Our expectation (based off the brochures) was that this would be a great place to take Samuel since the exhibits were hands-on and we would have a great dinosaur adventure together as a family. In reality, we paid $10.50 a piece to step into a room full of replicated dinosaur bones and some boring fact-plaques. The only part of the place that was "interactive" was a couple of fake bones that you could touch. Woo hoo!
Here is Allen with his sad, empty wallet.
We just made the best of the situation and clowned around the whole time, which I think was about 30 minutes. When we bought our tickets the lady told us we could have our hands stamped if we decide to leave for lunch (we got there around 10 AM) and come back. She could not have seriously thought we would stay two hours and then come back for more. I'm glad that Allen and I always know how to have a good time. We just cracked jokes and took funny pictures.
Samuel would have made a great dinner for a T-Rex.
He was not amused by the dino puppets.
Dad, this is lame. Can we go to the park or something?
Whoa! That's one big, fake bone.
The hip bone's connected to the leg bone....
Oh, no! We've been eaten!
We made sure to do a lot of growling while we were there and by the time we left Samuel had learned how to roar too. Rawrrrrr!
We started to head back to Colorado Springs, but decided it would be more fun to continue our prehistoric adventure and visit the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. I wish we had gone here first! It was so much more interesting and way less expensive.
For a few dollars we had access to several miles of trails. Along the way you could stop and see petrified redwoods, leaves, flowers and insects. I was amazed to learn that in prehistoric times Colorado was actually very warm and humid.
The redwood stumps were petrified by a volcano. Yep, that's right. There were volcanoes in the Rocky Mountains.
The area there is so beautiful in the fall. The aspen trees were golden yellow.
Of course, all Samuel cared about was climbing the stairs.
Eventually, Samuel made it to the park.
We met up with my friend Melanie and her son. The boys had fun on the swings and the moms liked the slide!
