Day 16: Drumheller and Dinosaur Provincial Park

Today is Dinosaur Day, so we wake up early to get to Drumheller on time. We are worried about getting caught in Calgary's rush hour traffic, but we are able to pass through the streets without any problems. The drive takes almost 2 hours. The landscape changes noticeably, it is flat, very green, and sparsely populated. Agriculture is practiced here. In Drumheller, everything revolves around dinosaurs. Once the climate was tropical and the vegetation lush. But as the environment changed, the area became a huge dinosaur graveyard. Geologist J.B. Tyrell was the first to come across dinosaur bones in 1884, triggering a dinosaur fever with his discovery. Colorful dinosaur figures stand on many corners, the world's largest dinosaur is located in the town, and there are several museums. We choose the Royal Tyrell Museum. I have already bought the tickets in advance and we are over an hour early, but we are allowed to enter the museum already. There are many fossils, bones, and skeletons on display. The different ages and their animals are also presented. We have never seen such a detailed dinosaur exhibition before. It is very interactive and you can see 80% original fossils and bones. We spend about an hour and a half in the museum. Then we take a quick look at the landscape with the hills made of different types of stones. After a lunch break, we drive 20 km east and stop at the Hoodoos. Wind and water shape the mushroom-shaped earth pyramids, known as Hoodoos, on the steep and barren rock slopes. Through these changes in sand and stone, the skeletons were exposed. We want to take a short walk. But when we stop at the parking lot, it is raining. We put on our rain gear and start the walk. We still see many tourists hiking up the hill. There are no pre-made paths, only a staircase at the beginning and then you walk along the sandstone mixture. We admire the Hoodoos and take a short walk. We quickly realize that the ground becomes muddy and slippery due to the rain. David slips and gets dirty, then we see the other tourists trying to come down the hill. It is now so slippery and smooth that they fall several times and smear themselves completely with mud. Fortunately, we arrived here at the beginning of the rain. We watch the spectacle for a while, from our point of view it is funny, but certainly not for the others.
Then the journey continues for another hour and a half towards the east. The roads are straight and you can see agriculture, especially cattle breeding. It continues to rain as we arrive at Dinosaur Provincial Park. We hurry to get to the visitor center.
We spend an hour in the small exhibition there, then the facility closes and we go to our campsite. The rain turns into a thunderstorm and we sit inside trying to dry our things. While the children are sleeping, we play city-country-river. The rain is beating heavily on our car and a lightning strikes a few meters away. It sounds terrible. After the thunderstorm, half of the campground is flooded. Fortunately, our site is only partially affected. René and I take another walk and get bitten by mosquitoes. We return to the car and go to sleep. It stops raining at night.