Travel Tuesdays -- HooDoos and Coulees

I wanted to start a new regular feature that I'm going to call 'Travel Tuesdays'. I am finding myself, more and more, writing emails giving travel tips to certain areas of the world. I thought it would be nice to have one place where I could point people, too. Sometimes, I will post about places we were at that were far away--like Iceland(holy is there a bigger interest in going there now...that is by far the place I get asked about the most), but mostly, I hope to feature places close to home. A sort of Travel Alberta kind of feature. We do try to take small road trips fairly regularly and we often skip the 'popular places'. This weekend, with the forecast calling for rain and a tonne of work on our plates, we hadn't planned for much actually. May long weekend never really works out for us if we travel/camp. Come Monday though...we were feeling pretty cooped up and needed to do something as a family. We took out our trusty 'Day Trips From Calgary' book by Bill Corbett and decided to head east since we knew the mountains would be pretty busy. The drive we picked was called 'HooDoo Trail' and started in Drumheller. On our way there, we found this little gem quite by accident...an incredible playground in Irricana. There is lots for the little ones, but even my 11 year old enjoyed the big kid part(and that is getting pretty rare these days).

As we came into Drumheller, we took Hwy10(the Hoo Doo Trail) east. Our first stop was the Hoo Doo Recreation site. I promise you that we never went on the protected areas. It should also be noted that it was pretty wet--not raining really, but wet from the rain we have had...so the Hoo Doo area was quite slick with mud.

Then, we drove a bit further to the East Coulee School Museum. It was $15 for the whole family and we were the only ones there so luckily we were given a private tour by the guide. This is a fun little stop if you are in Drumheller and you are done with the Tyrell Museum. As much as we love large museums(and we are a museum loving family), we find small museums so quirky and fun. Plus, the staff there are always so enthusiastic and welcoming. The East Coulee School Museum is no exception. Once they discovered that Bob was so interested in the old equipment, the guide even took us down to the basement to see the old coal fired furnace. Definitely a fun stop for the whole family. Plus...there is nothing our kids love more than an 'illegal' playground. That's what they call it when we find ourselves in a small town and the old playground hasn't been upgraded in years. It means there is more than likely that 'spinning thing' as they like to call it. A Pugh family favourite...yes...maybe it isn't the safest, but oh so fun.

We did follow instructions and carried on down to the Atlas Coal Mine Museum. Since we hadn't planned it that well, we just missed a tour and the tour we were really interested in doing was an hour and 45 minute wait. That just wasn't possible, so we will have to go back there next time we are in the Drumheller area.

We did drive the 11 bridges to Wayne, AB, but the most fun we had was counting the bridges ;) There is a fun little saloon and that's about it. Inside the saloon though, we did get some old fashioned candy and 'caps'(remember them?). And, it was a very pretty drive. We turned around and went over to the Rosedale Suspension bridge. Not a fan of suspension bridges myself, but Bob and the kids had a great time crossing it. I went about half way and then turned around.

Last but not least, we really needed to stretch our legs so we found a spot where we could get out and go for a walk. I'll share those images tomorrow over on my 5 minute project blog, but here are a couple sneak peeks for now.

We love to get out and explore our own backyard. As a family, we have travelled the world so we feel we can safely say that we are so fortunate to live in a place where the landscape is so varied and the people are so friendly. Where do you like to go in Alberta?

~ Dana