Over the past few years, our vacations throughout the West has included various fossil sites and natural history museums. So far my favorite by far has been the Museum of Ancient Life at Thankgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. They had really great displays of dinosaurs and ancient life prior to the dinosaurs. If traveling through the area on Interstate 15, it's right off the freeway and a good visit can be done in one to two hours, if that's all you got. We were on our way to Dinosaur national monument the day we stopped by, so we didn't have a lot of time.
Dinosaur National Monument was also awesome as was the Field Museum in Vernal, Utah, which has great dino figures inside as well as in an outside courtyard. The whole area is very into dinos, if that is your interest. There's even a scenic and geologic drive through time north to Flaming Gorge and the Sheep Creek Canyon Geological Park. The signs on the side of the road tell the story.
I wanted to start this thread to compile a list of dino, fossil and geologic attractions in all states in case people are interested in including something of this nature in their current itineraries. They can definitely inspire a young mind and even inspire some of us big kids at heart. I'll try to post some pictures later, but for now if anyone wants to post some of their favorite dino attractions, please feel free to include your descriptions, travel journal entries, pictures and websites!
We have plans to go to the Dino park near Bowling Green this weekend but may be delayed a day or two. Sadly my BIL turned over his tractor late today and was killed. My son is really into Dinos all of his life. The park may be lame but we are going to check it out while we are doing the caves on our way to Cincinnati to the aquarium and then on to Holiday World if time permits.
There are a few more dinosaur stops in CO besides Dinosaur NM that we have seen.
On the way into CO on I-70, stop at the Rabbit Valley exit (#2) where there is a dinosaur trail on a 1 1/2 mile loop (very hot in the summer). In nearby Fruita (exit 19) is Dinosaur Journey Museum. A mile or so south of the museum is Dinosaur Hill interpretive trail, which we have yet to do. We noticed it on our way to Colorado NM this spring.
In Utah, the Mill Canyon trail near Moab has some interesting things, although vandals have distroyed some of the sites. We'll often ride our mountain bikes out to the trailhead. On the "road" out to Klondike Bluffs in northern Arches, there are dinosaur tracks along the way, generally marked with stones. This is really a 4x4 road, although mountain bikers and hikers outnumber jeeps by a long shot.
For more Colorado sites, check out this list. And for Utah, there are several interesting places we have yet to visit shown on this list. The Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry is supposed to be really good. And the Thanksgiving Point Museum sure sounds interesting.
arboscamper wrote: We just came back from the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD. It was great the kids loved it.
Did you do Evans Plunge - or, is it still there?? Warm spring swimming hole - used to go there as a kid.
The Museum at the School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City used to have a great display of fossils and minerals. Then there were the Dinos overlooking the city ( Rapid ) on Skyline Drive - used to climb them.
1987 36' Beaver Marquis High Tech Wide body
3208T CAT, MT643 Allison in a Gillig MHA
Koni's & Toyo all around
FMCA, Good Sam
The Geological Museum at the University of Wyoming in Laramie not only has lots of dinosaurs that you can get really close to, it also has a lab that you can watch, and student projects so you can see how future paleontologists are trained. I love these informal small-scale museums! Free admission and open 7 days per week.
There are Dino. Museums in Casper , Glenrock, Thermoplis Wy. each has it own special attraction as well it is possible to be involved in a dig in the one in Glenrock.
Offline
We'll often ride our mountain bikes out to the trailhead. On the "road" out to Klondike Bluffs in northern Arches, there are dinosaur tracks along the way, generally marked with stones. This is really a 4x4 road, although mountain bikers and hikers outnumber jeeps by a long shot.
