If you think you might enjoy being digested and spit out of the mouth of an 86’ tall Tyrannosaurus rex, Drumheller in Canada’s southern Alberta is probably your best bet.

There’s nowhere you can get closer to the prehistoric beasts, but if being inside Rex is a little closer than you would prefer, be reassured by the fact that this Tyrannosaurus knows his place; it wouldn’t dream of closing its jaws on you. At eight years old, he’s the largest dinosaur on the planet. In fact, you can see him peering over the skyline from almost every point in town. Hardy visitors enjoy climbing the 106 steps inside the belly of the beast, claiming that the surrounding views are spectacular from its mouth. I wouldn’t know, I’m afraid of heights – happily not of dinosaurs, though.

Determined to explore the Royal Tyrrell Museum, just a few miles out of Drumheller, we drove out from the west coast on a perfect Indian summer week, when the leaves had become gilded and tourists had thinned.

Since opening in 1985, this incredible museum in the middle of the Badlands hosts over 375,000 visitors annually, with 86% from Canada but startlingly only 5% from its neighbor, the United States. (In 2008, that translates into 7000 American visitors.) Given the importance of this museum and the stark beauty of the surrounding area, it’s a surprise. The only museum in Canada devoted totally to paleontology, it preserves 120,000 individual specimens, including the best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skull in the world, and the skeleton of a young Theropod, (fierce lizard) also the best example of its kind in the world. In addition, a new exhibit, a 69-foot Shonisaurus, (giant marine reptile) excavated from British Columbia’s remote north by the museum’s past curator of Marine Reptiles, Dr. Elizabeth Nicholls, has been painstakingly reassembled. Not surprisingly it has become another international show-stopper.

Wandering through these galleries can take hours, even though the building in itself is not huge. Visitors get to watch the archaeologists at work, to see presentations in the media room, to go for a nearby guided hike in the Badlands, to enter the Cretaceous Garden with its 300 species of prehistoric plants, or to experience the world of underwater creatures in Burgess Shale.

Dinosaur Hall

Engrossing and meticulous as these exhibits are, it’s Dinosaur Hall that really gave me an adrenalin rush. It’s one of the world’s largest dinosaur skeleton displays, exhibited in an environment that looks and sounds like you’ve been transported back to a very scary time, 75 million years ago.

Pint-sized visitors will find interactive objects of interest at their own eye level – computers, games and various exhibits are geared to attract and hold the attention of those most challenging of museum visitors. Museums and kids often don’t go together easily, but at the Royal Tyrell, everyone’s child has found a friend.

When you’re ready for a change, travel to nearby Willow Creek to see some of the most dramatic hoodoos, and drive the Dinosaur Trail to see for yourself the land that’s been spitting up these incredible fossil remains. See if you can close your eye and imagine this area 70-75 million years ago. Covered by swamps, rivers, marshes, and flood plains that stretched east to a shallow inland sea, this area used to have a climate like Southern Florida, a climate dinos obviously approved of.

Too far back to imagine? Try 10,000-15,000 years ago, when the Red Deer River Valley was formed by waters from melting glaciers during the last ice age. Hills, coulees, hoodoos and flat topped benches now make up the area known as the Badlands, an area that is constantly eroding and exposing fossil finds.

Next, plan on booking a guided tour into Dinosaur Provincial Park to explore the largest find of dinosaur fossils in the world. About one thousand Centrosaurus (horned) skeletons have been found here in a sudden mass extinction that may have been caused by a flood.

What makes good land bad is its inability to be used for agriculture and the difficulty it poses for traveling across it on foot or horseback. I’m not sure about today’s four-wheel drives although when it rains even that might be challenging. It’s true that Badlands can also be found in South Dakota, Argentina, Mexico and the Gobi Desert, but hey – they just don’t have the Tyrell. And while it’s the jewel among jewels, it is not by any means the only museum you should visit in this area. There are over a dozen worthwhile venues nearby, chronicling everything from serpents to coal mines, First Nations to pioneer life.

Plan on at least four days in the area, especially if you go in autumn, when the days are shorter. Check this website for accommodations and camping, but put the Heartwood Inn at the top of your list and be sure to book breakfast. Don’t even think of just ordering toast and coffee; Chef Zeke will never forgive you. And if you’re tired from all that mental and physical activity ask Zeke or Patrice about their hydrosonic massage – it’s guaranteed to put you to sleep dreaming about dinosaurs.

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What’s a hoodoo?
They’re eroded pillars of soft rock, often wearing mushroom-shaped caps. It’s these caps that protect the pillars from erosion, but once they wear away or fall off, the hoodoo is not long for this world.

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