Summer Vacation - Day 3

This was the Monday of the August Long Weekend.  We packed up at the TL Bar Ranch and headed into Drumheller. Shawn and his kids had to return to Edmonton as Shawn didn't have any time off from his job this week.  So we said our good byes and went our seperate ways.   Martina and Karl really wanted to see the Palcoprep shop.  Frank wasn't around this weekend, but I took everyone over to the shop for a look around.  There have been several projects underway at Palcoprep over the last couple of months.  We just completed fabrication and installation of some life size animal sculptures for the Icefields Center in Jasper National Park.  This included a Grizzly Bear with cub, a Mountain Goat and a Golden Eagle.  The original models and the molds from this project are still in the shop.  We are also working on a cast of the skeleton of a Mosasaur, and a sculpture of a Plesiosaur for a museum in British Columbia.  And the usual collection of fossils, paleo panels and generally interesting stuff is always around to take a peek at...

After leaving the shop, we headed into town to fuel up the vehicles and to pick up a few groceries.  We decided to travel down the valley and spend the night camped at our favorite ghost town... Dorothy.  The heat of the afternoon really wore out Helena and she fell asleep in the back seat of the truck.

After arriving in Dorothy and getting settled in we spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the townsite and all of the old buildings.  This place used to be a lot more interesting to me as a photographer when it was abandoned and run down.  Some of the few remaining locals have taken it upon themselves to preserve and restore the remaining old buildings.  The cabin and the two old churches have already been completely restored.  They are now working on the Community Hall and the School.  There's still a little interesting old junk around, but not nearly what there used to be.  Of course the old playground is always a big hit with the girls and that's been the location for many of my "Playground Ghost" photographs in the past.