The prairies really are beautiful too, just different from the mountains. You can see for miles and miles - it is almost more impossible to capture prairies with a camera than mountains. In some ways, it is not any flatter than parts of southern Ontario (for example out towards Wyoming), but there are no trees, or very few trees, so you can see for miles.
As we approached the badlands, it was not as flat anymore, as the badlands are hills, hills where you can see the layers of dirt/rock/etc that make up the mound. Presumably they are called the badlands because the land can't be used for anything, but it is quite pretty.
Our route that day took us along the "Dinosaur Trail", which was a 48km round trip. This took us through the badlands, and through Drumheller, who have made dinosaurs their claim to fame. They have dinosaur statues all over town, some of them are enormous, and in my opinion, all quite ugly!
This route included a short ferry ride. The ferry was on the other side of the river when we arrived, so we had to ring a bell. Right away, a man came out of the house right by the river, came down to the ferry, and brought it across for us. We went across and were on our way!
In the early to mid 1900s, quite a bit of coal mining was done in the badlands. The mines were all shut down over time as the demand for coal disappeared. Near one of these mines they built this suspension bridge across the Red River for the miners.
The hoodoos are another truly unique sight in the Alberta badlands. Essentially they are piles of sand with a rock on top - the rock protects the top from eroding, but the sides do erode making hoodoos.
We also came across this very red road - something we link to PEI but we saw a few side roads, driveways with this bright red colour.
After our day of driving through the badlands, we headed back to Calgary for our last night in the RV. As we approached Calgary, it started to rain again, and it didn't really stop at all again until after we flew out. In fact, it had been raining in Calgary for 2 or 3 days, so there was a lot of water. Our campsite was a mudhole, so that combined with the rain made cleaning the RV a bit of a challenge. Or at least, keeping it clean. We literally had to do a flying leap in and out of the RV to avoid a massive mud puddle. The whole campground was covered in mudpuddles.
Anyways, we arrived at our campsite in the late afternoon, and set to work packing and cleaning the RV. Then we went into Calgary for supper, since we were now completely out of food, Rob having finished the last of the Cheerios for lunch. We had a great steak dinner at The Cattle Baron, an Alberta steakhouse. Then we drove around looking for coin-op car/truck wash big enough for the RV to fit into. We found one, and made plans to come back in the morning to wash the RV. No sense washing it that night, since we were camping in a mud puddle.
Once we returned to our campsite, we were quite upset to see that our water hose had been stolen. (This is the hose that feeds fresh water into the RV for the bathroom/kitchen). Hindsight being 20/20, we should have taken it with, but since we were coming back, we left it there. It really was just a hose, but it still was not a nice way to end our trip. We went to bed, with plans to add a stop at Wal-mart to our morning agenda in hopes of picking up another hose. We figured it would probably be cheaper to buy our own than take a hit to the damage deposit we had paid.
Saturday morning we were up early. Our flights left at noon, and as Calgary is a larger airport than KW, we needed to get there 1 - 1.5 hours before our flight. We managed to get everything done in time, but it was busy, and a lot of work. After all, we had to get the two sleeping bags, two pillows, three towels back into one suitcase! We left the campsite, went into Calgary, and stopped at Wal-mart. We couldn't find a hose remotely resembling the one we had, so we decided to just leave it, and pay the RV place after all. To the truck wash, where we made a feeble attempt to wash the RV - I'm not sure it was much cleaner, but we tried. It was raining still, anyways. Then we bought gas for the last time, and returned the RV. That was a painless process, and they were very good about the missing hose - didn't charge us at all, so all our worrying was for nothing. In fact, I'm not sure our attempt at washing the RV was even required, but some of the documentation they had given us indicated we were to do that.
We took a cab over to the airport, and arrived there in good time, about 2 hours before our flight. We checked in, and then finally, could go finds some breakfast. Or lunch. Or both. We ate at Harvey's. I just had a burger, Rob had a burger and a breakfast sandwich. Eventually it was time to get on the plane, and we had another uneventful flight home. My Mom met us at the airport, and we were home again! It was so good to be home. We had a wonderful vacation, but I always love coming home again. Not because I miss my bed, mind you. I slept fine in the RV. I missed my bathroom! In particular, the shower. There's nothing like your own shower :)
We've been home for over 3 weeks now - it is almost hard to believe we actually went at away at all. But when we were away, it was like home and work didn't really exist - we were in our own little world for two weeks. We truly enjoyed it, despite the weather, and are thankful for the opportunity to go, to spend time together, to see more of Canada, and our Creator's marvelous creation, and to worship our great God.
On this holiday, and on our honeymoon, Rob and I both noticed, and found interesting or amusing, some of the different road signs we saw. On our honeymoon, we recall seeing signs saying "No stopping at anytime" everywhere, and sometimes it felt like each sign was only 100 m apart.
In Alberta, here's a few signs we enjoyed:
We did actually see the remnants of an avalanche, but thankfully, no avalanches!
This sign is priceless.
You would think, that immediately following this sign, there would be another, indicating the roads meeting at this intersection. Not so. The intersection would often not even include stop signs, so there was no need to slow down or stop unless you needed to turn. But the sign indicating the name of the cross road wasn't displayed until you were very close to the intersection, and if you hadn't slowed down already, there was no way you could slow down in time to make the turn. So, while we truly appreciated them telling us there was an important intersection ahead (often we did want to turn), really, please could you tell us what the roads are in this intersection!?!
That's it - our trip west. Thanks for following along!
1 comment:
Hi guys! We've been following your travels. Looks like a wonderful time and a great opportunity.
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