The Dinosaur Trail

Welcoming Party: One of the first things you see when you enter the Tyrrell Museum is this model of an adolescent Tyrannosaurus Rex. He's just a kid. But look at those eyes.

Our two full days in Drumheller took us to all the points of interest on what they call the Dinosaur Trail, a 48-kilometer loop affording several views of the badlands. And then we went the other way to see a few more things.

The landscape formed 10 to 15 thousand years ago when massive glacial run off carved out layers of alluvial and other deposits on vast former inland seas. 

Also carved out were areas called bone yards where large colonies of ancient beings suddenly met their end 70 million years ago. Then they were happenstantially encased in something both soft and anoxic, and *presto* you got yourself some fossils.

These two bad things that happened long ago combined to make one good thing: work for local palaeontologists that restored the economy of the little town of Drumheller, Alberta.

As we know, mammals outlived the last worst day the dinosaurs ever had. A joke from the locals as they wish you a good day as a tourist is: "Don't let the dinosaurs bite." Little danger of that, but a mule deer kick might set you back.

Young buck mule deer in a canola field by the Orkney Lookout.

Or twisting your ankle on a prairie dog burrow.

Prairie dog in the Drumheller Municipal Cemetery, which was riddled with burrows. All of Drumheller seemed to be one big prairie dog colony.

In a novel effort to diversify the economy, two avid collectors, one of whom is employed in the entertainment industry, have opened up the Trekcetera Museum. Here you can find some Star Trek stuff, along with an uncategorizable mishmash of other stuff - all interesting, but as coherently connected as longhorn beetles and rim shots. There's American Civil War uniforms and saddles, Denzel Washington's costume from the Magnificent Seven, two of Mimi Bobeck's costumes from the Drew Cary show and Titanic memorabilia, to name just a few.   

Captain Janeway's uniform from Star Trek Voyager.

You can find antiques too. We stopped at the Rustic Red Barn.

The welcoming committee at Rustic Red Barn Antiques was comprised of four dogs, including a golden lab that growled at Bruce. The growl meant "I am displeased that you are not petting me." 

There used to be 139 coal mines in the Drumheller valley, all overworking, underpaying and endangering their employees so housewives could cook meals and heat their homes.

We all know natural gas won that battle. The last standing example of the bygone era is the Atlas Coal Mine, now a mouldering pile of near-rubble, invoking the absolute lack of romance of hard rock fossil fuel extraction.

Kim had an idea about how to bring the industry back to life: 

Thanks for reading!

Karen