24 Hours in (and near) Drumheller, Alberta: Our 3rd Wedding Anniventure 

My husband and I made a deal when we got married: we would not give each other tangible anniversary gifts. Neither of us is particularly traditional and we decided that we’d rather not buy (or receive) paper, clocks, jewelry, appliances, etc. or whatever else it is that society says people should spend money on for their loved one every year.  Instead, we agreed to take turns planning fun events and surprising one another with activities for our anniversaries. We even named it: Anniventure (anniversary adventure). Scott took the odd years, I took the even.

The first year, Scott took me zip-lining at Canada Olympic Park. The next year, I took him to Kelowna to try the FlowRider surf machine. This year, Scott surprised me with a trip to the Canadian Badlands and had so many amazing activities planned for us for our third anniversary! Honestly, I have no idea how I’m going to top it next year. Here are a few of the activities that we did in and around Drumheller for our third anniventure (as well as a few notable mentions that we didn’t have time to do this trip)!

Hike Horseshoe Canyon

Our first stop was Horseshoe Canyon, located approximately 15 minutes west of Drumheller along Highway 9. Horseshoe Canyon is hands down one of my favourite hiking spots in Alberta. The tagline for the canyon should be “Design Your Own Hike”, because that’s exactly what you do. You can enter the canyon via a huge set of stairs, but there are a few little paths to enter it as well. Once you’re in the canyon, there are paths and some stairs, but you can basically go wherever you choose as the whole thing is explorable (and climbable!!). You can read more about this incredible hike, courtesy of Hiking with Barry, here.

BONUS: check out Horseshoe Canyon at sunset! (props to my amazing husband for taking this photo when he went another time!)

Check out the “World’s Largest Dinosaur”

Okay, so this thing is huge. 86 feet tall to be exact, which is actually 4-5 times bigger than real Tyrannosaurus rexes were. While completely inaccurate in size, you gotta admit, it is pretty darn neat. For just a couple bucks, you can even climb up to the top and hang out in the dinosaur’s mouth! This lady (yes, she is a female apparently, just like in Jurassic Park!) is located right above the Drumheller Visitor Information Center, and you can find out more info about her by checking out worldslargestdinosaur.com.

Visit The Little Church

Drumheller: home to the world’s largest dinosaur and Canada’s smallest church. While it is a bit of a novelty – as it can only seat 6 people – services are actually held here and funnily enough, there had been a wedding at the church on the same day we visited! I also decided to give a little sermon to an audience of one (thanks for listening to me read the Bible, Scott!) This itty-bitty church is located less than 5 minutes west of Drumheller along North Dinosaur Trail.

See a play at Rosebud Theatre

This was definitely the highlight of our little getaway, as Scott had made this the main event of our anniversary trip.  The town of Rosebud is about a 25 minute drive southwest of Drumheller, and has a population of less than 100 people! It is such a cute little town that consists of theatre students, staff, and bed and breakfasts. The heart of the entire town is its theatre and the people who live there live and breathe the performing arts. If you love plays and amazing hospitality, then you need to check this place out!

Before the play, we had an incredible buffet dinner right across the street from the theatre at the Rosebud Mercantile. After our dinner, we walked around the tiny little town and checked out some gift shops and an art gallery. We were wayyyy too stuffed from dinner, but rumor has it that there’s an amazing ice cream shop right across the street from the theatre.

Now onto the actual theatre performance. We saw the play “The Spitfire Grill” and holy moly, I CANNOT recommend it enough. The acting/music/storyline were so incredible that I actually left the theatre crying. Yes, I cried. Not because I was sad, but because I was so happy and in awe of the amazing performance that I had just witnessed. While you can see some great performances in the big city, I had never seen anything like that. The heart and soul that went into the production astounded me and completely blew me away.

After the play ended, we witnessed an amazing sunset and then went to the bed and breakfast we were staying in called “The Rose Cottage Bed & Breakfast”. It was absolutely adorable! In the morning, the hosts served us breakfast by candlelight in the main dining room (that they decorate to reflect each play showing at the theatre).

Before leaving Rosebud, we checked out the Thorny Rose Cafe for a quick drink and bite to eat… Except we saw that they had cards and board games in the cafe and we ended up talking to the owner and the manager for awhile, so our “quick” stop turned into more than an hour of playing cribbage, chatting and enjoying the cozy atmosphere of the cafe.

Needless to say, I fell in love with Rosebud. The hospitality was incredible, everyone was so kind, the play we saw was amazing, and overall, it had a Star’s Hollow Gilmore Girls kind of vibe, except on an even smaller scale. It was just so cool to be in a place where everyone in the town knew one another. For more info on the community of Rosebud and their upcoming events, check out www.rosebud.ca.

Notable Mentions

Have you been to Drumheller and surrounding areas before? If so, I what is your favourite thing to do in the Alberta Badlands? Leave me a reply below!

Until next time,