The Whimsical Dinosaurs of Drumheller

Drumheller is a city in Alberta, Canada, in an area known as "The Badlands". It is roughly 1.5 hours North East of Calgary, unless you drive like a maniac, in which case it will be considerably less. You may wish to drive fast because a good portion of the drive is dull, but once you encounter the coulees, you will be glad you came. So drive the speed limit and come to Drumheller.

The area is famous for its dinosaur finds, and is currently home to the worlds largest Dinosaur, one you can actually go inside of to gain a better view of the city and surrounding area. However, todays trek will be on foot. At times you might think you are in "Bedrock" but no, you are in Drumheller.
Throughout downtown Drumheller there are several small, colorful, cement dinosaurs. The first one I encountered was a lovely little dinosaur painted bright blue, complete with a band aid on his back. Turns out the little fella was located in front of a Pharmacy. Nearby we spotted a spotted dinosaur. The pieces fell into place like prehistoric clues. The black and white spotted guy was outside a Fire Station, clearly he was a Dalmatian Dinosaur, the fire mascot for the Fire Station. I am sure he was housetrained.

photo source

You get the idea. As you wander around you will see a theme, dinosaurs painted to match a storefront nearby, be it a biker shop, or garden. The brightly painted Stegosaurus is sure to delight not only you, but your children as well.
For safety reasons, and to keep the dinosaurs in good shape, it is not a good idea to allow your children to climb on them. All of these dinosaurs seem to have happy expressions on their vicious faces, let's keep it that way.

photo source

I want to stress these dinosaurs are whimsical, comedic, they are not representations of actual dinosaurs, they are not life sized, or anatomically correct. There are many places in Drumheller where you can learn actual facts about actual dinosaurs, including the nearby, and very popular Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. There are plenty of fossil shops and educational experiences, but sometimes we need to just have fun and enjoy silly things.

photo source

In truth we really don't know what color dinosaurs were, maybe Tyrannosaurus did have racing stripes, and maybe Triceratops was covered in rainbows. I encourage you to park your car, put on your walking shoes and take a jaunt around the city of Drumheller to see how many of these "terrible lizards" with cheerful colors you can find. As always wear sunscreen and bring your camera.