Educating Risa

On Saturday we made the hour and a half drive to Drumheller to Gareth’s favourite place in the whole wide world: The Royal Tyrrell Museum. We did this for Daegan’s 7th birthday, and Gareth wanted to do the same for his 5th.   Here he is on the petrified log, showing his age (with hand flipped backwards as he wanted “to see his dino hand stamp”).

The visit was a good one, with Gareth RUNNING most of the time (oh! to have his energy levels again!) and saying things like “I’m having such a great time!” It was the first time we’ve been there in winter, and the drive was thankfully uneventful and the roads clear. Unlike much of North America, we’re having a spell of mild weather, with temps of 7C (45F) to 9C (48F). Down in the valley where Drumheller lies, and where cold air gets trapped, it was significantly colder at –8C (18F). We watched the outside temperature indicator on the car dashboard as we drove the 2 minutes down the big hill; it was like a countdown!

Here’s some pics from our day:

 

The T Rex with icicles hanging from its belly tickled my funnybone.

Daegan looking at dinos just inside the entrance of the museum.

We spent a lot of time in the Cretaceous Garden this trip—a large greenhouse area with plants (or relatives of plants) that existed during the time of the dinosaurs.

Gareth on the scale—I think he weighs about the same as a beaver. Gareth running away from T Rex. One really nice things about going to the museum in winter was that it was very quiet—and in fact, I’d say it was even quieter on the weekend than it sometimes is during the week, with kids there on field trips. Lots of room for the boys to run and goof around. The bad part of visiting at this time was the cafeteria was closed (for renovation) and one area of exhibits was also being changed out.

The boys petting their beloved acanthostega. We visit this creature EVERY trip; its not going to be pretty when the museum decides it’s time to put a new exhibit in this section.

Gareth on the floor, in front of the dimetrodons. Gareth was showing us how these creatures had their legs held to the side of their bodies, like today’s reptiles (e.g. alligators), and not underneath the body, like dinosaurs (and birds).

Daegan by the mammoth, which is being attacked by 2 saber-toothed cats. These animals were HUGE! They are one of Gareth’s favourite creatures—he bought a mammoth figurine in the gift shop with some birthday money from my aunt—but for whatever reason Gareth became camera-shy at this point in the trip.

Daegan on the computer. The boys have one of Jim’s old laptops at home, and Daegan has developed a strong set of computer skills over the past few months.

Daegan practically jumping into the Triceratops display (his fave dino) to show Jim something.

Daegan lying down in the back flipper of a Shonisaurus. This sea creature was enormous—its outline is on the floor in black, and at the other end of the hall they have some of the recovered skeleton in the outline. It was at least 21 metres long (close to 70 feet), and Daegan ran from one end to the other of the outline, counting his steps (27). 

 

I felt like I was getting a glimpse of the extinction of the dinos with the climate change, as I looked at this pachyrhinosaurus covered in snow on our way back to the car. It was super day!