Last Weekend of July - Badlands Ranch

After our day of exploring on Saturday, we headed back to the shop and had an evening BBQ and fire.  It was a very pleasant evening and everyone was quite tired from the heat of the day.  The next morning we were up and mobile at a moderate hour, after sleeping in a little.  My friend Frank dropped by for a coffee in the morning and we had a visit.  By about 10:00AM the heat was already getting stifling, and it felt quite humid.

Chris and Connie and I decided to carry on with our plan and explore an old abandoned ranch in the badlands.  Margarit and the girls were concerned that it was going to be just too hot, so they decided not to join us.  Chris and Connie and I set out for the ranch.  Margarit borrowed Chris and Connie's car and went out with the girls instead.  They went and played mini golf and bumper boats and stopped at a few places around Drumheller during the afternoon.

The rest of us drove out to the badlands.  We stopped and met with a land owner and secured permission to enter his property and visit the old ranch buildings.  By the time we got down into the badlands it was early afternoon.  The sun was hot and bright and the temperature peaked at about +37C.  We only lasted for a couple of hours out at the old ranch but managed to explore and make photographs, before the heat eventually became too much.  The long drive back to East Coulee in the air conditioned truck was most welcome.

Chris and Connie packed up and headed back to Calgary by the late afternoon.  By the time the girls and I got everything tidied up, packed up and hooked up it was close to 8:00PM.  The three hour drive back home to the city saw us pull up in front of the house shortly after 11:00PM.  W managed to cram two full days of exploring into a weekend that was a little cut short.  When we got home we just took the groceries into the house and everyone went to bed.  We spent the next couple of days unpacking and cleaning out the trailer in advance of our next adventure.