Bad to the Bone

Horseshoe Canyon

Wheat Fields

Bad, very Bad!  "Badder" than expected. 

We never imagined that Canada would have such diverse landscapes from West to East.  Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Foot Hills in Western Alberta, Wheat fields, and now Bad Lands in Eastern Alberta where dinosaurs roamed.  If you are lucky, you can still find skeletal remains on the clay soils.


The movie "Unforgiven" with Clint Eastwood was filmed here as well as many others.

The Badlands of Drumheller is a playground for explorers. 
The Alberta Badlands also include Canyons and Hoodoos. 

Yes, you are still driving through the Prairies and would miss all these hidden gems unless you ask, look and follow maps.  We visited Horseshoe Canyon which is totally hidden from the highway.  A little drive off the beaten path and WOW.  Canyon it is.
 We carefully hiked down into the canyon and carefully traversed to the bottom.  We are surrounded by millions of years of mineral deposits, fossils and dessert conditions, all including wild cactus growing at our feet.  You could feel the essence of the past when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  We finished our hike sweaty, bruised and bloody from the mud, rough terrain, cactus and scrub brush as we climbed up the deer path on our hands and knees to work our way back to modern earth.



Next stop; Wayne, Alberta!  Why is it the name Wayne and Saloon have so much in common...  Beer!!!

Wayne is the almost abandoned mining town in the midst of the Alberta Badlands and Hoodoos.  We drove down the heart of the Badlands on a dirt road, crossed eleven bridges and found, yes, "A Ghost Town" of yesteryear.  Still standing:  "The Last Chance Saloon"  Ninety Nine years old and a hot spot from the past as it is today. 

Wayne, Alberta

Eclectic artifacts were abundant within the building's weathered structure from the good times when the then busy coal mining town was at its peak. 

Last Chance Saloon

The saloon is standing room only during the summer months.  We were very fortunate to grab a seat for lunch, and of course, a cold Alberta Beer served in a chilled mason jar.

After lunch it was back in the Jeep homeward bound as our next leg of our travels was to be Leader, Alberta, the gateway to the Great Sand Hills.  We arrived only to be disappointed our B & B was unattended. 

So, we backtracked to find the closest motel...in Eatonia, Alberta. 

Eatonia, Alberta

A tiny town almost forgotten by today's standards.  A farming community.  "It's name is derived the the T. Eaton Company who sold catalogue houses. 
Folklore has it according to oral history, this "Pattern Book House" was purchased from the T. Eaton mail order catalogue. 

A bumper crop in 1915 resulted in many catalogue houses. 
Eaton's final house advertisement was in the 1932-33 Fall and Winter catalogue.  This marked the end of an era of Eaton's in providing buildings for the farms and towns in Western Canada".

Here we slept to begin our next leg of our adventure.    The Great Sand Hills...

Bad to the Bone

Lyrics by George Thorogood & The Destroyers

On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered 'round
And they gazed in wide wonder, at the joy they had found
The head nurse spoke up, and she said leave this one alone
She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone

I broke a thousand hearts, before I met you
I'll break a thousand more baby, before I am through
I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone
I'm here to tell ya honey, that I'm bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone

I make a rich woman beg, I'll make a good woman steal
I'll make an old woman blush, and make a young woman squeal
I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone
I'm here to tell ya honey, that I'm bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone