I guess the lack of hotel rooms in Drumheller should have been a clue regarding how busy today was. Apparently the Saturday of the August long weekend is the busiest day of the year for Drumheller and the museum. If we had known that, we may have rescheduled our trip so that we were out here on a different day.
Anyway, we started the day off with a short drive to Horseshoe Canyon, which looked very neat. Unfortunately, it was quite cold and windy and the kids complained a lot, so after spending a short time looking around, we left to drive out to the Hoodoos. Despite light rainshowers, the kids loved this area, as they could climb on the rocks. The youngest three quickly scampered off, as I tried to follow them as best I could, pleading with them to avoid going somewhere they could not get back from.
Bradley was probably the most monkey-like, and every time I turned around he was trying to climb higher than he was. Eventually it started to rain harder, and I was tired of chasing them around, so we rounded them up and left.
We drove into Drumheller and stopped at the huge dinosaur statue for lunch. We had to eat in the van due to the pretty steady rain and when we were done, we went in and climbed to the top of the dinosaur to look out. Then it was off to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. I had asked the woman working the door at the dinosaur statue if this was a regular busy day or not (as the visitor centre was very busy) and she had told me that the Saturday of the August long weekend was always their busiest day. This held true for the museum as well, as we encountered a stopped line of cars about 2km away from the museum entrance.
After about 30-40 minutes, we finally got in to the parking lot, which was, of course, full. We found our way to the overflow parking lot, which was also full, and at times chaotic, as people had simply parked wherever they felt like, without any regard for lanes or other drivers. After a few laps at the end of the lot, we were headed back up the regular lot when I thought I saw a truck pull out to leave. We went into that lane and found a regular parking spot, after which I cheered.
Then it was the line to get into the museum. It was an hour long, outside in the rain. Evan and I waited in the line while Sandra took the other boys to a play structure to keep them occupied. When we got close to the end of line, I texted Sandra and she brought everyone over. It's funny - prior to Disney, that line would have crushed me. Now it's just slightly longer than the line to see It's A Small World.
The museum was quite busy, but it was still possible to see all the dinosaur fossils that I wanted. The big displays were probably the most interesting, especially the large black T-Rex encased in rock, the armoured dinosaur they discovered in Fort McMurray and the full sized T-Rex. I was excited to see the Triceratops, and it was cool, but it was 100% a casting of a Triceratops found in Montana, as no Triceratops has been found in Alberta yet. We finished in the museum, bought stuff in the gift shop and then headed to Drumheller for supper. We had planned to go to a small restaurant that served giant hamburgers, but unfortunately it was closed. We found another restaurant, ate and then drove all the way to Medicine Hat so that tomorrow will be a much shorter travel day.
That is the end of this short vacation, as tomorrow will be nothing more than a quick drive home.
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