We arrived in Calgary on a rainy afternoon (rain was a theme of our stay here). We had two nights to take a deep breath before diving into the Rockies and our first afternoon was mostly devoted to getting ready for the next stage of our trip by buying a second-hand tent, sleeping bags and food. Between chores we managed a wander through the Calgary’s riverside park which included some interesting Wetlands treating storm water from the city. Ever food orientated, the highlight of the day was finding a brilliant Vietnamese restaurant for dinner that in Claire’s opinion served the best Pho in the world.
The next day, after a morning run around the river we headed off to Drumheller and the badlands which are famous for cowboys (previous home of the ‘Sundance Kid’) and dinosaurs (ie the Albertasaurus) so basically unmissable. As we entered the badlands the landscape suddenly changed from flat prairies to plunging canyons with weird eroded rock columns (called Hoodoos).
We headed to the Royal Tyrrell Museum to escape the rain and see some truly amazing Dinosaur whole skeletons, and palaeontologists at work in the fossil lab.
In the afternoon we drove along the 48km Dinosaur trail. Whilst we are disappointed to report that the only dinosaurs we saw were plastic (see below), we did enjoy a trip on the Bleriot Ferry (first ran in 1913) and the views from Horsethief Canyon. It was named after Andre Bleriot, the brother of the famous Louis Bleriot, who lived nearby for a short while and was operator of the Ferry. We also came across some oil derricks nodding away here and there in the middle of the farmland, which was quite surreal.
We headed back to Calgary for the evening, to make our final preparations for the Rockies!
Claire and Gareth go travelling! 