Our return to the Land of Dinosaurs

We actually managed to cram a lot of adventure into our two day trip to Drumheller. We camped at Kokopelli Kampground in nearby Rosedale. The website made it look pretty good and I really liked their 'no music allowed' policy; however, in person, the campground was a disappointment. Our spot was nothing more than a tiny gap in the bushes, just wide enough for the doors to open on either side of the car. There was just barely enough room for the car, our tent, and a picnic bench - not even enough room to start a fire without risking burning down the tent. The worst part about it was the mosquitoes. I don't know if it was because of the bushes, or being on the bank of the Red Deer River, but we were in a cloud of mosquitoes the entire time. I even breathed one in by accident. We were pretty liberal with the bug spray, but we still ended up with bites all over us. The weather was hot and muggy and felt a little bit like Thailand.

After setting up the camp, we headed over to the Royal Tyrell Museum. We played at the playground for a while, toured the museum, then took a hike along the interpretive trail.




Tyson added the word 'dinosaur' to his vocabulary, along with a menacing growl.


Before going to bed the first night we did some exploring and came across this suspension bridge. It was so crazy! It swayed back and forth like the bridge at the zoo, and it was at least as high off the water - the difference is that the sides were nothing more than chain link, and you could see right through the deck to the water below! It felt like you were walking across the air.




Heather looks a little apprehensive.

When I was setting up the tent, I gave Heather a hard time about insisting on camping. I wanted to get a hotel instead and I was sure that this crummy little thicket of bugs had finally proven me right. As it turns out, Heather was right again. That night was actually the highlight of the trip for me and one of the most exciting thunderstorms I've ever experienced. I woke up at a little past 1:00AM and Heather was already awake. The rain was pelting down, and the sides of our tent would light up each time the lightning flashed. The most amazing part was the thunder, it felt and sounded like it was just over our heads. Each peal would start on one side of us and roll across the whole sky. Some would last as long as 6 seconds (counted 1-1000, 2-1000, 3-1000, etc). You could feel it in your bones and it was echoing off the hills around us.

I took a quick inventory and was glad to remember that our tent poles were not made of metal and the trees near our site were not the tallest in the campground. Heather wondered if we should move everyone to the car, but I felt the best course of action would be to just lay there as close to the ground as possible - as if standing up would make us a better candidate for a lighting strike : ) Surprisingly, the kids slept through the whole thing. I have always been disappointed that here in Alberta we don't get good thunderstorms like I experienced in Thailand; this however, was probably the best ever. It might have been a combination of being so close, and having so little shelter.

The next day we got up and packed up camp and headed to the outdoor water park. There was a paved square with a bunch of sprinklers that the kids could run through. It took about 2 minutes for them to get completely soaked.



Across the grass was a huge fountain surrounded by a shallow wading pool. This was more Tyson's speed. It might be because he had control over when and how he got wet, but he splashed around in the pool like a little duck. Ella and Mason invented "croc races", a game in which they threw their shoes in the pool then splashed them. It must have been fun because soon other peoples' kids were flinging crocs too.



It sure would be nice to have a park and fountain like this back home.



Our time in the water was overseen by an enormous Tyrannosaurus Rex that had an observation deck in its mouth. I was a little doubtful about how affordable a trip to the top of it would be, especially after seeing the tourist prices of some of the local goods. Luckily though, I checked and found that it would only be $9 for the whole family. I reasoned that if the guy at the hot dog stand could charge $6 after what it cost him to make the hot dog, the dinosaur admission was an absolute bargain, considering what it must have cost them to make a 90 foot tall dinosaur : )





Poor Mason, it looks like he is imagining himself in the mouth of a real Tyrannosaurus Rex (probably for the 100th time this trip).

We went for a walk for ice cream and dried off in the warm sun. Just when we were all ready to go, the kids went for one more round in the fountain. They rode home wet but it didn't seem to matter to them because they slept the whole way. It was a super quick camping trip but everyone had fun. It's strange but it doesn't seem to matter where we are; it could be a buzzing corner of Kokopelli, or right here in our own back yard.

It's just good to be together...





- C