breakfast in the small lobby the following morning and overhead an angry guest complaining about the live ammunition he'd found in his bathroom. No live guns or ammunition in our bathroom that I was aware of.

Next stop Drumheller. We stopped off at Horseshoe canyon ...

Horseshoe Canyon

Then headed to the Royal Tyrell Museum. This museum is spectacular. Above and beyond our expectations and deserves all the accolades that one hears about it. It is really one of a kind. So many dinosaurs all in one place. Amazing. I tried to get some good pics, but I neglected to bring my 50mm and it's really low light. Bronwyn was fascinated (as was I) and got to go on a 'dig' with a group of other kids. Then she chased the groundhogs that are scurrying about, diving in and out of holes, everywhere you look. I realised that I had mixed up groundhogs and beavers. I thought groundhogs were the size of beavers and vice-versa...who knew? (Oh, just the rest of the world).

Stayed in the 'bustling' town of Drumheller. Kind of depressing, as were quite a few of the small towns we passed through. I asked the guy in the liquor store (who was from Coquitlam) what it was like to live in Drumheller. "You can make a bit of money and save it," he said, "'cos there's nowhere to spend it." Deserted streets and run-down buildings, seemingly lost in time and stuck in some kind of 50-60s loop. Mind you, I think if you wanted to be a hobo and hop on a train it would be easy to do from one of those small towns. Come to think of, that's probably what the whole town did...the young folk anyway.

Junk cars make homes for cats and kittens; just outside our room. Bronwyn was, of course,
enchanted by the kittens...

After Drumheller, we drove on towards Dinosaur Park. We stopped part way at a couple of small towns. Had a lunch on a bench in the tiny cemetery of a small town named Dorethea. There were an alarming number of graves for infants and  young children. We got to Dinosaur Park at around 6:30 in the evening. We stayed at the Lakeview Inns and Suites in a place called Brooks. Luxury compared to the previous  couple of nights.

Hard to get a good shot of Dinosaur Park that can do justice to the scale and beauty of it. We spent a few hours hiking around and about the trails - it was pretty hot. Anyway, it is well worth a visit. It is spectacular...miles of flat prairie and then an abrupt and amazing change in the landscape. It was the sudden change in the landscape that I liked best and looked forward to (we visited a couple of times).

Lots of driving on long, straight roads with very little traffic. Some of the landscape was reminiscent of Lincolnshire; hilly and green with largely deciduous trees. Long grass and fenced off fields; here and there, large bright yellow patches of rapeseed (Canola oil is the more polite term, I guess).
 
The next day we were due to head to Lethbridge and go to Head-Smashed in Buffalo Jump. But we had such a good time the previous day at Dinosaur Park that we headed back there again. this time we dared to do what other people were doing and explored and climbed the strange peaks. The views from the top were fantastic. We hiked around for a couple of hours and then got in the car to head to Lethbridge.

Head-smashed in..Buffalo Jump. Interesting and Bronwyn liked it...but I think it could be done better. The Blackfoot could use a few tips from other museums and interpretive centres (e.g. the Moa). In fact, it isn't a patch on the MoA. But then...I guess it's not really the same thing. It was very interesting, particularly if you're an ignorant person from Europe who knows little about Canadian history. I did not know about the buffalo jumps; that they didn't even happen every year, but only when perfect conditions existed, or what was necessary to have a successful buffalo jump. The kind of resourcefulness that the people needed. I had no idea that tourist would just shoot buffalo from trains for the fun of it...or the extent to which they were slaughtered just for their hides, while the rest was left to rot. I also had no idea that their bones were then harvested and excavated for fertilizer and fine china so the English could have a cup of tea. Doh...why did I think it was called 'bone china'!

Stayed overnight in Lethbridge. It was the weekend of the International Lethridge Air Show and so the motel was busy. We stayed at another cheap motel "Canada's Best Value Inn, equipped with an extremely suspect swimming pool...lots of random bits floating about. There was also the addition of strange men with large stomachs drinking beer in the pool and radiating 'odd' vibes. Bronwyn didn't want to go to the pool until said men left. Fortunately they soon did. Bronwyn had a good time in the pool. I find it difficult to get used to tiny pools that are in parking lots...beside highways, I am funny that way.

Last pic: Bronwyn annoying the hell out of fellow travellers by repeatedly winding the tin-plane sculpture at the airport gate...crraaaaaackkk, crrraaaccckkk, crrraaaccckkk, as we waited to board our plane. I noticed that people were beginning to twitch and suggested she gave it a rest.

Bronwyn talks about the trip a lot...and it really was memorable. We'll try to do something similar next year - maybe down the Oregon Coast.