Archaeology Adventure Travel - Archaeology - Dino-Might

You Are Here:

Home >> Travel >> Dino-Might

Today's Question
Where should I camp in Switzerland with my kids? answer

What's the best volcano to hike up in North America? answer

How can I plan a trip around riding the biggest, fastest roller coasters? answer

Online Favorites

Special Issues

Photo Galleries

Outside Magazine's 2003 Family Travel Guide

Dino-Might
Get fueled with these fossils

By Barbara Benham


	Digging deep in the boneyard (courtesy, Wyoming Dinosaur Center)

KIDS CAN'T SEEM TO GET ENOUGH OF DINOSAURS, whether they're starring in a motion picture or standing tall as a museum centerpiece. Catering to these dinophiles, three museum programs in the Rockies are taking their in-house displays a step further with paleontologist-led digs, showing kids how to excavate fossilized dinosaurs in the field.

Museum of Western Colorado
Grand Junction, Colorado
Sweating in the high-desert sun, it's hard to imagine that 70 million years ago Rabbit Valley was likely a watering hole for the allosaurus, a bipedal carnivore. Paleontologists teach mapping and excavating techniques, and the three-day program also heads 50 miles north of the museum to the streaked shale of Douglas Pass, where a slew of bee, ant, mosquito, and plant fossils from the Eocene epoch, which ended about 35 million years ago, has been uncovered. Learn plaster-casting techniques at the museum's Dinosaur Journey exhibit in Fruita, about eight miles from Grand Junction. Cost: $99 for a one-day dig, with lunch; $695 for three days, including some meals.
CONTACT: 888-488-3466, www.wcmuseum.org
LODGING: Fruita's Comfort Inn (970-858-1333) overlooks Colorado National Monument



	The (almost) completed picture (courtesy, Wyoming Dinosaur Center)

Wyoming Dinosaur Center
Thermopolis, Wyoming
In hopes of finding another Morris the Camarasaurus, who was discovered here in 1993, children on the two-day Kids' Dig Program (for ages eight to 12) work alongside researchers in the red hills of the Wind River Canyon. Morris's 48-foot-long skeleton stands watch in the exhibit hall on this 8,000-acre working ranch, a few hours southeast of Yellowstone National Park. Sift through soil at a dig site, go on a dino-themed scavenger hunt, and tour ten more skeletons at the 12,000-square-foot exhibit. Cost: $75 for two days, including lunch.
CONTACT: 800-455-3466, www.bhbfonline.org
LODGING: In Hot Springs State Park, the Holiday Inn of the Waters (307-864-3131) has a mineral-heated pool

Pioneer Trails Regional Museum
Bowman, North Dakota
This museum's project is a 30-mile drive through prairie dog territory into an isolated stretch of badlands. Day-diggers hike in about a mile to assist researchers, hoping to strike the equivalent of dinosaur gold. Over the last couple of summers most of a 65-million-year-old Edmontosaurus skeleton was discovered here, minus the skull. Until that skull is found, scientists won't know exactly what kind of dinosaur they've dug up. Cost: $200 per family per day.
CONTACT: 701-523-3625, www.ptrm.org
LODGING: North Winds Lodge (888-684-9463) is at the edge of the badlands in Bowman

Next Page: Reaching for the sky at climbing school