The 13000 km mark of our trip is punctuated with two bigs

If you are near Edmonton, Vegreville is a nice stop. It is one of the prettiest Bigs we have seen on our trip
There was an elk guarding the entrance to the Elks park

Once in the park, we saw this 25 foot giant

So now you know a pysanka is a painted Easter Egg. This pysanka has an interesting story. It is full of uniques and firsts and quite a feat of engineering.  . .and it moves.

Just west of Vegreville, we saw a Ukrainian historic village. Unfortunately it was closed. A bit further, we also saw some grazing bison.

Onto Edmonton where we were looking for a scrapbooking store near the West Edmonton Mall, but the mall is so big, that a small store is hard to find. When we found it, it was an empty shell. 

Moving right along, we are getting ready for the next leg of our odyssey.

This is likely our last dive into the badlands.  However, the Drumheller location is probably the most famous. Similar to the riverbed areas, our adventure here  starts with a 200 metre plunge.  Did your ears pop?

We had to go see the biggest dinosaur in the world

He is located in front of the Visitor Centre and has his own website.

The natural attractions are a must see…as you come into town from Calgary, turn right on the Hoodoo trail. About 7km out, you will see a sign for a swinging bridge.  Take a left there and follow the winding road.  Even if you do not like swinging bridges, it is a good picture taking spot.

As you return to the highway, consults the sign to see the other attractions on the left turn.  The hoodoos are just 7km down.  A short walk from the parking lot and you are in the protected area.  You can walk around back and climb the rock face at leisure.  Be careful if it has rained lately.  The silt and sandstone make a nice slippery mud when wet.

Decide if you want to visit the mine or the schoolhouse.  Then head back into town.  Follow the signs to thew visitor centre to see the big dinosaur and get directions to the three museums in town.

You will also notice several small dinosaurs adorning many lawns and businesses.  After all, this is the single largest repository of dinosaur bones in Canada.

Whether you visit a museum or not, be sure to follow the Dinosaur trail North, all the way to Horse Thief Canyon.  When I overlooked that spot, I could Imagine Indians on the warpath lining the tops of the hills while the vulnerable convoy travelled below.

For more pictures from Drumheller, see Cindy’s blog

If I had to pick only 2 badlands in Western Canada, they would be Writing on Stone and Drumheller.

Tonight.  We are in Red Deer, anxiously planning our entry into the Rocky Mountains.

Guy

Today, we went from Medicine Hat to Writing on Stone provincial park. This park is open year round though the visitor centre operates only seasonally.

If you are within 500km, this is a must see. Even a good picture, which mine is not, cannot begin to describe the experience.

Standing like soldiers, on the side of the river basin, the hoodoos hold the stories of the natives that lived there hundreds of years ago.

From Medicine Hat, head West past Bow Island.  A couple of Kilometres out of town, you will see the first of many blue signs leading you to Writing On Stone provincial park.  If you prefer landmarks, then first and foremost, you need to head to Foremost Alberta. Then you follow the road towards Milk River and keep an eye out for those blue signs. 

If you are coming from Calgary or Lethbridge, head for Milk River. As you take the sharp turn into town, you will see a visitor centre on your right with ROCKS and a dinosaur. The rock formations there are but a pale sample of what you will see in the park.  If the centre is closed, continue towards route 50,direction Foremost.

It was sombre when we got there and my camera did not take a very good picture. Cindy will have better pictures on here blog, likely tomorrow.  Check back at 2fromaway.ca for updates.

Whichever way you come in, complete the loop by leaving in the other direction. Like much of Midwestern Canada, this area is flat, but you enter the milk river valley several times during this trip.  This is also high flat ground.  Most of the area is at an altitude of 1000 metres above sea level.  We peaked at about 1111 just outside Milk River.

Tonight we are in Lethbridge, windy home of the wind gauge.  . . You should drop by the visitor information centre and see this curiosity.

Tomorrow we will zigzag our way to Calgary to get ready for a trip to the other badlands.

Yesterday, we hugged the Saskatchewan border, working our way down to Medicine Hat.  On the way, we stopped in Cereal.

It was their 100th anniversary this year and to that honour they built a small trail station and grain elevator in town. As fate would have it, on the way to Cereal, we saw kilometres of railroad track ripped up with ties in big bundles on the side of what used to be the track,  So after 100 years of history, Cereal is not connected by rail any more.

The town itself was quaint and one of the streets had many buildings with the tall FRONTS like you see in the old west movies.

Then we stopped in Oyen who was also celebrating a 100th, with several murals decorating a park behind this tower.

Other than those two stops, there was 2 hours of a whole bunch of nothing…typical scenery for the prairies.  However, we were not disappointed.

Shortly after, we crossed the Red Deer river and plunged again into the South Saskatchewan River basin. This time, the edges were full of moguls which made the scenery so much more eerie.

We arrived in Medicine Hat near sunset in the rain. When we thought the rain had stopped, we decided to go into the store to get some water for tomorrow. The precipitation had not stopped; it had changed to snow.  We will probably get 4 cm tonight.  It is a good thing we are heading further South tomorrow.