July 5th was an exciting day as this was the day we headed out to Drumheller. The weather was crisp and cool in the early morning and turned out to be scorchingly hot in the afternoon when we were already in Drumheller! But that’s getting ahead of the story. Assembly time was at 7:30AM at the church parking lot. While planning for this trip, Wally really got stressed out as there were more people coming that there were vehicles available. In the end, the Lord provided just enough people to come and enough cars to fit everyone in. ^ - ^ There were 8 vehicles in the convoy with 34 adults, 2 seniors, 8 teens/tweens and 3 kids. There were 47 of us in all!! Per car assignment, these were the people who came:
- Wally’s car: Ellen, Genia, Dulce & Annie Jean
- Dave’s car: Tess, Jeremy, Chase, Cesar, Marilyn & Gabriel
- Kuya Gil’s car: Tita Sally, Mel George, Maki & Yvonne
- Elle’s car: Beth, Donna, Reina & Liza
- Johnny’s car: Suzette, Janina, Nikki, Kyle, Tintin, Alex & Bianca
- Noemi’s car: Joey, Megan, Judy & Mommy Zeny (Joey’s sister & Mom, respectively)
- Jun’s car: Efrelyn, James, Daddy Ruben (Joey’s brother & Dad, respectively) & Christina
- Dale’s car: Julie, Jade, Angelo, their friend, Clena, & Cheryll
Let me just mention it was quite tricky to get every car in line with the convoy. With God’s grace, there was just one instance where we lost some of the cars but got every one back in time for the next stop.
The Places We Saw
First stop was the Horseshoe Canyon where we took lots of pictures. This was pretty much the kind of landscape we saw all throughout Drumheller, also referred to as Canada’s mini Grand Canyon (I say, not quite!!!). This is where one can see a preview of the so called Hoodoos.
What exactly are Hoodoos? The name “Hoodoo” comes from the word “voodoo” and was given to these geological formations by the Europeans. In the Blackfoot and Cree traditions, however, the Hoodoos are believed to be petrified giants who come alive at night to hurl rocks at intruders. Hoodos take millions of years to form and stand 5 to 7 metres tall. Each hoodoo is a sandstone pillar resting on a thick base of shale that is capped by a large stone. Hoodoos are very fragile and can erode completely if their capstone is dislodged (in other words, no climbing allowed). (Taken from www.traveldrumheller.com )
The foremost spot to visit in Drumheller is the Royal Tyrell Museum. Here, one can see an extensive collection of dinosaur fossils that were actually found right in this small town. We spent a better time of the day in the museum, taking lots of pictures (again!!!) and buying some souvenirs, too. We also found a nice picnic spot just right beside the museum where we had our hearty lunch. As expected, it was a feast for the hungry!! We had adobo, pancit, adobong sitaw, boiled eggs, ribs, spam, honey garlic chicken wings, longganisa, crab omelette, and a lot more! We must have gained 10 pounds each after our hearty lunch! J
The World’s Smallest Church can fit up to six people with the Minister infront. An actual wedding was held inside this chapel. Check out our picture and see how many of us fit inside!!!
As it was a really hot day, we made a stop at the Rotary Spray Water Park where some of the kids cooled off in the fountain/ spray. Close by is World’s Largest Dinosaur!!
Our last stop was to see more of The Hoodoos, and of course, take more pictures! Everyone was tired at the end of the trip but happy to see a little bit of Alberta and have an appreciation of the place that we now call “home”.
Filipino Bible Study Group :Calgary Full Gospel Church
: Alberta, Canada