Monday, June 25,2007 EastEnd

Monday, June 25, 2007 in Medicine Hat, Alberta

We didn’t get snow this morning but it looked and felt like it -- anyway, quite cool. It rained all night. When I got up at 7:00 I didn’t see any clouds – just blue sky. (Did we mention that it’s quite light at 4:30 a.m. and still light at 10:00 p.m.? A consequence of being so far north during the summer solstice.) We pulled out immediately, afraid of getting stuck in the mud if there was another downpour. An hour later, the sky was dark and ominous; by 9:00 a.m., the bottom dropped out. Never got any serious wind, but the rain did come down in torrents.

We arrived at the T-Rex Discovery Centre shortly after they opened. I’ll let Margaret fill in the details.

The three photos were all taken inside the centre (obviously). All three are of various T-Rex’s. These of course are duplicates, but not necessarily for the reason I would have thought. These particular T-Rex’s are estimated to have weighed in at over 12,000 pounds – and that’s the bone and flesh version. When the bones fossilize – turn to stone – an original skeleton would 2 – 3 times that amount and couldn’t be supported on a display stand.

But the centre did have lots of original fossils to touch and feel. Quite interesting.

After visiting the centre, we drove on – more endless stretches of prairie and straight rough roads – back to Trans Canada Hwy 1 where we turned west and into Medicine Hat. We had intended to stay 4 nights and catch up on chores, shopping, and visiting the local sights, but I could only get a spot for 3 nights. So we’ll move on up the road. It’s supposed to get warmer (and drier?) tomorrow. We’ll see.

Glad we’re not driving at the moment (about 4:00 p.m. on Monday). We’re sitting in the campground rocking from the wind. Can’t tell how hard it’s blowing but it’s got to be over 40mph – the trees are almost bent double, and our 24,000 pound rolling home is a swaying. Doesn’t feel like we’ll flip, but I’m just happy to be sitting still with our stabilizer legs down!

We have written about the sweeping vistas and distances from horizon to horizon. But one thing that continues to amaze are the trains. Coming across the prairie, they look like giant millipedes crawling along. You imagine you can even see the curvature of the earth as the trailing part of the train dips – no longer a “straight” line. Fascinating stuff.

M. The Centre was fabulous and worth the hours of driving on horrible roads. The Centre is built into the hillside; the only clue to its existence is the curve of bronze colored window panels. No structure is visible. Almost as if the Center, itself, was unearthed from an earlier time.

There was a short film which was excellent and a tour, after which the visitor was free to explore the center alone, touch, photograph, and imagine.

The skulls which were on display were casts, and varied greatly. For instance, the color of the skulls was determined by the medium in which they were fossilized. One was called Black Beauty, the bones taking a black hue from manganese in the soil, while Scotty was red from iron. The length of the jaw varied by feet, as did the distance from the lower nostril to the top of the teeth. One skull was narrow and long, another shorter but wider. Very odd. Sex is unknown as there is no determinate. One theory stated the larger specimens were female because of the wider pelvis. As these were egg-laying creatures, who knows; no T-rex eggs have ever been found either. Neither was T-rex a social creature – must have been his disposition – as fossils have always been found singularly.

The teeth were nasty looking, 6” long or more, serrated on the leading and back edges which would allow the creature to slice up his meal, which he swallowed in chunks rather than chew, with his own full set of steak knives. There were several teeth to feel, and they felt sharp. The T-rex also was able to re-grow teeth if he lost one or left a canine in a victim. They ate their weight in meat weekly, 6.6 tons, whether freshly killed or found, they weren’t particular.

There were other specimens on display as well. The best, I though, was a skull of a Triceratops, a vegetarian and probably a dinner favorite of the big T. It had survived an attack losing part of its right mantle. Its three horns had protected it, that time. The horns when cut open showed rings as you would find in a tree trunk. One of its bones showed tiny tracks long its length. The tracks were where blood vessels ran. The entire creature was unearthed after a maintenance worker operating a road scraper hit its jaw bone, and stopped to see what the problem was. Now how many times does one hit a fossil?

There were a number of mammalian and sea creature fossils as well. Some bones were so tiny it was a wonder how they could have been recognized as bones – much less belonging to a creature, much less recovered and reassembled. Sections of Scotty’s tail vertebrae were laid out in order on a shelf in the lab. Another large piece of Scotty weighing several tons, still encased in white plaster, was awaiting its turn to be opened like a long-awaited egg.

There were many things for children, of which I felt like one. A table display allowed the visitor to heft
an actual bone and compare it to a cast one. Know the difference? A real fossilized bone is heavier due to the accumulation of minerals; it has a tone to it when tapped similar to the ring of your grandmother’s favorite tea cup, it is smooth on the outside and porous inside – just like a bone, and it is cold to the touch. Now you know how to tell a fake from the genuine.