How did we not have a Brontosaurus Burger?

Better late than never…

Monday (the 9^th), the last first day before we left, Justin pitched the idea of visiting Plus 15. This was not—as you might assume—a put-down related to my morbid obesity, rather Plus 15 is a series of connected walkways fifteen feet above street level that connects various shops, cafes, and the like. We torpedoed that idea though, figuring we could go shopping the next day while Justin was at work. Instead, we availed ourselves of the illegal internets to find local attractions, and Sarah found some info on Drumheller. So, we took our typical three and a half hours to mobilize, and then we were off to dinotown.

Originally settled for its rich coal and oil deposits, Drumheller also revealed itself to be rich in rare fossils and dinosaur bones, and these days the city is all about tourism. Driving towards the visitors centre, we were greeted by the world’s largest dinosaur, measuring in around 86 feet. We all acted amazed in a pretty ironic fashion, but truth be told, it was totally awesome. We also paid to climb inside this dinosaur—sort of let down that, but far and away the most exercise I got all trip. Drumheller, more than any town I’ve been to, embraces what it’s known for. There are dinosaur statues every couple of blocks, you can stay at places like The Jurassic Inn… it’s lame, but cool, but also lame.

We drove though the badlands, strange scorched earth-looking valleys and mounds formed by glaciers and erosion, and it felt a little like we passed into the world of Mad Max. Fortunately, we avoided any badlands shootouts and rattlesnake attacks and we found our way to the Royal Tyrell Museum, probably the richest dinosaur museum the world has ever seen. If God made a museum, it would be this museum—assuming God didn’t believe in climate change (and was also a carnivore and sort of an a-hole). Overall, the museum was pretty amazing. I don’t care who you are, big-ass dinosaur skeletons are pretty cool. And even before that was a section on the extinct animals that used to run these parts prior to the ice-age—like the short-faced bear (or snub-nose bear, as I like to call it), and the giant ground sloth (about the size of a moose, fyi). The only problem with the museum is the ill-advised climate change section—which sort of portrays a balanced view (scientist: our species is accelerating global warming; oil exec: things are GREAT! I loves me some CO2!) Worst of all is the last sign you see before leaving the museum, which says something like, “All kinds of shit causes climate change. Whaddya gonna do?”

After that, it was back to Calgary for our favourite Calgary pastime: drinking our asses off.

And that, in a nutshell, was our trip.