The Badlands

Dinosaur Park

We arrive in the afternoon and spot a "Camping Full" sign a few miles before the campground entrance.
The prairie drive has wiped us out, but we haven't gone completely dumb yet. We decide to keep going anyway and snag the very last spot... Phew!
A long, deep sleep ahead, except... we're parked next to a very... special family! No comment on this blog.
Someone still manages to swipe the cap off our fresh-water tank! We still haven't figured out the why or the how.

The next day's hike will definitely go down as one of the big moments of this trip. Spectacular scenery, and we have the rocks all to ourselves (no wonder — we later find out we weren't supposed to go there...)
It's beautiful, the weather's beautiful. The heat is barely bearable, but we bear it gladly.
Every other visitor does the loop by car. We're on foot... we feel like walking. The kids love having all that space to themselves.
Great hike — we're totally pumped!
Let's go to the Royal Tyrrell Museum!

Royal Tyrrell Museum

Here, the power of the tourist business strikes again!
Picture a bone-dry region. A desert where nothing grows. A cowboy road where every coal mine has shut down. All that's left are the remains of suspension bridges and cowboy boots lying in the ditches.

And out of nowhere rises the Royal Tyrrell Museum. A gorgeous, superbly designed museum worthy of a city like New York. Here, in the world's largest museum devoted to life through geological time, we're fascinated by the dinosaur hall and the paleo-conservatory.

Instead of a playground, the kids try their hand at paleontology, digging for dinosaur bones.
How cool to discover a place like this.

We end the afternoon at the Drumheller public pool. 100°F outside, 90°F in the water. Good temperature!
It's 7 p.m. We start looking for a place to sleep... A lady suggests the "Last Chance Saloon." We have to backtrack about 9 miles. Off we go. Adventure time!

Last Chance Saloon

The place to be! The place is as kitschy as it gets. A real saloon left completely untouched since the '60s. The owner, in a flowered shirt and a Freddie Mercury mustache, welcomes us into the establishment where he was born.
We settle into the restaurant and play cowboy. We grill our own steaks on the outdoor BBQs and make friends with the owner's (pretty) wife. Once again, the kids are our ticket to meeting people.
No doubt about it: a French family with 3 little monsters in this saloon on a Saturday night is quite the curiosity.
We spend the night in the parking lot. The kids fall asleep in KIFONS, and we decide (with their blessing — and above all, the walkie-talkies) to wander a few yards away (about 15 feet...) to sip a beer as a couple, joining the locals who had invited us to meet up that evening.

And that's when we discover that "drunk Alberta English" is really hard to understand! Our hosts are completely hammered on a mix of beer, tomato juice and Worcestershire sauce. Totally undrinkable! It's 10 p.m.
Belly laughs guaranteed. We play (and win — easy when you're the only ones still sober) a round of the local toss game.
Thanks for the warm welcome.

The next day, the big Disc Golf championship takes place right here!
The idea? You play golf with Frisbees. It's a real sport, super technical.
We take advantage of the saloon's hospitality and have Sunday lunch there. The restaurant is packed! We've found THE place around here!