Back on the Bus

 

March 15, 2020 to July 19, 2022. 

That's how long my Para Transpo account has sat idle. 

Thanks to some recent new opportunities, which I don't want to jinx, so will write about later, it became necessary to reactivate my Para account again. I did it a few days ago, booking a quick trip yesterday, and getting a van/cab this afternoon for a latte and reading at a nearby café, something I haven't been able to do in almost three whole years, and sorely missed! 

Every step of the way was simple, quick, and hassle-free, with Para Transpo having a new online portal for booking. Way more user-friendly than two years ago, and allows for a lot more options like including a phone number (I would assume/hope for delayed pickups) and a way to book multiple trips at once. 

It's a very strange sensation, being out in the world and quasi-independent again, and something I'm going to have to get re-used to. 

Cheers!

Drumheller 2022 part 3 - Dinosaur Provincial Park and the Badlands

 

The next day, following the Royal Tyrrell Museum, my Dad and I had planned to take a drive out and explore Dinosaur Provincial Park. After drive-thru McDonalds and getting turned around by our car's GPS, we set off.

To and from the park was lots more flat farmland, but the sunny weather made it much more enjoyable.

Throughout the trip, we were on the lookout for different kinds of wildlife. Beef cattle, magpies, and prairie dogs (which will be discussed later) were cool, but we wanted something a little more exotic. We got it on a long stretch of road, when my Dad looked out his window and saw pronghorn antelopes grazing just past the side of the road.

And later, while walking a trail in the park, I swear I heard a rattlesnake! At least, that's what I keep telling people.

 So, we arrive at Dinosaur Provincial Park, with lookout Number 2 of the trip.

I buy some more souvenirs at a visitor's centre, and we have a bit of lunch, a Raptor Wrap at the Cretaceous Café!, and we pick a short, relatively accessible trail to walk.

The Fossil Hunter's Trail was quick and bookended by two real fossil beds, covered to preserve them.

There were also tons of neat rock formations. Some had little holes carved or dug into them, and on this trail there was one that was so big it looked like an actual cave!

Kinda looks like a house!

Further along the trail, we walked by tons of cacti and sage brush, which I'd never seen up close before, and I heard that rattlesnake (still sticking to that story), until we reached the trail's end and a quarry with hoodoo formations.

We made our way back and drove back to Drumheller, stopping at the one lone gas station for some much needed snacks.

I mentioned prairie dogs earlier. They're my second-favourite animal, right behind pigs, and where we were was full of them! Our first day there, we went to an outlook (Number 3, for those keeping track) and the place was dotted with prairie dog holes, with the awesome little critters running around every which way!

There's at least four or five just in this photo

I tried to get a close up of one, and it challenged me to a duel.

I backed down first

I can't end this without sharing a couple random photos from a couple different lookouts, canyons and viewpoints. I'm not kidding when I say this is some of the most mind-blowing, jaw-dropping scenery I've ever laid my eyes on, and I'm not normally a "look at the view" kind of person. 

 First though, a face in a cliffside because it was random and cool-looking.

And now, those awe-inspiring shots.

All I could picture when looking out at these views, especially the first two there, was herds of some big animal like bison, mammoths, or even further back to dinosaurs themselves wandering around!

We went to a nice restaurant the next day for breakfast, got even more souvenirs, and stopped by a local brewing company for a drink (sugar-can root beer and coffee-flavoured beer, which was pretty tasty!), and drove to the airport.

Except for Christmas with my grandparents, I haven't been anywhere in over two years, so this Bucket List-worthy vacation was very much needed and well-deserved.

Cheers!

Drumheller 2022 part 2 - Royal Tyrrell Museum

 

Continuing on from my last post, we had arrived at the Royal Tyrrell Museum after driving around Drumheller.

Before even entering the door, we were greeted by a family of centrosaurs. 

COVID restrictions were eased just enough that I was able to go maskless, at least when I felt comfortable and wasn't surrounded by the many school-age fieldtrippers walking around.

The first half of the museum was wall-to-wall fossils, most of which were original samples, directly from Alberta or neighbouring provinces or territories. Some were used to explain concepts like fossilization or evolution, and some were even displayed alongside the full story about where and how they were found. Most of those were found buy local workers who stumbled on the fossil and called the museum.

They had ammonite shells, fossilized skin, "Black Beauty", the world's heaviest Tyrannosaur. They even had a sample of fossilized bird tracks!

The museum then gave visitors a behind-the-scenes look at their collections and specimens, with some laid out, and a window looking at a couple guys working on fossils, one of a hadrosaur (duck-billed dino), the other a marine reptile!

What amazed me here was the thought of how close I came to studying Paleontology before taking Scriptwriting.

A small paleoart exhibit separated this from the second half of the museum, a massive walk through the eons, collections of fossils based around each major period of life on Earth.

First came aquatic life, including giant armoured fish!, and amphibians.

Then came the dinosaurs!

This is Humphrey, who appeared in the original Jurassic Park!

The end of this particular hall marked the end of the dinosaurs, with a small exhibit about their extinction, and a sample of the K-pg barrier.

The thin silvery layer in the middle marks the comet that hit Earth

Finally, the mammals.

Entelodont aka Terror pig!

Earliest ancestor of a whale!

Since most of these creatures were pretty big, there was an interactive exhibit where people could compare their weight to that of an existing organism. I weigh as much as a corpse flower! 

Some awesome Ice Age specimens closed out the area.

Then I tried not to go too crazy at the gift shop, coming away with two t-shirts, a couple postcards, two of which we mailed to my mother and sister, a shot glass (couldn't leave without one!), a smilodon keychain, dino pig art print, and a plastic dinosaur!

We left the museum, but the experience was far from over. The Royal Tyrrell's grounds had a lot of different walking paths and some lookout points.

One lookout was atop a fairly large hill. It was steep and the wind was kind of intense, so I was white-knuckling the rail the entire way up but, with my Dad in front of me, I made it up and back again!

Climbed it!

The Royal Tyrrell Museum isn't the biggest museum I've been to, but the sheer volume of fossils, samples, and displays, as well as the stuff to do outside the museum, make it one of the more memorable ones.

Next: Dinosaur Provincial Park and the Badlands, or "The most mind-blowing scenery I've ever seen. Also, prairie dogs!"

Cheers