DINOSAUR HUNTING BY RV
By Lauren Kramer
For Travel Writers' Tales

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

My husband is grimacing as he tries to empty the sewage, known in RV terminology as 'black water,' into a dumping station at an Albertan RV camp. I'm marveling at the fact that he's hardly complained, even after driving our rented RV for hours along Alberta's highways, a process he likens to pushing a bathtub uphill.

But try squeezing six people into a space not much larger than an average bathroom and you're bound to feel a little claustrophobic. Now add bad directions that accumulate unwanted hours on a long journey and a torrential downpour once you reach your destination, and what you get easily approaches the definition of a vacation gone wrong.

Still, we were in a pretty unique spot, camping in a park that protects the remains of 75 million year old dinosaur bones, and boasts 38 different dinosaur species, making it one of the largest collections of fossilized dinosaur remains in the world. Out on tour with park rangers, it was clear that with every step we were treading on history, an ancient world carved into the majestic Badlands.

Today the land is a semi-arid desert, but back in the dinosaur heyday it was a beach on the cusp of the Bearpaw Sea, a lush landscape that was a clear favorite among Hadrosaurids, or duck-billed dinosaurs, whose fossils are now found here in abundance.

"This one was the size of our bus," our guide says as she points to the virtually intact fossil of one. Excavated in the late 1960s, this Hadrosaurid is curled up in an embryonic pose, leading scientists to hypothesize that it drowned by falling in a river, its remains quickly protected by the layers of sandstone and mudstone that accumulated on top of it. Dinosaur Provincial Park is a veritable bone-bed, an 80-square-kilometer stretch of remote Albertan soil that's richer in dino bone than anywhere else in the world.

There are the recreated figures of the dinosaurs that testify to their immensity, and the opportunity to peek into the laboratories of technicians who are patiently chipping away at rock surrounding newly found fossils. Hands-on displays help kids understand concepts like continental drift and how fossils form. And a movie to introduces visitors to the museum's scientists, who describe their passion for the work and its relevance today.

Tucked away in an RV park a few minutes from the town of Drumheller, we sit around a camp fire roasting marshmallows while the kids find instant playmates in the community of RVers around us. It's one of those rare moments of family beauty, when the whining has stopped and everyone is happily engaged. Yes, this is a far cry from a luxury cruise. But sometimes the road less traveled yields unexpected adventure. This RV road trip is one of those times.

If You Go:

* The Royal Tyrrell Museum is Canada's only museum dedicated exclusively to the science of palaeontology. In addition to housing one of the world's largest displays of dinosaurs, the Museum offers a wide variety of creative, fun, and educational programs that bring the prehistoric past to life. 1-888-440-4240; www.travelalberta.com
1.800.ALBERTA (252.3782)

* dinosaur provincial park
www.dinosaurpark.ca; (403) 378-4342

* RV company: www.canadream.com
1-800-461-7368

Photos - Mark Aginsky

1. Image 0757: At Horsethief Canyon, on the outskirts of Drumheller, the magnificence of the badlands is laid bare from a high precipice. In this windswept landscape you can truly appreciate the beauty of the rock formations and colour stratifications.

2. Image 0763: This Tyrannosaurus Rex looms high above the Drumheller Information Centre, informing all who come here that they have arrived in Dinosaur country.

3. Image 0860: The sandstone pillars known as hoodoos are scattered all over the Drumheller Valley. Standing up to seven metres tall, they take millions of years to form.

4. Image 6109: Against the blue prairie sky, these larger-than-life dinosaurs tower over the town of Drumheller.