The Arctic Post

Today I got back from Calgary. I spent the past 3 days visiting with a cousin.

The first night we went for dinner with my sister, it is her birthday today, so we went to celebrate. We then went to watch our 2nd cousin’s hockey game. It was really good to see everyone. The second day we decided to head out to Drumheller for the day. It was a very busy day, but the weather was fantastic and I had a good time. Even though I lived in Alberta for 30 years, I never had actually been to the Drumheller area and done any “touristy” activities. It’s nice to explore things that are so close to home (home as in where I grew up).

First off we stopped off at Horseshoe Canyon. Below are a couple pictures of it.

Horseshoe Canyon

The we went to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. It was really interesting to see all the era’s. We picked a really good time to go cause there were very few people in the museum. After we had a look around the museum and a quick lunch, we did a short hike right outside of the building. It only took us a little over 30 minutes, it was a great way to take advantage of the warm weather.

T-Rex

After the museum we stopped off at the little church. It was built in 1968. It’s dimensions are: 11 feet long and 7 feet wide. From the pictures you can see how small it really is. It’s too bad the door was locked, it would have been really neat to sit inside it.

The sign at the "Little Church"

The inside of the church

From there we headed to the Largest Dinosaur in the world.  This is where I paid $3 to climb over 100 steps….I’m still shaking my head at that one!! Here is some information about the worlds largest dinosaur:

- The World’s Largest Dinosaur is actually four times the size of a real Tyrannosaurus rex and anatomically speaking, she is a female dinosaur. Weighing in at a grand total of 145,000 pounds, she’s constructed almost entirely out of steel. She stands 86 feet tall and is 151 feet long.

I was expecting a more spectacular view, especially after climbing that many stairs, none the less, it was cool!

World's Tallest Dinosaur

View from the mouth of the dinosaur

View from the mouth of the dinosaur

After I winded myself, we stopped off at the Star Mine Suspension Bridge.

Suspension bridge

From the other side of the bridge

View of the river from the bridge

Whew, what a day so far. Our last stop of the day was at the Hoodoos. Hoodoos take millions of years to form and stand 5 to 7 metres tall. Each hoodoo is a sandstone pillar resting on a thick base of shale that is capped by a large stone. Hoodoos are very fragile and can erode completely if their capstone is dislodged. The name “Hoodoo” comes from the word “voodoo” and was given to these geological formations by the Europeans. In the Blackfoot and Cree traditions, however, the Hoodoos are believed to be petrified giants who come alive at night to hurl rocks at intruders.

Hoodoos

This morning I pretty much got up and headed home. My gramma has spent most of the winter with my aunt (her daughter). She decided it was time to get back home. I had the opportunity to drive her from Calgary to Edmonton. It was a great time to be able to chat with her. It’s hard living so far away. I don’t get to see her very often. I value the time I do get to spend with her.  All I have to say is when I am in my 80′s I hope i’m as active as she is. She still golf’s!! That is impressive.

I’m getting very excited for Etienne to join me down here. Only eight more days until I head to Winnipeg to meet up with him. Tomorrow i’m getting together with great friends and Monday I’m heading to Camrose. I can’t wait to see them. Then I can honestly say that my schedule is starting to slow down. I have 5 days that I don’t have to spend on the highway. That is very nice.

I’ve been saying that I’m looking forward to our time in Montreal because it should be very quiet compared to my time here, but I think I’m eating my words now! Our friend from Chester is going to come up to Montreal to visit with us for a couple of days. We have also planned to head to Ottawa for a couple of days. Ottawa is one city on our list of places we would like to go after the North. I figured this was a great opportunity to spend a few days there to check things out. So far we have tickets to a Senator’s game and to see the Harlem Globetrotters. I’m excited for those. I have a friend and old co-worker from Valleyview/GP that is now living in Ottawa. He’s going to take me to the EMS headquarters to check things out. I’m also excited for that. Of course, we will also have the people that Etienne wants to see while we are in Montreal. I’m sure our time will fill up quickly.

Wow, this post has become quite the novel. I will try to update more when we are in Montreal.

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