Thursday, July 25, 2013

I am a paleontologist!

We have a standing rule in our new little family that if we're driving somewhere and see a sign for some crazy roadside attraction, such as "World's Biggest Ball of Yarn!", and we have time, we can stop and check it out. Thanks to websites like Roadside America and our own quirky knowledge of things, we can actually plan trips to the offbeat and bizarre.


This was the case with Dinosaur Land.


Fifty years ago, someone decided to build and paint a bunch of fiberglass dinosaurs. They are not to scale. They are not entirely accurate physically. They are certainly not organized in any way. They are just there. And for six dollars a pop, you can take a stroll through kitschy history.
The triceratops is both of our favorite dinosaurs, so it was good to see it taking down a t-rex


It was completely worth it.

We have no idea how big this octopus actually is. Or why it's in a dinosaur park. While we were driving to Dinosaur Land, I must have been distracted or just too excited to focus, because I was having a hard time focusing on things that were rather obvious, and this inattention to detail came out a few times.

#1
Me (reading a sign): There's a County Store.

Blake: Country.

Me: That makes more sense.

#2
Me: There are two cows in that mud pond.

Blake: Three.

Me: So there is.

#3 (upon arrival to Dinosaur Land)
One of us: And there's a 70 foot octopus!

The other: This sign says it's 90 feet.

Me: It must have grown 10 feet.

Blake: 20.

Me: Right.

It's probably a good thing I wasn't driving.


Our stop through history was on our way to a campsite in West Virginia, where we stayed the night. I'd been given a tent as a birthday present last year and we used it for a fun indoor date then, but this was its inaugural trip outdoors.


We grilled pork chops and corn.



Roasted marshmallows.


Discovered what marshmallows do if dropped in a fire. SCIENCE!


Cut up firewood with a pocketknife.

We also kicked back and read, played some games, and, after it was dark, I read a chapter of The Graveyard Book to Blake. In true first world problem fashion, we discovered our air mattress was a little too big for our wee tent. It stretched the seams and took us twenty minutes to zip once we were inside, but we managed and it was fairly comfortable. We'll just have to invest in some foam pads for next time.

Hooray for adventuring!


3 comments:

Giggles said...

That sounds like a wonderfully fun adventure!

I stopped at places like that, and every state capital building I passed, on a road trip once. It was great.

Anna M said...

Looks like a ton of fun!

Cabeza said...

SCIENCE!