The week we stayed in Drumheller though, proved to be one of the best holidays so far and kept us very busy with many interesting visits and explorations. We really had the chance to explore the Bad Lands of Alberta of which Drumheller is the centre.
One day we visited the Atlas Coal Mine, a national historic site and had a tour of the Tipple and listened presentations on the blackest years of Alberta's past.
On that same day we went and visited a ghost town where the only business open was the local saloon. We just had to have a beer sitting in the old coal mine's bar and stare at all the memories on the walls, including the bullet holes in the walls from a "dispute" over a bill that someone was not willing to pay.
We toured the Hoodoos - sandstone rock pillars, five to seven metres tall which took millions of years to form.
A distant cousin on the T-Rex is the Albertosaurus sarcophagus. Albertosaurus (al-BURR-toe-SOR-us) was the top predator of its time, and was a close relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, who lived a few million years later. The first Albertosaurus was discovered by Joseph B. Tyrrell, a young geologist who was searching for coal seams in the Red Deer River valley in 1884. It is now the most common of the large carnivores found in Alberta. It's hard to believe anything dared tread in the same neighbourhood as these giants, but the lush, semi-tropical Cretaceous ecosystem teemed with trees, bushes, rivers and lakes. Here's an actual skeleton of one, rebuilt for public display.
Here are some other skeletons on display, which were all so awesome/unreal and simply amazing:
One of the most complete ichthyosaurs (marine reptile) of its age known from North America is here as well. The 110-million-year-old Platypterygius was uncovered during routine mining operations at Syncrude Canada in Fort McMurray. This is another indicator of the different environment that existed in what is now knows as Alberta millions of years ago.
We had a great walk around an interpretation trail where we found a piece of preserved Sequoia redwood. It seems that 72 million years ago, what is now Alberta was a vast sea that stretched from what is now Texas through to the big lakes of the North West Territories. This area had the temperature and weather of southern Louisiana hence the big Sequoia forests in the area. Here one of the boys tries to stop the other two boys from watering a 72 million year old piece of tree!
A visit to the worlds largest dinosaur prowling through town was a little unnerving! He stands 26.2 meters (86 feet) and this fierce T-Rex features a climb into the dinosaur's mouth where you can view the entire valley.
His little brother, Dino, guards the swimming pools and fountains at the Visitor Information Centre.
We also had a chance to visit the "smallest church" in the area. This little gem was built by inmates at the maximum security prison in Drumheller as a place of solitude. The church as six small individual pews and a small pulpit from which services are still being held.
We left the Drumheller area en route for Regina after a week full of memories and the anticipation of a return visit. We arrived in Regina on Monday, the 1st of August. We stayed at the RCMP Carden Estates Campground, a private campground provided for the exclusive use of employees and veterans of the RCMP at Depot. From here we had a chance to tour the RCMP Heritage Museum and a visit to the RCMP Chapel. The oldest remaining building in Regina is the RCMP chapel, dating from the earliest establishment of the RNWMP as a guardhouse in 1885. It subsequently served as a mess hall and canteen and became a chapel in 1895. It was constructed in Ontario and moved by flat-car, steamer and ox team to Regina. The chapel was dedicated on December 8, 1895.
We were able to attend the Sunset Ceremonies on the Parade Square on Tuesday evening. Kerry was a part of the Sunset Ceremonies in August of 1975 while in training. This ceremony is an old British military tradition dating back to the 18th century and is referred to as a "military tattoo". The term "tattoo"is derived from an old Dutch word meaning "turn off the taps", comes to us from the 17th century when a soldier’s life was strictly controlled by his regiment. The daily routine of a military post was signaled by the beat of a drum. At sunset, a lone drummer was sent into the streets of town to beat out a tattoo. It was the signal for the tavern owners to close down for the night and for military personnel to return to the post. When the latter were back at the post, the flag was lowered in a ceremony marking the end of another day. It was an impressive event!
We left for Winnipeg on Wednesday and upon crossing the border we found ourselves in a bald prairie and the temperature when we stopped at a roadside tourist stop was 42 C (107.6 F) which needless to say was the hottest we'd been in quite some time.
We have had excellent weather throughout our whole trip, having a couple of days of light rain, but otherwise averaging at least 32 C (90 F).
Upon entering Ontario, we were quite in awe of our first views of Lake Superior. The highway followed the shore line. We were quite surprised at how the landscape reminded us of driving in the Prince George area. We next stayed in Kenora and then Marathon where we found ourselves looking out on Lake Huron and then we spent a couple of days at a lakeshore resort just south of Sudbury. So, we have had the chance to see two of the Great Lakes and have at least two more on the schedule. We made our way on Sunday to Ottawa where we will be for a week before heading off into the Atlantic provinces. We are planning for a week in PEI and then four or five days in Cape Breton and then another week or so in Nova Scotia before returning to New Brunswick and then on to Quebec.
The boys are doing great and have adjusted to travelling with us very well.
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