Day 269: Drumheller - Edmonton
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Wednesday May 4th
We could sleep in a little today, as our first stop for the morning – the Royal Tyrrell Museum – didn’t open until 10. We again had breakfast at McDonalds, where I sampled a ‘McGriddle’. It looked like an English Muffin with egg and cheese in it, but it was definitely not an English Muffin – it tasted like a maple flavoured pancake encompassing the egg and cheese!
On the way to the Museum we stopped in at the Visitor’s Information Centre. Unfortunately it wasn’t open yet, but we were still able to take photos with the world’s largest dinosaur, which stood guard outside its door. We also took photos with the hire car, both pretending to drive it and milling about outside.
The Museum was only a short drive away, and we were one of the first to enter. What an absolutely magnificent museum – the best I’ve ever been to. The scale of the dinosaur bones on display was incredible, and it was obvious that a lot of hard work and money had gone into the museum. One of the coolest things was knowing that most of the bones and fossils had been found in the surrounding national park, the most dinosaur rich area in the world. Reading the stories about how the bones had been found was also interesting – most about been found by normal citizens doing everyday activities, like hiking or rock-climbing. Imagine going on a hike and finding a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull staring out at you! Every day, more and more bones come to the surface due to erosion.
Next we decided to check out the ghost town of Wayne, which was just south of Drumheller. ‘Ghost town’ is a bit misleading, as it is still called home by 27 residents. We called in at the local saloon to look at the memorabilia on the wall – Amanda wasn’t keen to stay due to all of the taxidermy on the wall!
After lunch at Subway (we thought we better eat in town as if the drive north was anything like yesterday’s, it could be many hours before we saw another town), we commenced the drive north to Edmonton. Again, the drive through the prairies was extremely boring, but luckily we kept things interested with impersonations (all of mind sounded like a cat) and questions (what would you do if you won one million dollars?)
We knew we’d hit Edmonton once we saw all of the traffic – we’d arrived just in time for peak hour. Luckily Luke had the shift of driving into town, with Amanda and I helping navigate through the tight and busy streets. Parking at the hostel was in short supply but we were lucky to find one out the back and checked into our room. What a disappointment – the room was old and small with squeaky bunkframes and not even the TV we’d been promised! HI’s normally have a reputation for nice and clean hostels – we’re not particularly looking forward to staying here for the next 5 days!
Safeway was only a few blocks away, so we walked down popular Whyte Street (kind of like a Lygon Street or Glenferrie Road, littered with cafes and funky shops) and bought some supplies for breakfast for the next few days. We also stopped in at a Noodle Box for dinner – I didn’t even get through half of my noodles!
We’ve now retired to our rooms for a quiet one watching movies and generally catching up on things. I have the top bunk and Amanda and Luke are sharing the double bunk below – there’s not much room to manoeuvre at all in here!
We could sleep in a little today, as our first stop for the morning – the Royal Tyrrell Museum – didn’t open until 10. We again had breakfast at McDonalds, where I sampled a ‘McGriddle’. It looked like an English Muffin with egg and cheese in it, but it was definitely not an English Muffin – it tasted like a maple flavoured pancake encompassing the egg and cheese!
On the way to the Museum we stopped in at the Visitor’s Information Centre. Unfortunately it wasn’t open yet, but we were still able to take photos with the world’s largest dinosaur, which stood guard outside its door. We also took photos with the hire car, both pretending to drive it and milling about outside.
The Museum was only a short drive away, and we were one of the first to enter. What an absolutely magnificent museum – the best I’ve ever been to. The scale of the dinosaur bones on display was incredible, and it was obvious that a lot of hard work and money had gone into the museum. One of the coolest things was knowing that most of the bones and fossils had been found in the surrounding national park, the most dinosaur rich area in the world. Reading the stories about how the bones had been found was also interesting – most about been found by normal citizens doing everyday activities, like hiking or rock-climbing. Imagine going on a hike and finding a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull staring out at you! Every day, more and more bones come to the surface due to erosion.
Next we decided to check out the ghost town of Wayne, which was just south of Drumheller. ‘Ghost town’ is a bit misleading, as it is still called home by 27 residents. We called in at the local saloon to look at the memorabilia on the wall – Amanda wasn’t keen to stay due to all of the taxidermy on the wall!
After lunch at Subway (we thought we better eat in town as if the drive north was anything like yesterday’s, it could be many hours before we saw another town), we commenced the drive north to Edmonton. Again, the drive through the prairies was extremely boring, but luckily we kept things interested with impersonations (all of mind sounded like a cat) and questions (what would you do if you won one million dollars?)
We knew we’d hit Edmonton once we saw all of the traffic – we’d arrived just in time for peak hour. Luckily Luke had the shift of driving into town, with Amanda and I helping navigate through the tight and busy streets. Parking at the hostel was in short supply but we were lucky to find one out the back and checked into our room. What a disappointment – the room was old and small with squeaky bunkframes and not even the TV we’d been promised! HI’s normally have a reputation for nice and clean hostels – we’re not particularly looking forward to staying here for the next 5 days!
Safeway was only a few blocks away, so we walked down popular Whyte Street (kind of like a Lygon Street or Glenferrie Road, littered with cafes and funky shops) and bought some supplies for breakfast for the next few days. We also stopped in at a Noodle Box for dinner – I didn’t even get through half of my noodles!
We’ve now retired to our rooms for a quiet one watching movies and generally catching up on things. I have the top bunk and Amanda and Luke are sharing the double bunk below – there’s not much room to manoeuvre at all in here!
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