Drove west from Winter Park in pursuit of dinosaur bones! Just over the Colorado boarder is Jensen, Utah, home to Dinosaur National Park. We stopped at the visitor’s center to get the scoop on the park. I guess we should have call ahead first because the quarry was closed. It seems the earth under the building that houses and protects the quarry of bones was shifting, making the building unsafe… unsafe for human, but apparently not for bones, because they were still inside the building lodged in the rocks!

However, hiking around the area was available, and because most people thought to call ahead, the place was practically empty at the height of tourist season! So, we took the shuttle bus up the hill to a trail head that would lead to some dinosaur bones, if we kept our eyes open. We hiked to the spot on the trail where there was suppose to be dinosaur bones. We looked over the rocks long and hard for bone-shaped rocks, slightly smooth and shiny, just like the ranger had told us. Sure enough, Lexi spotted a nice big leg bone jutting out from under a rock! Finally, someone else spotted a potion of the animal’s spine – a part of the tail. There were sea shell fossils all over the ground – everywhere we looked!

Back at the visitor’s center, we hopped on the shuttle bus again, this time for a tour of the Green River. This river starts in Wyoming and flows over 700 miles. As with most rivers in the West, the water of the Green River has been fought over for many years, beginning with the earlier settlers. Before the settler’s arrived, however, the land was inhabited by the Freemont Indians. They used the Green River for fishing and farming. It’s a mystery as to what happened to these Indians, because they vanished without a trace! However, they did leave behind some beautiful pictographs carved in the rocks.

Even without the quarry, we all had an awesome adventure!

Enjoy!