Following in the footsteps of dinosaurs
If you and your family are looking for fun and adventure that’s close to home, consider following in the footsteps of the dinosaurs this summer.
“It’s something the entire family can participate in - right here in our own backyard,” says Shelley Grollmuss, vice president of industry development for Travel Alberta. “What’s unique about this, is the landscape of the Canadian badlands, with its hoodoos, canyons and coulees, dramatic landscapes and rich fossil heritage.” DINOSAUR MUSEUMS
The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, which houses one of the world’s largest displays of dinosaur remains, is an approximately three-and-a-half drive from Edmonton, offering programs for the whole family. For children, “you can create your own fossils, which is always fun, because you can take them home with you,” Grollmuss says.
At Dinosaurs Unearthed at the Telus World of Science in Edmonton, you can see feathered dinosaurs and learn about their connection to modern day birds, as well as animatronic dinosaurs, with 17 life-size, moving, roaring dinosaurs; and fossils and skeleton specimens from across Asia and North America.
Also in Edmonton, the Royal Alberta Museum features a permanent exhibit on fossils - creatures from the depths of time.
At the Calgary Zoo, you can visit Dinosaurs Alive, complete with 16 life-sized animatronic dinosaurs.
In the Grande Prairie area, the new Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum opens this fall. DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK
Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Brooks, is “a place to get out into the badlands and see dinosaur fossils right in the ground, before the scientists have dug them up,” says Canadian Badlands Tourism executive director, Brad Tucker.
Nature lovers will also enjoy Dinosaur Provincial Park, with its stark, dramatic landscapes.
“Photographers go absolutely crazy over this place.” SOUTHEASTERN ALBERTA CULTURE
If you’re looking to explore, there is much more you can do in southern Alberta. Here are just a few of the possibilities:
Fly with Mountain View Helicopters on a canyon tour approximately 1,000 feet above Horseshoe Canyon, located just southwest of Drumheller. “You can see every feature of the canyon as you go along. It’s an amazing place to take photographs,” Grollmuss says.
In Rosebud, southwest of Drumheller, you can stop in to enjoy the Rosebud Dinner Theatre; and southeast of Drumheller, visit the Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site.
At Blackfoot Crossing, where Treaty No. 7 was signed, you can learn about and experience First Nation culture on the Siksika Nation.
In southeastern Alberta, history, art, archaeology and technology all come together at the Medalta Potteries National Historic Site in Medicine Hat. And just a little further east of Medicine Hat is the geologically distinctive Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park and the National Heritage Site of Fort Walsh.
Further south in the prairie grasslands is Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, in the Milk River Valley, with the largest concentration of First Nations rock carvings and rock paintings on North America’s great plains. OUTDOOR PLAYGROUND
If you love the outdoors, southeast Alberta has much to offer, with camping, hiking, biking and kayaking.
“Dinosaurs are what’s going to attract a lot of people into the region, but once they’re here, there are tons of other things to do,” Tucker says. “It’s a very interesting region.”