Opening up the curtains on the hotel room window, a young Ariadne Shaffer was both shocked and disappointed at the view presented.
It was April of 1988, Shaffer and her family had travelled from Libby, Montana to see the sights and attractions Drumheller had to offer. Unfortunately though, the day after their arrival, the skies opened up and left the gift of large amounts of snow.
“In my memory, our car was parked on the street and was completely covered with snow. It was so nice the day before and to wake up to that was like being transported to a different world or something. There was no way to get out of town or even to the museum.”
Twenty-four years later, Shaffer reurns to the valley with her own family.
“I had always wanted to return since my first visit, and when my daughter became interested in dinosaurs we decided Drumheller was the place to be,” said Shaffer.
However, there were even delays in travelling here this time around.
After a mix up over their daughter’s passport, at the Los Angeles International Airport, they were not permitted to cross the border via airplane.
The family then flew to Salt Lake City, Utah from L.A., rented a car in Salt Lake City, and drove a total of 14 hours to get to Drumheller.
“I just thought ‘we’re going to see some dinosaurs and nothing is going to stop us,’” said Shaffer.
During her first family vacation in Drumheller in ‘88, Shaffer remembers it mostly spent in the hotel room, playing cards and watching television. Shaffer said after a day or two, a path was finally dug out along the sidewalk leading to the movie theatre. Her family and her walked down the street and watched Good Morning Vietnam on the big screen.
“That was the highlight of entertainment during our visit. We were hoping so badly that the road could be cleared to go out to the museum, but there was just too much snow. We finally had to turn around and go home,” said Shaffer.
This time however, they have a full itinerary of things to do, their first stop being the museum.
“I called my sister and bragged that I finally got to finish our aborted trip to Drumheller,” said Shaffer.
“The best part of the trip, however, was how much fun my daughter, Kizziah, had.”
