Oddly enough, I seem to be getting more and more detailed the farther we go. Maybe more things are happening. Maybe I’m just getting bored in the car. Either way, enjoy.
Day 4:
Ugh. What a miserable start to the day. Kudos to Girlfriend, The for getting some sleep and volunteering to take the first leg. The other three of us decided to nap and nurse the wicked hangovers incurred on our boys night. I wish I could say I enjoyed Saskatchewan but unfortunately the first half was driven when it was dark and the second half I was trying to sleep off the headache. But, what I was able to see I very much enjoyed. With nothing to look at on the ground, the sky became the focal point and wow was it ever beautiful. Before I went to sleep, we made a stop recommended by a dear friend, Steve Hogg. He had told me that one of his favourite places in Canada is Belle Plaines, Saskatchewan. An endless horizon was what I was promised and it was delivered. Maybe Steve had some different circumstances as to why he thought it was so beautiful, but it was not quite what I expected. However, the more I reflected on it, the more I realized how interesting the place was. It seemed to be a railway hub at some point, but now it was a small village on the outskirts of a major city; a haven for gravel roads and pick-up trucks, a graveyard for old Canadian National railcars ravaged by the Prairie winds. Next came Moose Jaw, which brought the sweet delicious coffee we all desperately needed. It also provided us with some anatomical humour, which, when I figure out my photo situation, I hope will be as funny for you as it was for us. Then came my pillow.
When I was able to wake up, I immeadiately felt the plight of the Saskatchewan farmer. Water everywhere. There was even an argument about a lake we passed because Roommate, The felt it was a real lake, whereas the rest of us noticed small details like, a fence running through a portion of it, or a highway dividing the middle of it. Hm, flooding or a lake? We needed a local. Luckily, we also needed gas. So we pulled off in Morse to fill up. When the attendant came out, I proceeded to make small talk. What I discovered was that many years ago it was a lake, but over the last five years, it had dried up gradually until last year there was no lake at all. My jaw must of dropped because it was a fairly sizable body of water. No Superior or anything, but decent enough that at least three or four farms are going to take a serious hit. If anyone in the Prairies happens to stumble upon this blog for any reason, accidental or not, I wish you the best of luck in the upcoming season, I feel you will need it.
Coming into Alberta, the speed limit remained 110 (god love the Prairies), and the terrain became an interesting mix of what we had previously seen. There were hints of Ontario nestled in amongst the Prairie flatlands, and a few more trees than what we had been seeing in Saskatchewan. The first major port was Medicine Hat where we grabbed lunch and Girlfriend, The was able to get out of the drivers seat. With the goal ultimately being to make it to Drumheller before the museum closed at 5, we really had to boogie. Luckily, Alberta roads were clear and ready for us and we were able to make in time. Prior to our arrival, we were driving through what the signs called, “the Alberta Badlands.” Bad lands? More like badass. It was like the Prairies on steroids. Not quite flat, but not quite hilly. Not much growth, but plenty to look at. Cows everywhere. The occasional “oil donkey” as Dr. Mrs. Beebs describes them (which I think is a great term for them, by the way). While no where near as nice as the drive through Northern Ontario, the badlands were interesting enough to get us through the 4 hours to Drumheller.
Now Drumheller, that was something else. Even more pronounced than the change from the rocky hills of Ontario to the Manitoba prairie, the badlands exploded into the Hoo Doo trail with the climbing of a single hill. It was unbelievable. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it. As we barreled down Highway-56 we started to notice a few more hills. As we got to the biggest of them all, we knew we couldn’t be too far from our destination. As we rolled past the zenith of the hill we all started freaking out about what we were seeing. What was even more pronounced was the fact that one side of the hill was Prairie and the other was Grand Canyon. I want to try to describe what I saw, but I can’t. I’ve been sitting here for about 15 minutes trying to choose the best words but I can only say that you’ll all have to wait for me to figure out pictures. The city was just stunning.
Our next stop was the Royal Tyrell Museum, regarded by the world as one of the premier dinosaur exhibits found anywhere. We made it in time to get in, but we quickly realized 2 hours is nowhere near enough time to experience this place. They had a fossil lab with windows and cameras so you could watch archeologists and paleontologists cleaning and preparing new pieces for the exhibits. There were several specific body parts such as teeth and claws that were displayed, and I did my best to get my hand near enough to put the size of these things to scale. Again, sorry, but I’ll try to get pictures up as soon as I can. And the T-Rex. King of the Dinosaurs? Yes. King of my heart, too. If you want some perspective as to the size of the skeleton, if I curled up in the fetal position, I’d easily fit in the mouth. Very easily. Absolutely massive. Making it all the better was that Bandmate, The has been taking biology classes at university and was able to give us some cool information about the skeletal structures and even about how some of the animals would have died. I got super jacked when I noticed there was a small exhibition about Charles Darwin, who is one of my heroes. Although it was a small part compared to the rest of the museum, there was some phenomenal info about his life, his work and the evolution of evolution. I even got to see one of his notebooks from the Beagle. Super cool.
From Drumheller, we set off to Calgary where I have some family who so generously offered to feed and house us for the evening. On our way, we encountered two fires: one in a field, the other in a dumpster. Not literally in a dumpster. Let me explain: Roommate, The began using a phrase awhile ago to describe a moment of pandemonium, a synonym for “cluster [expletive].” This phrase is, ‘dumpster fire.’ We encountered this dumpster fire when without warning, the highway stopped being paved and we entered 13 kilometers of gravel road. Needless to say, my car was not pleased. She made it though safely, but she may need a tune-up when we get to Vancouver. The second fire was a little less easy to describe. In fact, we still don’t know what it really was. It almost seemed like it was an underground gas fire. The air smelled of sulfur and there was smoke billowing from the ground, but no one could actually see flames. Odd. But we made it to Calgary in one piece.
Calgary. I don’t know what I think of Calgary. Beautiful city? Sure. A massive urban sprawl reminiscent of Mississauga. Confusing city? Hells yes. After missing our turnoff, we had to turn around and we decided to go through some of the city rather than take the highway. We first made it to a cookie cutter subdivision called ‘Tuscany’ (which we later found out is where Mr. Harper [the deer killer] lives). Now this where I get frustrated. There were 12 streets named Tuscany. Tuscany drive, Tuscany street, Tuscany boulevard, Tuscany crossing, Tuscany McTuscaningtonville. Annoying. Rocky Ridge was no different. When my cousin sent me her address we put it into our GPS and I’m pretty sure it had a seizure and started smoking. I won’t get into too much detail, but to get to her house we turned on to Rocky Ridge, then on to Rocky Ridge. From there, we took a different Rocky Ridge to get to yet another Rocky Ridge. Once there, we crossed two more Rocky Ridge’s before finally ending on Rocky Ridge. We made it. My sanity didn’t, but we physically did.
After a wonderful home cooked meal, we all crashed hard. Probably the first time we made it to bed before midnight.
Up at 8 to meet a friend for breakfast and then off to Edmonton.
Distance travelled – 965 km
Time Travelled – 10 hours (no stops)
H.
Hashbrown, The 