Sherry and Josh have been applying for some public art murals around the area. They were finalists for a mural to be painted at a new college in Vernal. We decided it would be fun to take the kids down and see some of the amazing dinosaur dig sites and famous petroglyphs.
We started at the Dinosaur National Monument. There is a huge quarry where you get to actually watch paleontologists at work unearthing actual fossils, but it was closed for repairs. We did get to hike through the area and get a guided tour of many other fossils and see some pretty terrific geological history. It's amazing to me the a mountain bursting up out of the ground can bring with it all of these preserved history for us to see.
Oliver picked out this valocirapter out at the museum and wouldn't part with it the entire trip, he named him loosh. (I have know idea!)
Lincoln just ate this up, he was having so much fun, and was so interested and excited to be here. This is him in front of a huge femur bone.
Amazing vistas!
Linc was constantly on the hunt for things!
Our next stop was the Utah field house. We saw life-size prehistoric animal replicas that line the garden paths. Ancient fossil skeletal reproductions, archaeological and geological exhibits, fluorescent minerals (loved it, they all glowed in these amazing neon colors) and other natural history aspects of the Uinta Mountains and Uinta Basin.
In Dry Fork Canyon there is a place called the McConkie Ranch. It's a private property that has been generously set up to accommodate the public viewing of hundreds of beautifully preserved petroglyphs.. If your ever in Vernal, Utah it's a must see! At the beginning of the hike there is a small structure that is completely plastered with sticky notes from all of it's visitors. A way for us to leave our own messages behind without destroying any from the past. 
It was actually quite a long hike, I was impressed with how well both of the boys did, Linc didn't complain once he was so enchanted by all of the art we encountered, literally every few feet. Oliver sat comfortably on daddy's shoulder's for most of the journey.
This spot was a bit tricky and Josh so gallantly offered me some help. Truthfully I kind of got stuck up there, there was a bit of a snag in the fence.
Aren't these just amazing!
Below is the famous three kings, I can't imagined the bravery it took to put this so high up on this cliff face, I can't figure it out.
We all had such a fun trip! Unfortunately they didn't get chosen to do the mural, but I think the trip here made the effort worth it.
1 comment:
AWESOME!!
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