Drumheller

 A weekend meant that it was time for us all to go on a camping trip and this weekend our destination would be McLaren Dam Campground near Drumheller. 

The campground proved to be a little tricky to find, at least for some of us, and, having missed the turning for it from a very rural road we had some fun turning around with the trailer in tow. 

We finally made it to the campground to find it was very quiet - it was only our group there. There were no staff at the campground as it seems to be run by local volunteers/a local community and much of what goes on is be an honesty system. By now we are getting better at knowing our jobs to get set up.

View from our sites.....

Pelicans on the lake, there was quite a large flock of them but I couldn't get a decent enough shot of them.....

One or two motorhomes turned up onsite before the evening was out but it was soon time to turn in for the night.

Having had a decent nights rest the next day we headed down to Drumheller, the dinosaur capital of the world.The approach to Drumheller was quite unique as, even from a couple of kilometres away, there was no sign of the town in the distance. However we quite suddenly descended into a large valley in which the town is situated.

Our first stop was at the Royal Tyrrell Musuem that hosts a large selection of dinosaur skeletons, bones and associated fossils. It was an interesting couple of hours though I have to say I cannot agree with their science 'proving' that the dinosaurs lived 70 million or so years ago and that the Earth is a billion years or more old.

After some lunch in the town of Drumheller we arranged to visit the Atlas Coal Mine before which we visited the Hoodoos! Each hoodoo is a sandstone pillar, around 5 to 7 metres tall, resting on a thick base of shale that is capped by a large stone. Hoodoos are very fragile and can erode completely if their capstone is dislodged. The protected Hoodoos site is a guaranteed spot to see Hoodoos but smaller versions of these sandstone giants can be found all over the Drumheller Badlands.

After some ices we headed down the road to the Atlas Coal mine for our final sightseeing trip of the day. The mine was another interesting visit and included a visit to part of the actual mine entrance although there are plans to open a much longer section of the (horizontal) mine entrance as well as various elevators, artifacts and visit to the showers! We were not warned but there was quite a lots of steps to tackle, it was quite a climb inside the elevator tunnel as well as on the cliff face to the mine entrance, several people in the group had to turn back as they were not able to do the climb, maybe we all should have been told about that before the tickets were purchased!

Spruce Grove Grain Elevator

A short drive from Stony Plain to Spruce Grove took us to the Alberta Wheat Board grain elevator that we'd spotted more than once going about the routine business of shopping! Having some time on our hands and to get the girls out we headed off to explore this landmark structure.

 In 1933 there were 1800 Primary Elevators in Western Canada. However by 2003 only 389 remained and that number has continued to decrease significantly. This is why the preservation of the Grain Elevator in Spruce Grove is essential. The loss of the Grain Elevators in Western Canada is the loss of a unique part of North American history and culture associated with the Canadian Prairies. 

Built in 1958, the Spruce Grove Grain Elevator was in operation until 1995 (when it was due for demolition). The Spruce Grove and District Agricultural Society then stepped in and prevented the demolition. It is now being maintained as a Historically Designated Museum. It is the last remaining wooden Grain Elevator on the CN Rail line west of Edmonton. 

We were welcomed at the elevator by an experienced tour guide but also his 'apprentice' in whose hands he left us. It was the very first tour she had given but explained the workings well and we asked lots of questions, most of which she could answer. It was surprisingly to learn of how many storage areas there were in the elevator used for different grains from different farmers and different qualities. Once the farmer delivered his grain to the elevator it's quality would be assessed and a price agreed. The grains are then dumped into a 'basement' from where they are elevated to the top of the building and through various channels get dropped into storage bins. The grains get dried if it has too high a moisture content, stored again and eventually get 'elevated' again only to be dropped through chutes into a well positioned rail car from where the train (often more than a kilometre long) takes the grain off for processing. 

The unfortunate thing (probably only for me) was that we were not allowed to climb to the top level of the elevator, we had to stay firmly on the ground floor. 

Also at the site is a water tower that has been relocated from another location after it fell into disue and was in danger of rusting away.

Fort Edmonton Park

Having had several days R&R we headed down to Fort Edmonton Park with it's relocated/reconstructed buildings with costumed interpreters as well as integrated streetcar and train systems.

A good few hours at the fort, not much to say when the photos and videos say it all.

    

         

In addition to the reconstructed buildings etc. Fort Edmonton also has a small funfair in which the girls lost their heads for a while and Daniel had a shocking time.

 

 

 

 

All in all it was a nice day out with more nice days out to come :-)

 

 

 

 

Time to breathe.

 After arriving in Stony Plain on 27th July we took time to catch our breath after a drive westward of 3833km so we were in no particular hurry to drive very far for a little while. It was good to simply catch up and reconnect with our Alberta family that we hadn't seen in person for 2 1/2 years. As we arrived Alberta went into a heatwave with temperatures in the mid 30C for what turned into at least a couple of weeks. There was no air conditioning in the house though there were a couple of fans and our trailer is equipped with an AC unit so we could get some respite from the heat if we were desperate.

The weekend after our arrival was, of course, Canada Day, so we headed off to the local park for some food and a long wait until it got dark enough for the fireworks.

North Battleford to Stony Plain, day 8

 It was another bright and early start for us on our last westward bound leg of the trip. We has been the only boondocker in the parking lot overnight but now a few people were turning up to walk dogs or just exercise at the park on this beautiful day. Before joining the highway we headed to the Wal Mart shopping centre and gassed up and then joined highway 16 once again.

We crossed the Saskatchewan / Alberta in Lloydminster at 9.20am and travelled on to Vermillion where we celebrated with a Tim's coffee and doughnut.

We could hardly pass Vegreville without stopping in so we called into Kinsmen/Elk Park for some pictures at the lake and Pysanka.

We even managed to make it look like the trailer was still flying a Canadian flag as we did in Manitoba, albeit a bit smaller version.

After a while it was back in to the car and head off on this westward final final leg. We topped up with gas and headed for Stony Plain. Driving the highway along the northern edges of Edmonton was the busiest section of highway we'd encountered all the way. Regardless, we arrived at our Stony Plain destination incident free shortly after 2pm, YEAH!

We drove 431km this final day for a total of 3833km at an average speed of 73km/hr and 52 and a half hours of actual driving and around 700 litres of gas.

Time for a rest.

Moosomin Regional Park to North Battleford, day 7

 Having made such good progress yesterday we were excited that our westward journey now had a n end almost insight. Despite the late night last night we were up at 6 and after a leisurely breakfast and tear down we left the site at 7.45am.

We filled up with gas in the town of Moosomin itself before rejoining highway 16 west.

After about 3 hours we decided on a coffee break. Our GPS informed us there was a rest area not too far away so we kept our eyes peeled for that. We soon spotted it and pulled to the entrance right on the side of the highway only to find a barrier across the entrance and it was no place to be stopping for anything. We quickly pulled out again and another rest area search revealed there was another a little further west, just off the highway. We were becoming all too aware that once again our fuel gauge was getting down to about 60km of fuel left.

We took highway 2 (north) and continued north for several kilometres looking for the rest area which proved to be at the bottom of a small valley where the road wound downhill from both sides of the valley. This picture does not do the downhill aspect of the road justice!

The picture shows the road coming from the opposite direction from which we approached the rest area. The picture was taken to show the small river and in particular a couple of turtles on the rock in the centre of the picture. I believe they were Blandings turtles. I did not want to get too close as they'd likely disappear into the water.

We didn't need to get too close to realise this rest area didn't look to be too hopeful. The building, even from a distance, could be seen to be somewhat derelict and as we got to the entrance the barrier was once again chained and locked. Fortunately the entranceway was sufficiently large enough for us to just about pull in off the road and take our break which we were grateful even though traffic from both directions came downhill towards us, with traffic from our side of the having less visibility of us because of a bend in the road. Being a minor road the traffic was quite light. This little closed rest area was quite scenic and peaceful in the circumstances.

Having had a rest we set off again but since our GPS informed us it was more than 70km north-west (the way we were headed) to a gas station we decided not to take the risk and head back a few kilometres to Findlater where we'd seen a gas station on the other side of the highway. We were not happy when, after doubling back for gas, we discovered the gas station was 'temporarily' closed. Just up the road where we were going to rejoin the highway were a few bikers who were taking a break. We asked them about gas stations and they told us there was one less than 15km away in the town of Chamberlain that we were passing through anyway. I guess local knowledge beats GPS knowledge sometimes! Sure enough, we headed NW to Chamberlain and found the gas station even if it was quite busy but that should be expected if they are few and far between. Next to the gas station was this statue of an early pioneer and across the street is this typical grain elevator.

Having refuelled the car we travelled north-west again for a couple of hours before coming across a sign for a rest area that we thought would be OK for a lunch stop. We followed the picnic table signs only to be led to Blackstrap provincial Park where we had to pay an entry fee even though we just wanted an hours stop to eat some lunch. The side roads are just too narrow and have few if any spots suitable for turning around so we had to bite the bullet and pay our entry fee. At least tonight I was hoping that we could try our hand at our first boondocking spot. I had tentatively thought about going to a campground in Maidstone, SK, but that seemed a jus bit to far. I little research from the website www.ioverlander.com showed that we may be able to boondock at a civic park in North Battleford, SK. Arriving in North Battleford around 6pm we headed to McD's where we purchased some food then set out into the town's back streets in search of the park we planned to spend the night. It turned out o be an excellent park, a large, gravelled parking lot overlooking a sports field as well as lots of good quality parkland.

  

Today was another personal best at 724km! That does seem a little high as Google tells me the distance between the two is about 630km but maybe that's price of our gas and rest stop detours?

Aaron Provincial Park to Moosomin Regional Park, day 6

 We knew it could be a long day when we got up at 6am thinking it was 7am but we'd forgotten about the extra hour we got yesterday when we crossed into Central time. So we actually left the campground at 7.30am on our westward journey. From this point on we had not booked any campgrounds as we weren't sure how far we'd get each day.

Crossed into Manitoba at 9.50am with the original intention of overnighting at Bird's Hill Campground near Winnipeg. However as that would be a drive of only (?) 369km we thought we could get further than that, even more so after our earlier than planned start.

By now we had discovered that gas stations can be few and far between with the result that a couple of times we'd been down to the car showing we only had around 30km worth of gas in the tank and we'd better find a gas station PDQ if we weren't to run out. Naturally, when you find one gas station you find several! Getting low on gas we pulled into a Shell gas station and attempted to gas up only to find my credit card declined - oh no 🤯! We pulled away from the pumps and called the bank who told us there was no problem with the card and their system didn't even register a couple of failed attempts. The service agent was confident it was a gas station issue rather than our card giving problems. So we were able to pull forward less than 50 metres in to the adjacent Esso gas station where the card worked seamlessly. 

The countryside along the highway seemed to be opening up now, still plenty of trees but not as dense as before. Additionally, since we are now on a four lane highway (2 each direction!) there is naturally more space as well as it tending to be straighter, flatter and faster road.

As we approached Winnipeg we came across a sign indicating we were at the longitudinal centre of Canada. Parking was a little tricky as the parking lot was quite small and I couldn't park on the service road. I did manage to reverse into the parking lot and even managed to make it look like we were flying a Canadian flag from trailer roof!

We were making good progress but still had nowhere booked to stay tonight. Stopping at a Walmart to buy some batteries we took advantage of their internet to research where we might stop and made a few notes. We crossed in to Saskatchewan at 7.09 pm (note tht we crossed Manitoba in a day - took us 4 days to get out of Ontario!). Entering the town of Moosomin we spotted a sign to a campground that we though was close to the highway. After about 18km and several small, rough and winding roads later we finally arrived at Moosomin Regional Park. Fortunately the campground had vacancies although we were informed that the site was fully booked for the following night, not that that bothered us.

We checked in and headed down to our 'almost lakeside' site with electric and water hookup available.

Having driven our personal best of 704km in a day we were well pleased with the day's effort. Some nice cloud formations were on display.....

We explored the park a little and found the park store (with internet access) as well as a sizeable beach and playground but also quite a few solidly built cottages (holiday homes) making quite a sizeable summer community here. Maybe due to the late arrival at the campground, a late supper, talking with some residents or maybe just because it never seems to get dark here it was gone 11pm by the time we turned in for the night. This beach photo was early the next day, the sun was not quite high enough for a better photo......but high enough for us to be setting off again.