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.

One last final plea for votes....I know, I know I said that last time. But I swear this time it is true. The contest closes on September 2...so I need your votes TODAY!

VOTE HERE!!!

Don't forget you need to click on the link in the email MEC sends you or the vote doesn't count. Please pass along to all yours friends, relatives and co-workers. I'm about 50 votes shy of getting into the top 5. Apparently I only have 59 friends. I have 64 votes, but three of those are me, one is my parents and one is my friend Kim.

If you vote for me I'll write a super duper blog post about my weekend in Drumheller and why I want to move there.

Do you remember when Canadian Tire had a catalog? I know Sears still does but I don't think CTire does anymore. I loved the arrival of the summer catalog. I would flip through and figure out what I wanted to buy: side packs for my bike, the one person portable tent, sleeping bag, the portable stove...basically everything I would need for a biking/camping adventure. I priced out camp grounds and ferry rides and tried to figure out the best route for my trip. I WANTED to do the trip. I knew I could do the trip. It would be amazing. Each summer would end and I wouldn't have purchased any of the items for the trip and I wouldn't have gone on my bike trip.

I don't know why.

As the boyfriends in university came and went I hoped one of them would be up for the adventure, but never were. The very odd camping trip here and there but nothing like I dreamed about. Sigh.

This year is about doing things I want to do...so I'm going camping. The bike is not coming with me on this trip. It is not the ideal dream bike trip, but it is a camping trip. I always pictured myself on the road alone seeing new sites setting my own schedule. Last weekend while driving to Edson I decided I wanted to go camping. I was almost going to spend the night in Jasper...unplanned...spontaneous like. But realized I'd be more upset the next day when the battery on the camera would die and I wouldn't be able to take any photos. Instead of the night in Jasper I decided that a camping trip was in order. On the drive back I went to Walmart and bought myself a tent.

Mid-late August is not the best time to buy a tent. The selection at the stores is pretty much crap. I managed to find a 3 man tent that I should be able to set up by myself. It is smallish so that if I do another hiking/biking/camping trip it could be easily transported. Not as easily as the tents from the Canadian Tire catalogue or the MEC website (oh to win that contest) but definitely do able. I bought a couple of disposable bbq's and a small camp stove. Essentially a flat burner over some liquid fuel. No propane for me.

I spent the majority of Sunday evening surfing the internet for campgrounds in and around Alberta. There are two official weekends left in the summer and I intend to enjoy them. Finally today I booked my long weekend....I won't tell you where. I am still waiting to hear back from the campground that I selected for this weekend. When/if they get back to me I'll let you know.

Today at work I started my list of what I would need. For a one person two night trip there is a lot of stuff to pack.
ground sheet (tarp)
tent
sleeping bag
flannel sheet
pillow
towel
dish cloth/towel
pot
dishes/cutlery
bbq
lighter
mini-stove
fuel for mini-stove
food
water
knife
twine/rope
clothes
you get the picture...

I'm really excited. Even rain wouldn't dampen the trip. My back up plan for rain--find a hotel. The weather report for the weekend (at this moment) looks good. Sunny skies and hot temperatures. The camera will be ready and so will I. With any luck I will get to leave work early on Friday. I asked yesterday and was left with the impression that the whole office might get to close up a couple hours early. Lunch out followed by not returning to the office. Sounds good to me!

The weekends are going to be low-stress, meditative type weekends. Hermit weekends. One of the ladies at the office can't imagine camping on her own. I think it will be nice. Yes, I live alone and the only big difference might be a stiff back in the morning but to me it is a sort of fulfillment of a dream. Like Italy.

Yes, in all likelihood you will be reading tales of how I want to/am getting ready to go camping for the next few days.

I need some help. I am trying to win a contest on Mountain Equipment Co-op. I could really use some new equipment....so please vote to me...and ask all your friends to vote for me.

Once you click on the link it will send a message to your email account. You need to respond to the email before it actually counts your vote. Check your trash folder, just in case.

Please...vote. It may not be the best video (it was my first) but it is a Nunavut video!

I know some of you voted for me before...please send to a friend. Voting only happens for another couple of weeks. Vote for me!