Hoodoos, Horseshoe, Hot Dog, and Pizza

There were still a few sights to be seen in our last couple of days in Drumheller:

The Hoodoos, which now have a much better infrastructure that facilitates both viewing and protection.

The Atlas Suspension Bridge, built when the Atlas coal mine got tired of bringing their workers across the Red Deer River by crane.

This viewpoint, which appears on no map, but can be accessed by driving straight through the hamlet of Rosedale, out the other side, past yet another mine, and up a steep hill. Considering how prehistoric or Wild West most of the scenery around Drumheller is, I found myself wondering if early settlers perhaps found it reminiscent of Wales or Ireland.

The World's Largest Dinosaur, which left us feeling a bit down in the mouth (sorry, had to be done).

Assorted dinosaurs of downtown Drumheller.

Horseshoe Canyon, another amazing bit of Alberta topography.

And that just about brought us to the end of our adventures in the Drumheller valley. The 30+ heat dampened our enthusiasm a little, but we managed to see everything we wanted to, and have some unstructured time back at the campsite too.

Despite having a fire going though, we were so disinterested in cooking or cleaning up on our last night that we indulged Glory's request to order the Megasaurus from Bernie and the Boys Bistro.

This 16" brute of a pizza weighs in at an astonishing eight pounds and took over an hour to cook.

The cross section looks more like a deli sandwich than a pizza, and while you didn't quite have t unhinge your jaw like a snake in order to take a bite, shy eaters need not apply:

Once home and unpacked, the next order of business was washing the desert-like dust out of our faithful hound.

Thankfully he doesn't put up too much of a fight at bathtime.

And the results speak for themselves!

I'm confident (and grateful) the memories of our trip will not wash away so easily or so quickly.

Fossils and Ferry Rides

On our second full day in Drumheller, we made our way to the renowned Tyrrell Museum. Like a lot of Albertans, this may be my favourite museum in the world, so I was grateful for the chance to revisit it for the first time in over a decade. Glory had no memory of the place at all, really (as she was probably 4), so it might as well have been the first time for her.

I'm always glad to see the famed T. Rex skull called "Black Beauty".

It's also good to be reminded that hosting tourists is only a small facet of what the Tyrrell does, and that there is tons of activity happening year-round, some of it where you can actually get a glimpse.

Being around ancient enormous skeletons is a treat. Sure, our current fauna has a lot going for it, but does any of it have the panache or allure of giant carnivorous lizards with mouths full of serrated stalactites for teeth?

Plus, every time we go, I am bound to come across some species I am unfamiliar with, like this Estemmenosuchus, who reminds me a little of the Jack Kirby rendition of the Demon from DC Comics, Etrigan.

I can't tell you precisely why the dimetrodon (pronounced die-MEET-row-don, not dim-MET-row down like I've been doing since I was 9) is my favourite prehistoric creature, but I am pretty sure it has everything to do with esthetics, and a fin that puts '60s era Chevies to shame. Not really a dinosaur though; dimetrodon is a thecodont who precedes dinos by a fair chunk of time.

Most of all though, we love the dramatizations set up with the skeletons, whether saurian or mammalian.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to give Glory a couple of enormous horns through the miracle of intentionally bad composition.

The best new exhibit is focused on fossils found by people on worksites, including a new species of ankylosaur found in the oil sands, but they are expanding the Tyrrell even as we speak, and I'm sure the exhibits will be even more fascinating when we return. Hopefully there won't be as many years in between as there was this time.

On our way home we stopped at the Fossil World "museum" which is really a means of getting you into their gift shop. It's easy to forgive though, as a lot of the exhibits are quite good, and the animatronic sculptures are fairly well done, especially the T. Rex. For a fairly small-scale operation, he has a good range and variety of motion despite being fixed in place.

Other neat exhibits included a set of jaws from a megalodon, a prehistoric shark the size of a school bus (and just about to get a Jason Statham movie), as well as this intimidating smilodon skull.

Also, the gift shop itself is not too bad, with lots of opportunities to buy legit fossils and not just t-shorts and plastic dino toys.

Leaving Fossil World we headed north out of town to pick up Nitti from Cole's Pet Resort, which turned out to be a pretty good operation as well. AFter that is was back to the campsite to grill up some smokies and roast some marshmallows.

The next day was our first opportunity to have a bit of a lay-in, and we did, using up much of our morning on being lazy and getting a breakfast sorted. Unlike at home though, we could do this guilt-free as we were on vacation.

With much fo the day gone and the heat still a beastly 34 degrees, we decided to base most of our tourism this day on driving about. We began by crossing the same river seven times as we made our way to the Last Chance Saloon in Wayne, a former coal-mining town.

I have a soft spot for vintage advertising like this, even though i had never heard of the Stubby brand before. I came across a bottle at the Antique Mall in Edmonton this past weekend though.

Part of me would like to stay in the Rosedeer Hotel just once, as it is so unlike a modern hotel and they seem to have some neatly appointed rooms.

 Lastly, we drove one of two scenic loops around Drumheller. This one took us past the Little Church, which we are reliably informed by the signage can seat 10,000 people...six at a time.

Then we took a ride on the Bleriot Ferry, Alberta's only floating car conveyance. It was built in 1904 by the brother of Louis Bleriot, the first man to fly across the English Channel.

Not far from the ferry is the Orkney lookout. We didn't stay here long, as there was a fierce storm system moving in from northwest of us.

 Orkney is an archipelago in northern Scotland; I can't fathom the connection between a place in the North Sea and this scenic glacial riverbed. I suspect they are both picturesque, but in vastly different ways.

Sedimentation and Dramatization

The cough I had woken up with on Friday morning had by Sunday bloomed into a full-blown and miserable snotty head cold. The original itinerary had been to take it easy after the world cup, perhaps do a little sightseeing, but the day before, a chance brochure encounter had reminded us that the Canadian Badlands Passion Play was being staged, something we had talked about attending for years. So a restful day in the shade was simply not in the cards.

In the afternoon, we took a brief road trip north of town to Horsethief Canyon. This gave us all a chance to sightsee and Glory a chance to indulge herself with her proper camera.

Legend has it that purloiners of ill-gotten equines would elude pursuit down in this maze-like arroyo, only to emerge with different brands much further up the Red Deer river.

It is astonishing to reminded that such fabulous scenery is only a three-hour drive away, even though some of the topography looks like it wouldn't be out of place on either the surface of Mars or the cinematic Old West. Even more amazing is the fact that you could be driving through farmland less than a kilometer away and have absolutely no clue this amazing vista is as close as it is.

We didn't stay too long in th 35 degree heat, so after fortifying ourselves with some small pizzas and milkshakes at Bernie and the Boys Bistro, we made our way to the parking lot of the Badlands Passion Play.

Said play has been taking place every summer at the Badlands Amphitheatre, an old-style naturally formed amphitheatre with outstanding acoustics, for 25 years now. The venue itself is amazing to behold, with seating for over 2,000 and an impressive array of biblically themed structures.

There were at least 60 people in the cast, often all on stage at one time, and only the principles were miked but you could still clearly hear the words the extras were murmuring in the crowd scenes (which I am sure required tremendous discipline!). 

The scale of the amphitheatre also made it possible to add live animals, and having a horse-drawn Roman chariot go all the way from stage left to stage right was pretty thrilling. The Roman armour and vestments of the Pharisees were splendid examples of costumery.

Their crucifixion scene was fairly harrowing, and involved hoisting the crossbar into position with the lead actor attached, still miked.

As a musical that was trying very hard not to be Jesus Christ Superstar, the play was very well done, taking a Simon-centric approach to the story. Truth be told, with my eyes watering and nose running throughout, I spent a lot of the time listening with my eyes closed, with the hood of my sweater up over my hat to protect my neck from the sun, as it was still very hot when the show got underway at 4:00. Still, I found it to be a moving and compelling rendition of the Gospel story.

Truth be told though, anyone who appreciates an unusual venue or has any interest in theatrical production owes it to themselves to check out the Badlands Passion Play at some point. The scope, scale, and technical accomplishments of such a major production, away from a major population center, is as miraculous as the story it portrays.

On the other hand, they are staging Carmen at the same venue in August, and Corb Lund and Ian Tyson after that, so the idea of returning to see a more secular event has some appeal as well!