Today was about the Royal Tyrrell Museum, a fabulous museum dedicated to fossils and the history of life on planet Earth. If you are in the area, make sure to visit!

The museum has lots to take in – more than we could absorb in one visit. It showed the development of life over many millions of years. Alberta is very rich in well preserved fossils from many of the time periods.

Scientists work tirelessly cleaning, identifying and preserving fossils that are discovered, many by construction and mining companies. An Alberta law requires that a palaeontologist examine any fossil found and larger construction and mining companies are even required to have one on staff.

Tetrapod are jawed vertebrates with two pairs of limbs with digits (fingers and toes). They include amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals – even you! The body plan is successful, adaptable and has allowed tetrapods to thrive on land and in the water for the past 385 million years. This particular creature is a Tiktaalik and is one of a species of tetrapod-like fish from the later part of the Devonian Period. These transitional fossils had both internal gills and rudimentary lungs that allow them to survive equally well in oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor waters.

The Dimetrodon were spiky and loved basking in the sun. It is possible that their sails were used for display to attract mates or to discourage competitors.

Drumheller is located in the Canadian Badlands and has an impressive display of rock formations, canyons and hoodoos. These were formed by the effects of erosion caused by water, wind and frost.

Today was a shopping, swimming and movie day.

After visiting Cabela’s in the morning, buying some hiking shoes and getting some great ideas for what to explore around Calgary from our salesperson John, we headed off to Sikome Aquatic Facility in the Fish Creek Provincial Park for a swim in their lagoon.

A quick trip through Costco for the essentials and then off to next door Walmart to find a spot for the night. A beautiful rainbow was visible.

After going for a walk we went to see Oppenheimer at the Cineplex theatre next door and didn’t get out until after midnight. Although the cinema had reclining seats it was not only the movie that keep us engaged but also the tremendous soundtrack.

This morning’s first priority was to donate some money to the casino for allowing us to overnight there. After a coffee and an orange juice we proceeded to the slot machines where one of them quickly swallowed a crisp $10 bill and gave us an appropriate amount of credits. After pressing the play button four times, only $0.10 remained, not really enough to cash out. Oh well.

Martin met up with a potential new client who works with the railway companies to scan their tracks for safety. They have a really sophisticated boxcar that measures all sorts of different track qualities while the train is in motion and provides real-time data to the railway company when it finds issues. The meeting took place at the CP sorting yard.

After business, we drove to Chinatown and visited the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre museum to learn about the history of the Chinese people in Canada and the discrimination they faced. There were also super exhibits of the accomplishments of the Chinese people over their long history.

One particularly impressive piece of art we saw was a picture that was almost entirely comprised of feathers.

Another intriguing item was the bronze singing fish basin that has two ears. If you fill the basin with water and rub the ears with wet hands, it will make a distinct sound and four water columns will rise from the surface as a result of standing waves. The kids were really good at it and happy to demonstrate their skills.

Tonight’s camping spot is at Cabela’s where there is room for four RVs, complete with dump station.

Our first stop for today was at the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site. This site was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list at the 1981 meeting as a site of outstanding universal value forming part of the cultural heritage of mankind. An interpretive centre teaches about the history of the area.

Prehistorical Plains Indians herded buffalo over cliffs to their deaths and then butchered the animals for meat to survive the winter months and used the hides and bones for clothing and tools. Over a period of almost 6000 years, at least 4 different Indian cultures used this site.

After leaving the buffalo behind us, we traveled on a gravel highway until we met up with Hwy 3. Our next stop was the Lundbreck Falls, a very picturesque place to have lunch followed by a hike to see the twin falls.

The second cultural place of interest was the Bellevue Underground Mine, a former coal mine. We donned miner hard hats with lights and walked 1000ft into the pitch black mine to learn how coal was extracted during its operation between 1903-1961. According to our guide, some children as young as 12 worked in the mines, a dangerous and difficult environment to be in. Miners worked 8-12 hours a day for little pay.

The coal wagons, each weighing 3-6 tonnes, were pulled out of the mine an average of 6 at a time by Clydesdale horses.

The guide, a university history student, was excellent, informative and engaging.

After some quick grocery shopping at Walmart we stopped at the Lethbridge information centre to get some suggestions for what to do in the area. Wow, did we find a lot of possibilities. So many, that we didn’t manage to make it out of Lethbridge.

Our first adventure was at the Alberta Birds of Prey Nature Centre in nearby Coaldale. Here orphaned and/or injured birds find a forever home if they can’t be released back into the wild.

Admission was $14 for adults and $12 for seniors (60+) and a bag of duck food was $2. We invested Ruth’s senior rate discount in a bag of duck food. The first birds we encountered after entering were ducks and Canada geese – not exactly birds of prey unless small children with food are involved.

Next, we saw the cutest little (and bigger) owls and were even allowed to hold them.

We learned that owls with yellow eyes are active during the day and those with black eyes are nocturnal.

The next area housed eagles and hawks, but those required professional handling as eagles can have a wingspan of up to 2.4 meters.

At 1:30PM there was a bald eagle flying exhibition featuring “Grace”. Grace weighs 7.8 lbs and definitely had attitude. Some chicken bits at both ends of her track kept her focused and flying back and forth. She also eyed some donuts that one of the visitors was eating but the trainer kept her from enjoying those.

The staff was super friendly and knowledgable and answered all questions in detail.

After watching the birds being fed, we too were hungry and headed to a food truck event at Henderson park in town where we sampled a taco with brisket, and another with pork belly. Both were excellent! Next up was the brisket on a bun truck but their fare wasn’t as good as the tacos. To finish off, we had to make sure that the ice cream truck offered tasty treats. We were not disappointed.

Now stuffed, we had to do some exercise and walked around this lovely park which features the Nikki Yuki Japanese Garden, a huge pool and a lake.

Our last visit for today was to the Lethbridge Viaduct, also known as the High Level Bridge which was constructed between 1907 and 1909 at a cost of over $1.3 million. It is over 1.6 km long and has a height of 96 meters above the river bed. It is the largest of its type in the world!

The beautiful structure of the bridge lends itself to abstract photography.

Ok, we didn’t make it very far today, so we’re back at the Walmart for the night.