Drumheller!

I'm not sure what to make of Drumheller... the ultimate tourist trap... Fake dinosaurs on every street corner... 3 museums on every street... the largest dinosaur in the world (6 stories high)... a mini-golf course of dinosaurs... the largest reptile exhibit in the world... go-karts with dinosaurs... 2 different coal museums... a museum of an old school... even a head of a t. rex on the wall of the local IGA... it's insane... might as well make a bid for the largest spool of yarn while you're at it...
... It's cool... it's quaint... it's heart-felt... it's... ... great... ... ... why are they here?... couldn't they do so much more in the middle of some University or zoo or something?... Like... Calgary?... And I'd have been there 5 years ago...
... that said... there's something about a small town's unabashed enthusiasm...
... Love it...
... Case in point...
... The nice, smiling, old traffic director guiding us into the museum... into a parking lot no bigger and no more confusing than walmart... no need... no reason... we could easily find our way... but I somehow feel welcome because of it... he directs us to our parking spot... not 5 feet from where he was standing... earning a small laugh... a small swelling of our hearts...
... how could you not love his smile... I don't know why he's here... could be a number of reasons why he's here... some good... some bad... I hope good... and the smile...
... See through the tourist trap all you want... the effort does it for me... that's enough... AND... the museum is actually really great... And I need the adverbs because I know that's what it would take for me to detour nearly 2 hours out of my trip along the #1...
... I say... along with some passable hiking trails... it's just barely worth the 1 hour detour off highway #1... But only if it's your return trip from the mountains... and only if you have half a day free...
... We do the museum... enjoy it... get some good pictures... use an active imagination to think what it would be like if these things were alive... hypothesize what it would take to kill a T. Rex... decide on either a big trap with bait... or an AK-47... give the traffic director a smile and a thankyou... of which Danelle calls says "and I guess you felt really good about that"... which I did... and back on the highway home...