Dinosaurs and cowboy hats!

Day 7 -- Calgary, AB


Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 673 km
Distance from Kingston: 2887 km

Distance Driven Today: 409 km
Total Distance Driven: 1680 km

Today, we went to Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. They had a giant dinosaur at their Tourist Information Centre which they claimed to be the "World's Largest Dinosaur". Drumheller was very decked out in dinosaurs: they were all over the streets, on signs, and even on street lamps.

The Museum was great. Their displays were very high tech and had a ton of activities built into the displays for kids to play with. They even had areas where we could see them work on uncovering fossils. It was definitely the best museum I've seen and admission was much lower than many other places (only $10). On our way in, the skies were darkening and when we left, a full thunderstorm was going on! Awesome!


After the museum, we drove back to Calgary, checked into our hotel, and went for dinner at a nice family restaurant. Then, we went downtown to Riley and McCormick's Western Wear to get some authentic cowboy hats! We will be ready for the Stampede tomorrow!!

Alberta highways and horizons have no end!

 Dinosaurs roam the streets of Drumheller

 Eigensaur makes a new friend

Royal Tyrrell Museum

An interesting sign!

A very cool dinosaur!

These are alive, rare and very weird!

 Another awesome dinosaur

 Ready for the Stampede!!

Last day at the beach

Day 4 -- Penticton, BC

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 255 km
Distance from Kingston: 3285 km

Today was our last day in our favourite vacation place (excluding the Spanish Villa). We decided to collect magnets from every province to have our on fridge in Kingston, but we could not find a BC magnet at all. We found lots of Okanagan, Penticton, or Canada ones though. We also tried to find a cupcake store (Big City Cupcakes) that we enjoyed last year but they seem to have closed! Perhaps Penticton is not big enough city! They have opened up a lot of stores in the lower mainland, though.

Later, we visited the giant peach concession stand by the beach. We were not hungry so we didn't get anything but Eigensaur was a bit peckish so he tried a bite of the peach.

"Crunchy!"

We spent one last afternoon at the beach and had dinner at our favourite Penticton restaurant, Villa Rosa. They had really good and really big pasta portions. We saved our leftovers for breakfast the next day. Laura has managed to survive all four days without being sunburnt! Congratulations Laura!

We finally found time to edit together a video of us packing our car for the trip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji9giQtlqL8. Also, we have a page devoted to our videos on this blog (see tab above).

Tomorrow, we are leaving British Columbia and will be in Canmore, Alberta!

DRAO, Osoyoos, Mini Golf

Day 3 -- Penticton, BC

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 255 km
Distance from Kingston: 3285 km

Today we visited the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, which is about 20 km south of Penticton. We parked outside and walked in because the telescopes are very sensitive to radio interference. Only self-guided tours were available on weekdays -- at each telescope there was a button that we could press to hear a recording. Unfortunately, the recordings were really boring even for me!

 We did not encounter any wild rattlesnakes (or Ekans*) in the tall grass.
*a pokemon

Eigensaur considers the 26-m telescope puny!

Since we were already south of Penticton to visit DRAO and we already had a packed lunch, we decided to keep on driving to see the Southern Okanagan region. We drove all the way to Osoyoos, near the US border, and had a picnic by the beach. On the way back, we visited two big wineries: Inniskillin and Jackson-Triggs, and brought our total wine count to 7 bottles (3 of which are dessert wines).

A view along Highway 97S between Penticton and Osoyoos.

We also played a round of mini golf. The weather has been really warm here, reaching the mid-30s! We heard it is pretty hot in Vancouver too. Tomorrow is our last day in Penticton and we hope to get to the beach since it will be the hottest day yet, but there is a chance of thundershowers!

The Mini-Golf is run out of a boat at "Loco Landing". We did not
go into the "Fun Zone" though we still had lots of fun.

Vacation mode

Day 1 -- Penticton, BC

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 255 km
Distance from Kingston: 3285 km

Eigensaur gets ready for the drive!

A wind tunnel on Highway 5 (Coquihalla). Bears are on the highway!

Clouds in the distance driving down Highway 97C from Merritt to Westbank.

We are in Penticton, BC today after a relatively short drive. We meant to take a vacation to Penticton one more time before moving but once we decided to drive across Canada, we figured it was best to make the vacation part of the trip. After arriving, we took a dip in the cold but very refreshing lake, got groceries, and cooked dinner (the place we are staying at has a kitchen).

Time to enjoy the wineries and beaches of Penticton!