Badlands, Hoodoos & Royal Tyrell Museum

Today my sister took us to Drumheller. It was an early start to the day. We made our way to the city by train, then, after a brief wait, we were picked up by the Anderson tour beneath Calgary tower. One Asian group had to back out and in the end there was only six of us. There was Daniella, a German lady who had already seen most of the world, and a German guy who kept on puffing marijuana whenever he gets a chance to get outside.

The Badlands were appropriately named: barren, desolate, and yet beautifully lined with ancient rock crevices attesting to the once magnanimous Bearpaw sea. Because of this rich history, in this area there used to be an abundance of coal, and later on, oil gas.

We were first shown the Horseshoe Canyon, where the past has been stratified into striae upon striae of charcoal grey layers and ashen brown rocks. The winds freely enveloped us and with the overcast weather, it made us feel the cold more. We took the opportunity to relieve ourselves of the call of nature, then we marveled at the sight and then we all headed back to the warm van.

The tour operator in the heritage listed Atlas Coal Mine was named Jay. He was a third generation descendant of coal miners. He was very passionate as he walked us through the last coal mine out of the 139 sites that closed. The conveyor belt leading down to the tipple was quite a sight to see, and we all had a chuckle when he shared the joke about the miner's initiation rights. (hint: salty lime deposits were purportedly miners' urine). We also had a walk in the cave and noticed that the temperature was quite pleasant. We appreciated the coal mining industry that once flourished there, and ultimately learned that from such a hazardous industry and the sacrifices of young men, Western Canada progressed.

Then we went to the Hoodoos. What interesting stone formations. They looked like mushroom heads, standing tall and proud amidst the extremes of nature.

I thought the visit to the Royal Tyrell Museum was a bit short. We only had an hour and a half to spend here. We quickly grabbed a bite at their cafe, they served delicious burgers and the onion rings and sweet potato fries were quite morish.

We saw a new triceratops species' actual bones, an armoured herbivore--nodosaur discovered just August this year, and the 'Black beauty' (14th most complete known skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex in the world). Also, viewing the processing centre for fossils replete with the sophisticated tools was enough to spark every geek's interest.

On the ride back to Calgary most of us were dozing in and out of sleep. There were lots of interesting cloud formations as we passed by canola fields and pastures.

When we returned to Calgary Tower, we exchanged our goodbyes, and managed to gain a new friend, Daniella, whom we exchanged Facebook details with. Little did we know that that wasn't the last time we were gonna see each other.Read more