Page 19 - FF USA Exchange Diary September 2016

DATE: Monday 1 August FROM: Anna To Medicine Hat

Ten of us were picked up by Ace, our driver, and we all piled into our Prairie Shuttle with our luggage stowed in a
trailer behind the bus. We drove out through Calgary eastwards towards Medicine Hat. The scenery along the way
consisted mostly of prairie grassland. We stopped at Tim Hortens for a break and to buy some lunch to have later,
then off to the Badlands, a scenic panorama of hoodoos, pinnacles, coulees and buttes. It was fascinating
countryside for all.

Our next stop was Dinosaur Provincial Park , a UNESCO Heritage Site along the Red Deer River (just 90 mins
from MH), and situated in the largest area of the Badlands in Canada - and one of the richest sites in the world for
late Cretaceous fossils. Many people hike in this park. The Visitor Centre and Royal Tyrrell Museum Field Station
had a really great display of dinosaur and other vertebrate fossils and information. (Over 49 different species of
dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Period - 75 million years ago - have been found in the park. Many other kinds
of animal fossils were also found here.)
We rewarded ourselves after a walk down the hill by having icecream, then drove back to Medicine Hat.

When we arrived at the Medicine Hat Visitor Centre about 4.30 pm, we were greeted by a banner welcoming us,
and some loud cheering. Heather and Bev Exchange Directors and our hosts were there to welcome us. It was a
wonderful feeling to be greeted like this.
Off we went with our hosts to get to know each other, have supper and settle in.

MEDICINE HAT NEWS……In mid-October 1907, the famous British writer Rudyard Kipling and his wife stopped
in Medicine Hat during their train trip across Canada. They toured the area, witnessed various events and
commented on what had impressed them. Referring to a natural gas flare that they had seen, Kipling was moved
to observe, ‘this part of the country seems like you have All Hell for a basement, and the only trap door appears to
be in Medicine Hat.’ (Medicine Hat News October 17, 1907)