Just an aside from home first! Columbus Metropolitan Library was named Library Journal's Library of the Year, and it was announced to the staff this morning. I had already planned to wear my SRC t-shirt today for the first Monday of SRC, but it was extra exciting to be able to support my peeps today!


The Royal Tyrell Museum is amazing! It was full to the brim of dinosaur and other great prehistoric fossils. The exhibits were put together very well, and the museum was laid out so that you followed a logical path through the whole thing, following evolutionary history.


There was a viewing area where you could watch the scientists working on uncovering and preparing fossil finds, too. I always wonder if they feel like they're in a zoo or something, but it was very interesting to watch them. Each one of them had an air vaccuum tube that took all the dust and debris away as they created it. Very cool!

It was doubly cool being there and seeing that so many of the specimens were obtained at Dinosaur Provincial Park, which we visited yesterday!

There is also a viewing deck outside. This is Mike and Si up on the deck. There were a lot of steps to get up there, and no handrail, so I stayed below.

We spent about 4-5 hours there. Simon was still bouncing when we left, even though he was nearly as tired as we were.



After a good rest, we went out to see the Hoodoos. These are stone towers where the stantion is eroded away but the top is solid enough to have preserved a tower-like structure. They are commonly felt to be one of the symbols of this area. Around here, you can find Hoodoo jewelry and candy as well as all the dino trinkets.



We also drove out to a pull-off called Horse Thief Canyon. It was charming, and strikingly beautiful. Mike has been in his element taking pictures! I'm only posting my own work on this blog, though, so he can do his up right when we get home.





Along the overlook there seemed to be a whole colony of ground squirrels. Simon was able to get up close and personal with them. They even came out and sniffed him, and one of them even nibbled his finger a little (skin didn't break). Aren't they adorable? These look different from the ones we saw in Moose Jaw, so we're thinking they are a different species. More research is needed to confirm.

We had dinner at a local diner in operation since 1917, Yavis. Yummy Alberta Beef! We think it might be one of the best meals we've had so far, and it was less money than several others we've had. Go figure.


Best thing about the trip? Seeing my 15-yr-old smile like this. Alot.

I feel so blessed to be here with Mike and Simon, to have them both and have the ability to take this trip together. It's been good for my soul, you know? The beautiful nature, the incredible history and science . . . and the family time are all such gifts. I'm feeling really thankful.

I wanted to add a few more comments about yesterday before we move on. Since Si is still sleeping and Mike is in the shower, I have a few stolen moments. Drumheller is in a long narrow valley of the badlands. Just like in Appalachia, there are side valleys (hollers down in our hills, coulees up here). It was really neat going down the coulee last night to the Last Chance Saloon. The road we were on was also known as The 11 Bridges Road. The Saloon was between bridges 9 and 10.

The history of the saloon says that when this was a mining town, the only access they had was by the train!

Drumheller seems to be capitolizing on the Dino theme. There are cheezy dinosaur statues in varying states of authenticity all over town. One, billed as "The largest Dinosaur on earth" is at the tourist information center. We pulled in there after dinner and had a bit of fun. I love posing with statues!
Mike likes being silly, too.










Simon declined to be silly, but he did pose with a claw so you can see how big this dino is! It's even got an observation deck inside. Don't be surprised if we go back when it's open!

Today was amazing! We stayed in a nicer place last night that had a pool. We can't remember the name of it at this moment, but I'll add that in later. LOL We're all getting a little tired and road-weary!

After waking, breakfasting at the hotel and packing the van, we hit the road by 8 am and headed northwest again. I just have to say that Saskatchewan is REALLY FLAT. I'm talking miles and miles of no hills, barely even a tree. We saw some more antelope, and lots of farmland. We also saw lots of little ground squirrels keeping active colonies along the roadsides. They are really cute!

After finally leaving SK, we entered Alberta, drove through Medicine Hat, and arrived at the Dinosaur Provincial Park. This is in the heart of the Canadian Badlands, and is a hotbed of fossil discoveries. Many, many famous discoveries have been made here, and I imagine many more are still to come. We had a great time driving around, imagining what life was like during the Cretaceous Period and taking pictures. Si was so excited he was bouncing!

After that taste of Paleontology, we just had to climb back into the car and hurry on to Drumheller, home of the Royal Tyrell Museum! We checked into our hotel (and staying here 2 nights!) and we asked the clerk if she could recommend a local eatery. We were informed that, being Sunday night, many places were closed. Seriously. The Last Chance Saloon, though, would allow kids in on Sunday, and they reportedly have great steaks. Yum. We headed out, way into the boonies, and found the place to be delightful! The people were friendly, the steaks were, indeed, delicious (and grill-your-own!), and my chicken pie was yummers, too. It was a great find! It reminded Mike and I a lot of Appalachia, an old coal mining town that used to boast a few thousand in population and now has 27.

There were some shenanigans in town after dinner, but we're all pooped and we need our rest so we can do 12 hours in the Royal Tyrell tomorrow!

Yesterday we just drove and drove and drove. We took one nice rest stop in Wisconsin at a road side rest with an overlook - pictures will come when Mike loads his pics. We also found a cheese shop. Yum. Last night we stayed in a very dingy motel in Bismark, ND. We had a great breakfast at a local diner there, though, called Krolls. It was very German and very delicious.



Today was a really full day, and in many respects the first day of actual vacationing! After our fantastic diner breakkies we drove North to the Audubon National Wildlife Refuge and did some birding. Mike and Si were in their element!

I was taking notes for them, making sandwiches when I saw they needed them, etc. Mike saw 4 more life birds, and Simon saw many more. It was fun!

Prairie Chickens, Magpies, Bared Sparrows and Hudsonian Godwits are a few of the highlights.







After driving the car tour of the prairie there we backtracked a little bit so we could see the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Fort Mandan. It was great! They have a perfect replica of the fort where Lewis and Clark wintered before embarking on the really new part of their exploration. Very cool! Our guide was very knowledgable, too, which we greatly appreciated. We didn't spend nearly as much time as we could have because this was a side-trip and not one of our state priorities for our trip.


After that we were back to driving and driving.

We passed through Minot, ND, birthplace of my dear friend, Ann W.




And we reached the Canadian border and got to use our Passports! It was a little anti-climatic but fun, nonetheless.

Tonight we are in Moose Jaw. We've treated ourselves to a little nicer hotel so we could soak in a pool and hot tub. We've met people from New Brunswick and chatted with them. We've seen license plates from all but about 6 states, and we've gotten about 6 of the provinces, too. We've seen about 96 bird species as well as antelope, jack rabbits, roe deer and ground squirrels. Tomorrow is our first Dinosaur Day! We're still listening to Gaiman's American Gods. I think we're on about disc 10.

First Day!

We are all so happy we were able to start a day early! Today we woke up to pack, finish grocery shopping, etc. We got on the road around 11 am. Even with the late start we were able to travel roughly 570 miles today, and are staying the night in Wisconsin. Fun! All are feeling well.




A highlight of the day was passing by Fithian, Illinois. It would have been fun to stop, but we were making such good time we all wanted to just keep driving.

We had lunch at a Rest Area out of our coolers, and we had dinner at a local diner in Illinois. The diner, named Delaney's is in Oglesby. It was a delightful surprise where Si and Mike both got great steaks and I had some yummy tacos.




We're listening to Neil Gaiman's American Gods on CD. We've been doing so much chattering, though, that we've only managed to make it to disc 3 today.