Ok...moving on to last weekend (not this past weekend....can anyone keep any of this straight?)...my trip to Jasper/Hinton.


The KOA campground in Hinton.

Yes, I know you already saw pictures of my tent...this is more about the box in the photo. This is my electricity/cable box. Yep, cable tv at the tent site. I didn't bring my tv, but it was tempting. I did though enjoy the wireless internet at the campsite though. I know how to rough it.


























And now all my pics are caught up....scroll down to see the rest of Drumheller...

The one problem with blogging is that as I add things over the weekend they post over top of the previous posts and unless you are like my mother and read the magazine from back to front you will ready from last to first. No difference...the Drumheller news does not require any sort of order. That was just an interesting point of reference for you...

Drumheller continued....


I found these old buildings at the top of the hill from the ferry. I made a quick u-turn and had to take a few pictures...I'm only posting a couple...but I have a great idea for a collage. You know those frames where there are spots for a ton of pictures. One could be the main shot of the buildings and then the individual images would be the close ups and certain parts of each building. Not that I have the wall space for it...but it is what I think would look nice.


These signs marked the second hike I went on...very informative...now you can learn about the badlands.





And the next part of my day was the helicopter ride...as previously posted.

Here's a few weeds that were growing along the side of the road.




This is the view going into Drumheller...the photo is certainly not the best, but it was taken through a very dirty window while driving at about 80km/hr.



And a few pics from my fire...nothing like a good fire to warm the soul....and your toes.



And finally...Sunday. Drove down the road to see the hoodoos...after I had a terrific breakfast at a little road side dinner. The food was good and the company was interesting. The diner had about 8 stools around a counter. I took an empty stool and listened to the locals chat over their morning coffee. I think I may have been sitting on someones stool but it was never mentioned. It was the kind of place where a new visitor is noticed and commented on only after the person leaves the room.





Not as amazing as the hoodoos of my mind from Writing on Stone but still very nice. Definitely well worth the trip.



And a final dinosaur from Drumheller...the end.

The continuation of the camping trip in Drumheller.

Saturday morning I headed out in search of fossils and dinosaurs. First stop was at a suspension bridge. Interesting, nice view.





I headed off to the Royal Tyrell Museum and signed up for a hike. It was a guided hike where they would point out what to look for if one was inclined to look for fossils. It was interesting but definitely geared toward the younger members of the group. I wandered around the museum for a couple of hours and then decided on a short drive. Here's some pics from the hike.

Strictly a BYOD hike. Bring Your Own Dinosaur.
The group and our fearful leader. Fearful cause she jumped and screamed when she realized she had almost stepped on a garter snake.

I think I would agree with this statement.

Fossilized remains of a pinecone.

And off we go...


Guide pointing out the dinosaur remains to us.
Picture of what you should be able to see in the picture above.

Tiny church made into a tourist attraction.

There was a couple here when I arrived. She had just taken a picture of him in front of church and he was about to take one of her. I offered to take one of them together and they said Great. Then they walked away and didn't offer to take my picture. Funny.

Close call between my knees and the back of the next pew.



Is it any wonder I fell in love with Drumheller with views like this all around town.



Almost at the end of the day. Ferry crossing. Not quite the same as in PEI...but still a bit of fun.




Found this cutie when I was in downtown Drumheller looking for a place to eat. He was over seeing some construction just up the street.

Think back to last Friday, not this past Friday, last Friday...the one I headed out to Drumheller. Ok, great. Here's how that weekend went...

I was scheduled to leave work around 2:30 or 3pm on Friday afternoon. I didn't get to leave until almost 4pm. I was fuming. My 'boss' asked me to stay around a bit so that when he finished his 3pm he could give some additional comments/information/instructions before he left. When he finally got out of the meeting at 3:50pm I was very upset. He said "Go, get out of here. Have a great weekend." I snapped, "No, you had better have something very important to tell me. I waited around here." Nope...just go he says. Fuming I walked out the door. The day had been going so well. We took a lovely couple out for lunch along with all our staff and then I got to let everyone go home early. It was a gorgeous hot sunny afternoon and no one minded. Then...I didn't get to leave.

At 4pm on one of the final Fridays of summer the traffic is thick. I fought my way out of town and then fought my way for the first 45 minutes outside of Edmonton before it finally calmed down. As anyone who travels the road between Edmonton and Calgary...it is long, straight and boring. At some point I realized I had forgotten the post it note I had written the directions to the campsite. Oops. I tried to remember what it said. #9 #512 #10 or something like that. I finally pulled over somewhere outside of Red Deer and looked at a map. I planned a new route and a couple of numbers looked familiar so I figured I was on the right track.


My goal was to get to the campground before dark. I purchased the tent at Walmart not more than 6 days before and had yet to get it out of the bag. I didn't enjoy the thought of having to assemble a new tent for the first time in the dark. Luckily I didn't need to. I arrived just before dusk and did manage to get the tent up in light, but ended up setting up the rest of my 'camp' in the dark. I thank my sense of direction and knack for remembering directions for helping me arrive on time.

When I first drove into Drumheller I was in awe. It was beautiful. I immediatly had the thought that I needed to move there. Drumheller has the type of scenery that I could never get tired of looking at. The type of view that changes everyday with the light, the season, the mood. It was awe inspiring. So much so that the next day I found myself looking at all the businesses wondering who I might be able to get a job with and wondering what the cost of real estate would be.

Prior to leaving on this my frist camping trip of the year I decided that the wise thing to do would be freeze my food in water and then by the time it melted it would be time to eat. I bought these rather yummy Hot Italian sausages and froze them individually in snack bags. There was about an inch of ice all around the sausage. Perfect! The steak for day 2 I froze in the bottom of my little lunch cooler along with the butter and a few other goodies. I also froze a lot of bottles of water. I knew the water would come in handy as the expected temperatures for the weekend hovered around 22 degrees. And then the melted water would be contained and not all over my truck or tent. Sometimes I'm so smart.


My plan may have worked a little too well. I left everything in the freezer at work...no, I didn't forget it. I took it with me, but then the sausages only had the three hour drive to unthaw which wasn't really enough time. I ended up banging the ice on the picnic table and melting them on the fire I had started. But I maintain it was still a success. The sausages were fantastic. There's something about food being cooked over an open fire that adds to the flavour. The smores were pretty darn good too!

This week has flown by. I have no idea what happened to the days in the middle. Oh well...today is the start of my camping weekend...maybe.

I have everything ready to go but the weather does not look like it is going to co-operate. RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN expected. I will head out tonight and see how it goes. If I am soaked in the morning I may re-evaluate the whole plan and just cook smores on my deck. Here I am off for another weekend of adventure and I still haven't posted much from my last weekend. It makes me wonder sometimes why people still check in to read. (but thank you for coming back all the time)

I may have wireless internet at my campsite...so if I do you will get updates from the road. If not...see you Monday!

Ok, my campaign for votes didn't work. Oh well. It was fun. And really...what would I do with all that MEC money buy myself all kinds of amazing camping equipment. Why have a real sleeping pad when a yoga mat will do? LOL

Now...Drumheller. For tonight...since it is half late and I am exhausted I will tell you about one small portion of the trip and by far the most amazing. My helicopter ride.

Yep, helicopter. I know lots of folks have been in them. I hadn't but had always wanted to. On my drive Friday evening I saw a sign just outside of Drumheller for helicopter tours of Horseshoe Canyon. I had to try it. Saturday afternoon after all my other sites had been visited I drove out to the helicopter.

They will only take a min of 2-3 people at a time. It doesn't pay them for just one person. My options were wait for someone else to come along or pay double. I paid double. Maybe not the most fiscally responsible decision of the weekend it was certainly one of the most fun. As they went over the safety procedures I asked about taking photos. The nice young man at the counter said that if I was really interested and since I was the only passenger I had the option of having the door removed. It would allow me to take better photos. I was game!

Here's the visuals from my short but exciting ride! Talk about wind through your hair...

The nice young man taking the door off for my ride.


The photo op. Not sure why I had to stand on this side of chopper instead of side I would be sitting on...oh well.

View from above....see the little people.
And this is why I fell in love with Drumheller and would consider moving there. The views are amazing. The kind of views from the air or the ground that one would never get sick of.






Isn't that fabulous.