Piping Woodpeckers - July 26, 2014

It was Day of the Dinosaurs today at Wynchemna! After our regular routine of a shared breakfast and lessons, we packed up the bus and headed out to Drumheller, the dinosaur capital of Canada! Drumheller is a small town famous for a large find of fossils and assorted dinosaur phenomenae found within the area.  The town is now home to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, considered one of the best museums of palaeontology in the world.It was a lovely drive to Drumheller from Calgary, about 2 hours of beautiful prairie, canola fields, farms and big, big sky. Our first stop was at Horseshoe Canyon, a region of weird stone formations called badlands, set in an arid canyon landscape.  There, we did a short hike around the triangular hills and saw all sorts of prairie dogs as well as actual (though small) cactus plants.  The area is usually very dry, but as there had been a rainstorm the previous day, the small hills of dirt had become rather muddy which made climbing up and down them slippery and challenging at times. We did a circular route through the horseshoe shaped canyon, and eventually ended up back where we started.  After the hike, we had watermelon at the top of the canyon while we rested and took in the impressive sight of the rom formations.We left the canyon and moved on to the Royal Tyrrell Museum for a plethora of dinosaur bones, fossils and an astounding amount of information about the region tens of millions years ago.  It was fantastic, and highlights included a full size Albertasaurus skeleton, a mammoth skeleton and a seemingly never ending display of other dinosaur bones and skulls. It was easy to see why this museum is so well regarded and possesses such a great reputation.After the museum, we stopped off in a park in Drumheller where we hit up the local pool for some refreshing swimming and fun in the water.  It was great after the heat of the hike.  The pool is adjacent to a park where we had a huge barbecue with both hot dogs and burgers all cooked by the camp leader, Roland.  It was like a summer dream, all under the watch of the World's Largest Dinosaur.  After eating our dinner, we all made use of the various soccer balls, footballs, volleyballs and frisbees we brought with us and all had a great time! For many of us, it was the first time we had ever thrown a frisbee!  As it was getting late, and dark, we boarded the bus for the long ride back to Calgary, happy but exhausted.[AFG_gallery id='189']