In the land of dinosaurs

I, like most kids, went through a dinosaur phase. I can vividly remember 8 or 9 year old me reading a small, colorful book (it was almost like a guide book) about dinosaurs and another animals that went extinct over the different ages. I was fascinated by the size, spikes, armor, claws - the whole package deal. I had so many questions: Why did they exist? Why did they go extinct? What was the world like when they were ruling the earth?  Early thoughts like these is what made me so interested in science and eventually wanting to become a science teacher.

Camarasaurus skull and articulated cervical vertebrae at the fossil quarry 

So, when we were planning our trip and we had decided to go a little farther west to Moab, I noticed that Dinosaur National Monument was directly in our path towards Grand Teton National Park - and I literally jumped up and down and told Jason "we are going there!"  And that is how we have come to find ourselves in Vernal, Utah just outside of Dinosaur National Monument. 

Welcome to Vernal!!  

We clearly don't know much about the area so we chose to stay in an RV park in the middle of town to spend our few days.

Our nice shaded spot complete with actual GRASS!!

We explored the nearby Utah Field House of Natural History on our first day.

CHEESE!

I can pretty much safely say that we give the museum a resounding "meh."  It seems like it has a lot of potential, but while we were there I noticed that several areas were "under construction" - as in I saw a skull being held up with a rolled up paper towel and the outdoor area was full of weeds.  Plus, this is apparently the place to take your kids and tell them to run and scream as much as they want cause no matter where we were in the museum, we seemed to be surrounded by them.  I am glad they had fun, but it made it hard for me to read all the interesting (to me) signs about the geology of the area and the different fossils found in each of the areas. 

The skeleton of some large dinosaur. I honestly don't remember what it is. Diplodocus maybe?

The museum has a lot of potential, though, so I wouldn't cross it off of your list. It might have just been the time that we were there - maybe they do a lot of improvements over the summer or something. We DID manage to get plenty of great pictures with dinosaur pals in the outdoor garden area, though, so that sorta made up for what we felt the museum lacked on the inside. 

Time for a stare down!

On our second day, we drove out to Dinosaur National Monument.  The park is split between Utah and Colorado.  It has a fascinating geological history - but the main attraction for most people is the dinosaur quarry, which is luckily on the Utah side. (But, I, of course, loved all the geology stuff as well!!)

The almost complete skeletal remains of stegosaurus. Can you see the plates?

At the monument, you start off by parking at the visitors center. Then, a tram drives you up the protected quarry. There is an upper level to the quarry where you get a great eye level view of a cliff side that has been chipped back to expose the fossils of hundreds of different animals.  The most common dinosaur fossils belong to sauropods which are the large, long necked herbivores.  However, there are also fossil remains of stegosaurus (you know the plated herbivore with the spiked tail) and also a small number of theropods (the upright meat eaters, like Allosaurus below).  

Allosaur cast skeleton

In the lower level they have more of a small museum of sorts with complete skeletons of dinosaurs, areas where you can actually touch the real fossils, and some smaller exhibits of other fossils they have found (like seeds).  And, you can still see the fossil wall, but you have to look up to see them. 

Jason touching a real fossil in the quarry

I, of course, thought the whole thing was amazing. I was totally draping myself over this sign staring at the fossils trying to identify each of the bones (I got a lot right! Thanks anatomy classes!) until I realized that this lady was trying to actually read the display.  Oops.

Femur bone of a Camarasaurus.  That is one big leg bone! 

After the quarry there is fossil discovery hike you can do back down to the visitors center (and I really wish we would have been prepared so we could have done it - based on the guided tour brochure I picked up you get to see a lot more fossils from different time eras plus seen more of how the uplifting of the layers has effected the geology of the area. YAY!), or you can take the tram back down to the parking lot, which is what we did.

After the visitors center you can take a guided auto tour through the rest of the Utah side of the monument. It was all really fascinating to me - but at the end of the road there is a large area filled with petroglyphs made by the Fremont people about 1,000 years ago.  I was really enamored  with the lizards - especially this really large (maybe 4 feet long) pristine lizard. I haven't seen a ton of petroglyphs in my life, but I don't recall ever seeing lizards depicted like this before.

Petroglyphs at the end of the guided auto tour 

On the way back into town I spotted something completely unrelated to dinosaurs - a lumber yard in the middle of town selling Roseburg Forest Products lumber! What a small world to see a slice of home in Vernal, Utah!

Stack of Roseburg Lumber

I loved this area and I can definitely see myself coming back. I was blown away by the fossils and the geology - it was so interesting to me! There seems to be a ton of things to do in the region besides dinosaur stuff. Hiking, water sports, and fishing - but of course, the main draw is the DINOSAURS!!!