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[Saturday, August 7, 1999: Going flat out on the prairies.]
Got up a little later than usual, and Laz drove us towards Moose Jaw. MJO wanted to see the Chinese tunnels there so we stopped by and bought a ticket for the tour. Quite interesting how the tunnels were used by the Chinese to hide from the government, and how Capone used the tunnels later to avoid the authorities. The story of how gut rot got it's name, tobacco and sulfuric acid.. ick.
Bought some postcards of their local mascot (Mac, the giant moose - much like Max) and headed for Alberta. We were making very good time, averaging something like 140kph.. until we were stopped by the cops. Doh! Let's just say that we were clocked at 121 in a 100 zone. (Which seemed awfully low, but I wasn't going to correct her).
[Sunday, April 5, 2009: I remember that we were driving next to a minivan that we were trying to pass. As we crested a small hill, we saw the police cruiser. Both of our cars pulled over, but the officer walked up to our car. I am guessing that the other driver was breathing a sigh of relief as he drove off.
When the lady cop walked up to the window, she asked us,
"Do you know how fast you were going?"
To which our driver sheepishly asked,
"One hundred thirty?"
Which prompted a slightly suprised reply,
"Well, I had you clocked at 121, but you're still going to get a ticket."
I guess in a sense we did get away with it?]
After all of that excitement, we made it to the border and stopped by the TIC. Got a map and found locations for possible sites in the province (like the world's largest pierogi). Apparently I scared off the girls behind the counter with my comment about karaoke.. well.. okay, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that.
![[Day 5: The Prairies.]](../Pictures/1999-07-21/1999-07-25a.jpg)
Being in the middle of the prairies, the landscape was flat. Very, very flat. I personally didn't notice that much since I was driving for most of the time, and sleeping whenever I was not on my shift. The fact that you can see so far makes some of the cloud formations and weather phenomenon look amazing. I guess you get used to it after a while, but I was only exposed to it for a couple of days, so things like this was still interesting to me. It's too bad we never got a chance to get a completely unobstructed view (i.e. no cars) for a picture, but it looks to me as if we stopped just for this picture.
Nobody I know is in this picture, but there are some clouds and it's pretty flat huh?
The area around the Trans-Canada in Alberta was very flat. Much flatter than the lands that we passed by in Saskatchewan. I was a little surprised on how unflat the land in Saskatchewan was. After being warned that I would be bored stiff driving through the prairies, I was a little disappointed that it went by so quickly. Perhaps it was a good thing that I forgot, since it wasn't really that interesting to begin with.
![[Day 5: Napping in the back.]](../Pictures/1999-07-21/1999-07-25b.jpg)
After blazing through Manitoba and most of Saskatchewan the day before, we cleared most of the rest of the prairies on our way to Drumheller. Despite checking out the Chinese tunnels down at Moose Jaw, it was a fairly uneventful day.
That's MJO taking a nap, and BSB who's wide awake (at least when Laz was taking the picture).
As we wanted to check out the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, I suggested that we stay the night at Drumheller instead of staying in Calgary and backtracking (as we did with Ouimet canyon). We couldn't really waste mileage going back and forth so much, and it would probably take too much time anyway. Seeing that nobody had any better suggestions, we headed off to Drumheller.
The town (all four blocks) was situated at the bottom of a ravine that was mostly made of sand from sediment laid down a few dozen million years ago. Thus, the entire landscape erodes very quickly, exposing the many creatures that died and were buried at the bottom of the interior sea. The view going into the city was amazing. Nobody had a camera ready so I couldn't take a picture of the view, which was unfortunate.
Anyhoo, we stayed at Drumheller for the night. It was a very tiny town, and the night life was non-existent (especially for a Sunday night). We wandered around downtown (all two blocks) and checked out a couple of places. Made fun of the Hoo Doo inn, and the Hi Ho restaurant ("Hoo doo.. HOO DOO!!!") We eventually stopped off by a Boston Pizza for dinner (Why there was a Boston Pizza here is anyone's guess.)
Oh yeah, I also wanted to mention that the traffic lights in Alberta were the same as those in Saskatchewan.
Tuesday, June 13, 2000 at 22:06:02 (UTC)
Heated Pool!
Free TV!
NO VACANCY!
(You didn't mention that excellent pitcher of "Kold" that we drank. Mmmm.. Kold..)
Mister Man Mikeo
Thursday, June 15, 2000 at 22:21:31 (UTC)
Where did we drink the Kold, Drumheller or Moose Jaw? I remember that little pub where we played pool before (after?) the tunnel tour.
Oh RIGHT.. it was Drumheller, in the hotel's lounge area. Man, that place was DEAD. Where do all the high-school girls hang out??
Hwanguy
Saturday, June 17, 2000 at 11:51:03 (UTC)
Perhaps Drumhellerians don't have children.. They're actually an ancient lizard-like race of beings that lull people to sleep with bad beer and wonky pool cues.
Then they eat them. We were lucky to escape alive!
mick
Tuesday, May 29, 2001 at 03:17:11 (UTC)
It's funny, but when I went to play volleyball recently, I noticed a large banner for Kold near the bar. Odd.
QYV