One of my favorite museums in the world is the Royal Tyrell, found near the small city of Drumheller, which houses the world’s largest collection of Jurassic era dinosaur fossils. Situated in Alberta’s “Badlands”, the museum is a fascinating destination, especially for families.
When I had visitors this past summer, we all traveled to see the sights in Drumheller. I’d not visited the Royal Tyrell for several years and was delighted to see a variety of “new” fossils on display that I hadn’t seen before. The craftsmanship in preparing these exhibits never ceases to impress me.
This particular massive reptile (below) was discovered in northern Alberta by an oil company as they were preparing to sink an oil well (of course when fossils are found, all work stops, and the Royal Tyrell museum is brought in to harvest the treasure). This is a truly massive and rare marine creature, several dozen feet long.
I have to include a photo my all time favorite fossil, this amazing en bloc’ resection of a TRex from Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass, known as “Black Beauty”. That’s basically a display of the entire fossilized bones from a single TRex.
We drove a little to the south and crossed the Red Deer River’s swinging bridge. Rather nice view, isn’t it?
Lastly, driving a bit further south brought us to this interesting collection of Hoodoos before we headed back to Calgary.
All told, a rather good day of sight-seeing and a nice way to introduce visitors to some of the scenery you can enjoy in Alberta.
