The reason I’m in Alberta is to visit my parents, but I am also very happy to be able to show the place to Nat and her two daughters (soon to be my step-daughters), who are on their first turn around the province. My parents have a beautiful home in Canmore, which is in the rocky mountains, so the most obvious day trips would be west into Banff National Park. And we did indeed head over there a couple of times, and I plan to write a bit about that and share some pictures.
But we also went to Drumheller, to visit the desert of the Alberta Badlands and of course the Royal Tyrell Museum, which is entirely dedicated to dinosaur research and fossils. South-eastern Albert is known to possess one of the richest deposits of dinosaur fossils in the world. There is even a “Dinosaur Provincial Park” in the area.
After the museum we headed out into the badlands along the course of the Red Deer River, to look at some hoodoos and explore a bit. We only had a few hours, but we were able to make the best of it by making a couple of stops that allowed us to really appreciate the unique terrain under the blistering sun in 30-degree heat (that’s 86 F for my US friends) and a cloudless sky. Worth it.
You might already be frustrated that I haven’t said what a hoodoo is. Well, here’s a picture of a bunch of them. They are tall, thin stones carved by the elements, often with wider tops. They’re cool to look at and only found in places like the Badlands. The ones in the pictures here are at a popular tourist destination near Drumheller, and really fall into the category of “things that are often photographed.” But seriously — how could I resist? They’re just too cool.
The girls also took their chance to make some pictures, including of each other, and Nat and I just enjoyed the heat and the view. It was a good day over all.
Focal Points 