Prairies as far as the eye can see

What a fantastic day! First we went to ‘Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump‘. This tourist attraction was set into the hills; you would have passed by other than the sign telling you about it. How did it get its name? See if you can find this out by using the internet. The jump is in the western territory of the Blackfoot Tribe of First Nation peoples. Make sure you check out the link for their website. Maybe you could research buffalo or the Blackfoot Tribe and write a post about them.

At breakfast we were told about another great attraction called Frank Slide. Only about 45 minutes from Head Smashed In. Well, maybe if the road was sealed, but we followed an unsealed road – totally gravel and all you could see on either side of the road was wheat fields and hay bales. Thne we saw a dam – it was across the Oldman River which was so important to the natives at the buffalo jump. But it has been a dry summer in Canada, so no water was going over the spillway. About an hour later we hit the sealed road and headed into Pincher Creek for some lunch – Subway again – Yes Miss W’s mum – they are nutritious meals.

All along the sealed highways, you have little rest areas that include a sign giving the history of the area. This is a great way to let the other traffic through that is driving faster than we are. We set the cruise on either 80km or 90km per hour and then we have time to look at the scenery as well.

Following the Crowsnest Highway, you suddenly drive through all these boulders. The interpretive centre is just past these and after going in and watching the movie, you understand what happened here in 1903. Do  you know of any other rockslides that have caused so much damage and death? We have had many mine disasters like Mt Lyell near Queenstown in Tasmania but not rockslides.

We had planned to head to Drumheller to stay the night but that was still over three hours away, so we went back to Claresholm for a second night.

Did anyone see the episode of ‘Murdock Mysteries‘ where he has to go looking for his father – well that was where we were going – into the ‘badlands’. First we went to the Blackfoot Crossing where the treaty was signed between the Blackfoot Tribe and the government. Again the display was set into the hill and was shaped with tipis inside. Many of the displays had voices from the people themselves telling about their lives. One thing which amazed Miss W was that the tribe have their own school and included in the curriculum is drumming, native dancing as well as technology.

Onwards we went to Drumheller, to visit the Tyrrell Museum. What are they famous for? Dinosaurs! This was a fascinating place to visit. We could have stayed there for hours looking at all the dinosaurs and other animal skeletons on display. They actually send palaentologists all over the world including to Australia when dinosaur bones are found somewhere.

At the museum, it was recommended we divert off the main road and head to Warren via the 11 bridges in 6km. This sounded interesting, but when we arrived it looked like we had to go back the same way. Now Miss W does not like doing this so she headed off in an easterly direction. She knew from studying the map that we would eventually hit the main sealed road – the roads here have funny names like TWP 144 or FNTG 231 or RGE RD 123 – I wonder what all those letters stand for?

So here we are in Brooks for the night, ready to head to Dinosaur Provincial Park tomorrow – where they found some of those bones from the museum.

5 thoughts on “Prairies as far as the eye can see

  1. Dear Mrs Davo,

    I think its really cool how you are travelling the globe, and visiting students, landmarks, and such.

    From,Jake

    • Jake,
      I am having a fantastic time touring the states and Canada, especially visiting students and their teachers.

      Hope you are going to taste the vegemite that I will be bringing.

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