Dinosaurs!

Last week was spring break.  We mostly stayed home because my husband was teaching and feeling swamped at work.  I had a funeral on Monday to help with and other projects at home. But on Wednesday, I took the kids on a day trip to Vernal.

We got an early start so we could make our 10:00 appointment at the Vernal LDS temple for the kids to do baptisms.  Vernal is about 2.5 hours away.

The Vernal Temple was constructed from the old Vernal Tabernacle.

Camille and Mindy couldn't go in so I stayed with them and we went to the Natural History Museum that has a dinosaur "garden" outside.

 We had lunch all together at a nearby park and then we headed over to Dinosaur National Monument, which is about 25 minutes east of Vernal.  Part of the park is in Colorado.  We went to the visitors' center and then up to the Fossil Quarry.  Fossils of large dinosaur bones were discovered in this area about a hundred years ago, just sitting there, exposed on the side of the hills.  So the Fossil Quarry replicates that.

Hopefully you can see the spine of the dinosaur encased in rock.

Everett was our photographer for most of the trip and took a LOT of pictures.

We think this is a bone fossil.

These cliffs have petroglyphs on them.

At the end of the park road, there is a cabin, next to a natural spring, where a woman lived by herself for 50 years until she was about 90, from 1914-1964.  It seemed quite primitive and isolated but I guess she enjoyed it out there.  The dirt floor was covered by carpet.

All in all, I would say that Dinosaur National Monument is worth the 3-hour drive.  It's not a big park and 3 hours is enough to see basically everything.  I probably wouldn't go on a July afternoon when it's really hot, but springtime was quite pleasant.