So after a refreshing 14 hours at home, after a 12 day tour on the high seas at work (post to come), I decided to hit the road and do a little long weekend, cross-country driving. Vacations are so relaxing.
We loaded up the truck and headed for Alberta, our rich neighbour to the east. Our mission was to go see the Badlands...otherwise known as Drumheller. The place where desolate canyons meet dinosaur crazy kids.
We spent a night, and the better part of the next day in Yale, a town that most people just blow through on their way up the canyon. We did a really fun, and incredibly steep hike up to a geocache at a place called "Spirit Caves". Truly an exhausting experience, but worth the reward (I now own a kick ass set of Hula Girl postcards).
After a okay night at a little lake campsite outside of Chase, we cruised towards Calgary. Do you have any idea of how many people go through Banff National Park on a holiday weekend? More than you would think possible.
After stopping briefly in Revelstoke to by a new camp stove (old one packed it in) we discovered that Sasha had developed a nasty case of runny bum (probably picked up by drinking the water at the lake). Now technically, you can't stop in any of the parks along Highway 1 without purchasing a park pass, but we thought this qualified as an emergency. Nothing more fun than a large dog with explosive diarrhea.
Going through Calgary was an interesting experience. Who would of thought the would put that many stop lights on Canada's national highway.
We finally arrived in Drumheller in the late afternoon, far after all the good campsites were taken. But desperation, and the ability to sleep in your truck, took us to a campground of sorts behind "The Last Chance Saloon' in the little town of Wayne. The yard was full of local party goers and the odd traveler who had showed up late like us. The cool thing about Wayne, other than the historic saloon, is the fact that in a six kilometer stretch getting there off the highway, you have to cross 11 one lane wooden bridges.
Morning took us to the historic Atlas mine, which of course was closed, because we simply get up too early. So what got another geocache in the area, and went to look at the hoodoo's. These rock formations are very cool, if not smaller than you'd imagine, but I'd always wanted to see them. They remind me of this canyon in Bolivia called "Valle de los Machos" which loosley translates to "valley of the penises". You can see why...a cigar for Dr. Freud.
We then hit the Royal Tyrell Museum...which is arguably the best museum in the country. You could definitely argue that if you're a dinosaur buff, or a person with kids (or a lover of crowds...again the long weekend phenomenon). Dinosaurs are neat, but to be honest, it was a bit over the top. However, there was a badland interpretive trail that doubled as both a earth cache and a place to walk the dog, who still had runny bum.
We drove around town a bit, and headed for Horseshoe Cannyon west of town. This was a neat place, not as crowded, and we hiked around for a few hours( picked up a cache and searched in vain for another) before driving to Canmore to sleep. The campfire ban proved ironic in the rain.
Heading home the next day we heard of huge ferry delays and decided to camp outside of Hope. We found a great spot off a Forest Service road near a crystal clear creek. The dog was getting better, the sun was out, and the fire was lit.
Tuesday morning found us crawling through rush hour traffic in the Lower Mainland. No rush to get to the ferry, as two sailing waits were still in effect. Finally, we made it home.
The moral of the story...don't go anywhere on a long weekend...it just isn't worth the hassle.
But looking back, it was kind of fun anyway...beats working in the office, which is my new occupation for the foreseeable future.
