Adventure in the Badlands

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Woke up this morning at 3:15. 4:37. 5:29. 6:25. 7:15. 7:34. 7:46. 8:01. Finally I woke up at 8:11 and headed for breakfast.

I noticed this older guy flirting with this younger girl at the breakfast table. "You've seen Spanglish? How Adam Sandler calls the girl a 'mexy'- sexy Mexican? You mexy." She stared at her hands and laughed.

I was worried I was going to be late for the Prairie Duster tour bus, so I waited for a while and thought to myself. Finally it came--about 15 minutes late, but that's okay-- I was worried that I forgot to tell them I had switched from Auberge Chez Nous hostel to the HI-Calgary hostel.

I'm the only Canadian on the Prairie Duster tour. There's some from Austrailia, some from England, and a Swiss trio. It's awesome travelling with tourists because they make you see interesting things about your nation that you take for granted. For example, oil wells. The Moose Bus slowed down so people could take photos of them on the way to Horseshoe Canyon and Drumheller.

I love the badlands! It's awesome how I saw nothing but prairie, but then the bus went over a hill, and Horseshoe Canyon was exposed, like a hidden gem. It was amazing! We had lunch there, then headed off to Drumheller. I think I might be able to live there too, it's in a valley of coulees and very gorgeous, like being in the mountains, except greener.

We stopped at the world's largest dinosaur, then headed to the Royal Tyrell Museum. It was awesome. A person I knew from debate works there, but I didn't recognize him until after we started talking, and I feel bad.

After that we went on a walk through the trails by the museum, spying many little hoodoo formations.

We headed to the hoodoos by Rosedale, and stupid people weren't sticking on the trails, they were climbing over the rocks. I wish a park warden had been there to give them fines, but apparentely since it's a provincial park there's no money put into having on there. It's a shame.

We stopped at Wayne, a place that used to have a population of 2470, but is now down to 27. I wish I had taken a photo of the sign. I had a buffalo burger and beans at the Last Chance Saloon. They had a bathroom with tiled walls and doors.

We drove home and stopped on the way so the Swiss trio could take a photo of themselves in the middle of the highway with the road trailing behind them and no cars coming. I wish I had gotten a photo of myself doing the same thing. It's something I take for granted since I live in Alberta, all these little things that visitors find attractive about the province. But I did take plenty of photos of the wide open prairie.
Now I'm back in the hostel, have an early start tomorrow.

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Photos

Hoodoo
A hoodoo by Rosedale, Alberta.

Pond
A pond in the prairieland.