July 3, 2007
Pine Creek , day 3

Going to Drumheller, AB

Janice is temporarily through with follow-up edits, so I am hoping for a little more computer access. For the thousands of hours she has dedicated to her Oregon book, it is apparent that she is not doing it for the money. But she is doing it well.

Since we had a day to kill before going to our Stampede site tomorrow, we took a day trip to Drumheller, some 2 hours northeast. It is the dinosaur capital of North America, if not the world. Their Royal Terrell Museum has one of the largest collections of dinosaur skeletons which are displayed very vividly, whether land, sea or air creatures. (Janice, who declared herself “not into paleontology,” remained in a shaded area of the parking lot with Carly, working on the lap-top while I toured the museum. Now is that nuts?? BTW, this is one of the top museums for me, but then, I’ve liked paleontology since the 4th grade when my teacher, Miss Michaels, brought some fossils to class. She was a ‘fox’, but that’s another story….

On every block in the town there are dinosaur replicas, including T-Rex, at 60 feet, the largest in the world. Look closely and you can see Carly between the toes. In the next photo, that’s me after making a $3.00 donation to climb the stairs and stick my head out the mouth. If only my kids could have seen me mugging up there!

The rolling countryside was beautiful, alternating greens of young wheat with yellow mustard fields. These suddenly gave way to Horseshoe Canyon, a collection of formations called hoodoos. Drumheller is surrounded by such formations, which are rich with fossil deposits.

Tried to find a Supercuts for Janice, who is unshorn since the trip began (hence ‘the hat’?), but all shops today were crawling with people. My personal solution was to buy a haircutting kit at Costco a week or so ago. This is perhaps the best $19.99 investment I will ever make. Just put that ¼” attachment on and buzz it! I’m well over issues of vanity, as you might have noticed. (When you give up the ‘comb-over’ at age 39, you know you have lost the battle of baldness.) Barber Ray in Sacramento may never see me again, thus missing out on my semi-monthly contribution of $12.00 to his IRA to polish my bald pate. Janice has declined my offer to shear her with the Costco cutter.

Carly scored a new bed, her old one getting a bit road-weary. Gotta keep the old girl comfy.

Looking forward to meeting the new group of folks tomorrow at the Stampede camp and celebrating the 4th of July with fellow Americans.