We’re still in Alberta, but we left the lodge in Banff to head East, to a campsite in Dinosaur Provincial Park. Our Southern Californian bodies and minds are not equipped to handle this cold! We pulled into the park just at sunset and Jon and I set up in the cold and darkness of a near-empty campground, hoping that neither of our neighbors, sensibly ensconced in their hard-sided RVs, was a psycho killer.
We thought we were prepared for camping in the cold, with extra blankets and two space heaters. However, after our first night, with snow in patches all around us and the temperature below 20 degrees, we realized we needed something more. The next day, before beginning our day’s adventures, we stopped at Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart and invested in a larger space heater and electric blankets (what an amazing invention)!
Our first full day in this part of the province was spent in Drumheller, about two hours north of our campground. The major attraction of the area is the fact that thousands of dinosaur fossil discoveries have been made here, primarily from the Cretaceous period. The Provincial Park we stayed in is the site of numerous discoveries, and the park hikes and the visitor center include some very cool displays. Additionally, the Royal Tyrell museum in Drumheller was absolutely incredible. We could have spent hours there! The displays were engaging, informative, and interactive. They museum took us through history from the start of the universe (14 billion years ago), through different eras and periods of life on earth (beginning 4 billion years ago), and the 5 mass extinctions that ended the vast majority of life forms during each of these eras. This museum really brought the history of life on earth into focus for me in a way I’ve never experienced in my education previously.
As I said, we could have spent hours in this museum! Jon, adorable dino-nerd that he is, was moved to tears by some of the fossil displays in the Dinosaur Halls. It was impossible not to be impressed by the skeletons of the “terrible lizards!”
After our trip to the museum, we visited a few spots near Drumheller, including the largest dinosaur in the world (5x the size of a real T-Rex), stops along the Dino Walk (full of lots of colorful dinosaur statues on different streets throughout town), Rosedale Suspension Bridge, and the Hoodoo Trail. Each time we got out of the truck, we bundled up in sweatshirts and wind breakers over our clothes and long underwear.
We got back to our campsite after dark, and enjoyed a delicious pesto-pasta dinner in our pop-up trailer. Snuggling up under our new electric blankets that night was pure bliss!
Yesterday was our second full day at the park, and we spent the day taking care of business and enjoying the park’s offerings. While I worked using the WiFi at the Cretaceous Cafe, Jon and the girls toured the visitor center and went on a cold hike. Later in the day, the girls came in to the cafe to order a late lunch and work on some school assignments while Jon did laundry in the attached facilities. As the cafe closed, just before sunset, we finished the evening with quick, coin-operated showers and a sunset walk around the badlands trails checking out fossil exhibits.
We finished the evening with a campfire and chicken quesadillas at our campsite. We had prepped the pop-up prior to our showers, so the heater was running on high and the beds were pre-warmed by our blankets. It was great to crawl into our warm beds and listen to Mic read a chapter from The Secret Garden to Daisy.
This morning, we are leaving Canada for several days and heading back into the States. We plan to spend a few nights in Wyoming before heading east through South Dakota and Iowa. In these areas, we hope to learn more about different regions of North America and the cultures of Native American groups who lived there. Hopefully, it’s a little warmer in the States…?
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