I flew out to Calgary for the Stampede and not much was going on.  With the devastating flooding that had happened, it was not unexpected.

So my friend Val and I packed up her younger kids and headed to see the dinosaurs in Drumheller.  First stop was the visitor information center where we climbed inside the world's largest dinosaur. It isn't real, it is just fun.  The kids flew up the interior stairs like they were nothing.  To be young again.

Once at the top you are in the dinosaur's mouth and get to look through it's teeth.  It is a little unnerving. And it is a long way down. This dinosaur had really big feet. After we wore out the kids a bit, we went to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.  There are so many fossils and lots of information.  I was able to get some of the information, but it is impossible to retain everything.  I took lots of photos of descriptions. I will put them up in the gallery - eventually.  

This is Black Beauty.  A T-Rex whose bones were tinted by manganese during fossilization.  This is what is called a death pose.  When they died, the drying muscles would contract pulling the neck back like this.  It is in a lot of the fossils.

This is Ammonite. Extinct hard-shelled creatures like squids.  The ones found in Alberta are both Gemstone and fossil due to the tectonic pressure and other factors.  The Gemstone is allowed to be mined and is used for Jewelery, however any fossil specimens are protected.  Not quite sure how that works, but apparently it does. Here is another dinosaur in the death pose. This is the Shonnisaurus Sikanniensis.  It was the largest Marine Reptile that we know of.  She is not quite complete, but she seems massive!  

On a side note, Val somehow managed to lose an earring and it rolled underneath the giant fossil - never to be seen again.

And this is obviously a Turtle fossil. And a Mammoth from the Ice age with some other little creatures hanging around. After soaking up the history, we headed out to the hoodoos and ran around in bare feet for a while.  My feet were sooo dirty.

So another fun trip comes to a close.