Sunday, July 14, 2013
Took a drive out into the
surrounding areas, to see some of the highlights.
First up was the Old Mine,
where you can go on tours of the different areas of the coal mining process,
the equipment, the elevator building
and some of the underground tunnels.
Warning, this would be better if advance planning was done, which we found out
the hard way. Tours are specific to the area of the mine, and are only done a
few times a day. So, we settled for doing a simple self tour of the grounds and
equipment. Part of the grounds included the type of housing that the ‘company’
provided for its workers. In most cases, nothing more than a two room shack. It
was actually a little depressing.
By that time it was time
to eat, so we headed for the “Last Chance Saloon”
located in Wayne, Alberta.
This was a fun experience and the food wasn’t bad either! All over this very
old building were ‘items of interest’
that the owner had either collected or
someone had donated to the cause. The walls were covered in funny signs or
antique items from eras gone by. We spent a couple of hours in there between
eating and looking at the items on display.
Our next stop was the Rosedale
Suspension Bridge.
This bridge was built by miners to reach the Star Mine
across the Red Deer River. Phil and John walked across the bridge, but Fran and
I have a problem with heights, so we stayed on land. After about 20 minutes of
hunting for someplace to walk or stand without being eaten alive by the bugs,
we called the guys and told them their time was up, it was time to go!
The final stop of the day
was the ‘Hoodoos’.
These are sandstone and shale formations much like the
‘Toadstools’ we saw in Nebraska, but these are shaped differently. Instead of
the squatty, round toadstool shape, the Hoodoos are larger,
oval or rectangular
in shape and they also have more color. Another example of Mother Nature’s Art.
Today was our final day in
Drumheller, John and Fran are staying for a few more days. We are heading west
and they are headed back east, so our parting was planned, but will be painful.
We got together for our final night of cards, the girls won one game, and the
guys the other. Final count was in the girls favor (Duh!!), 46 games to the
guys 39.
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