“I want to take you to the dinosaur museum with us when we go to your house.”

Sam and his family, who live in Vancouver, are here to spend Christmas with us and today we made the long awaited trip to the dinosaur museum. Located a few kilometres from Drumheller in the heart of the Canadian badlands, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is one of Alberta’s primary tourist attractions as well as a world class centre of palaeontological research.

The boys were wildly excited about today’s adventure. When our daughter-in-law, Robin, woke them early this morning, two-year-old Nate jumped out of bed and announced loudly, “We’re going to the dinosaur museum! I need my shoes on!”

It was -29ºC (-20ºF) and dark when we piled into the vehicles and began the almost three hour drive.

Though we’ve visited many times, the museum never ceases to impress us. There are amazing dioramas

and faces that only a mother could love

  

but it’s the bones that I find the most astounding, especially the towering skeletons.

Sharing another of our province’s highlights with Sheila was fun. There she is, knee high to a dinosaur!

Keeping up with an exited two-year-old was challenging though. There he goes!

The boys were done by noon so after lunch in the museum cafeteria, Matt and Robin headed homeward with them while Richard, Sheila and I spent a while longer at the museum and then drove through the valley to the hoodoos, sandstone towers that formed when softer rock eroded away. By this time, the temperature had climbed to -18ºC (0ºF) so we ventured out of the warm car for a quick walk amongst the stately pillars.

Our last stop before leaving the valley was Bernie & the Boys Bistro in the town of Drumheller. Sheila wasn’t sure if she’d ever had a milkshake and Bernie’s has 71 flavours to choose from! She chose blueberry, a flavour that’s become a favourite of hers since arriving in Canada, and I had chocolate raspberry truffle! Definitely a delicious way to end to a great adventure!