Sometimes Plans Change

The original plan for the weekend was to go to Moab and see some dinosaur tracks down there and do a little hiking. That's what Neil wanted to do, that's what we all wanted to do. But, that didn't happen. For a lot of reasons. Mainly, we got started too late. I had looked up all sorts of dinosaur "hot spots" on line and found a few in Moab, as well as some more information about the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. It's outside of Price and one of the stops on the "Dinosaur Diamond". We had talked about going there on the way home from Moab. Their hours during September are 10:00-5:00, so the later we left, we knew we'd need to go there first. And also, the later we left, the farther away Moab was really looking. So, at a rest stop on the way to Price, we decided to scratch the Moab trip and give it the minimum 2 days that it would deserve. Some other time. It turned out to be a good idea.

We got to the quarry about lunch time, and by some great stroke of luck and a day I'd never heard of (National Public Lands Day), the usual $5 admission was waived. Kind of nice.

Right away Neil wanted to see what was there and he was pleasantly greeted by this guy

And, No Gary, it's not "Alice" it's Allosaurus. And it's not a GIRL, at least not if you ask Neil. I guess so far in his mind, girls can't be that scary. I hope it can keep that thought for a long time. Anyway, we looked around, talked to the man at the desk (would that make him a docent?) And marveled at the percentage of carnivores to herbivores found in the quarry and the mystery of why they're there in the first place. No one has a concrete answer for that, there are several hypotheses, but no actual theories. I favor alien abduction and dismemberment, then being dropped out of the spaceship (how else to explain sooooo many bones in such a small space). Only, I was told, they couldn't have eaten them, because there are very few teeth marks. Interesting.

Next, we walked down to the quarry where two butler buildings have been put up to protect the site from the weather, and allow visitors to see an actual "dig".

We couldn't decide which of the three hikes around the quarry we were up for, unfortunately, at that time Neil wasn't up for ANY!! So, we decided to break out the picnic, and see how he felt after lunch. Which as it turned out he still wasn't up for any. We started off, anyway, with the reason that Mommies need to get taken for walks. He really still didn't care. Gary ended up putting him on his shoulders for a time, because I was a bit nervous that he was going to throw himself off a rock and get hurt. We wanted to see how fast we could hike the 1.4 mile Rock Walk, to see if we could make it to the CEU Museum in Price before they closed at 6:00. And, we did it. Here are some pictures along the hike:
the black on the rocks is called "desert varnish" don't know why, but I thought that was interesting. And, you can's see this guy too well, but it's the creepiest looking spider I've ever seen.
okay so this is really the only way to get all three of us in a photo together.

Neil likes the lizards. He was even brave enough to sneak a touch of this one, then of course it showed us how fast they move, and found shelter.
Neil LOVES rocks. He wanted to bring at least one home with him, but we kept telling him no, when he asked why I said they were protected by the federal government and had to stay there. I did ask if he wanted a picture of the rock (it would be almost like bringing it home) from the look on his face it's not even close!
After the hike, it was a very dusty drive back to Price, and we made it in time to see the museum. It's a nice museum, but very small. Considering that Neil is used to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. But, an hour was really all that was needed for the museum in Price.
If all of the fossils, and skeletons aren't enough to remind us of how very small we are and how very large they were...try the old your hand in theirs.

So, that was our Saturday September 27, 2008. Not exactly what we had set out for, but so much better.