Dinosaur Hunting

So, we finally got a Jeep. After months of mulling over Craigslist and KSL ads, we decided to start making some calls. This led to a rather interesting test drive that included taking 'er up to 80mph on the highway with the doors off, which left us a little deaf and windblown, the kids (in five-point restraints, although I still kept turning around to make sure one of them hadn't just fallen out into the I-15 traffic) laughing hysterically the whole time. After looking at some privately sold used vehicles (note to self: all those expensive offroad upgrades do NOT get your money back when it's time to sell), we ended up going to a dealer, but only after researching exactly the vehicle we wanted to test drive and working out the offering price in advance (thanks to much legwork by Chris). I definitely recommend this approach, as it saves a lot of headaches and high pressure sales pitches when you are on the lot and pretty much a captive audience.

Anyway, after bringing home our shiny Jeep and wedging it into the limited driveway space, we decided an adventure was in order to try it out. By this time it was Thursday night, so no time to prepare for camping. Chris found a motel in Vernal, Utah, and Saturday morning we were on the road. Incidentally, it is much easier to get the kids going when a promise of adventure is presented to them, as opposed to when we are going to, say, school. I know, why does this surprise me? Lily spent much of the trip laughing and yelling "I like my Jeep! I like riding in my Jeep!"

So why Vernal? It is the, um, "gateway" to Dinosaur National Monument, the sight of the highest concentration of fossilized dinosaur bones in the world (er, I think. Well, there was SOME superlative). What we found was a town that seems to be thriving pretty well, at least by rural Utah standards (some seem pretty desperate), although they capitalize on the dinosaur thing a bit too much. I wish I had pictures, but there were several "life size" statues of dinos throughout the town, some of them in colors that I don't think existed before human technology made them possible. One of them depicted a T-Rex about to devour a watermelon, next to a giant hamburger that was balanced on some type of pyramid structure. There is also a dinosaur park, a dinosaur museum, and the Dinosaur Brew Haus, among other things.

After a stop in the park for a picnic lunch and some playground time, we found our motel, which was also the "Cheap Bastard Smoke Shop". Chris couldn't find anyone in the lobby, so he went next door to the smoke shop and had to wait for the clerk to finish waiting on a customer, lock up, go next door and check us in. Oddly, when he asked which way to head out of town to go to Dinosaur National Monument, he was rewarded with a blank stare and then directions back to the watermelon-eating T-Rex.

We dumped the unneeded items in our room and hit the road with intentions to visit the quarry. By the time we got to the turnoff, both kids were out cold in the back. Following a slight variation on the old adage, we let sleeping babies lie and went for a drive instead. We took the auto tour to the Blue Mountain Road, a 4WD road that climbed to the summit of a nearby mountain (uh, Blue Mountain, that is). A discreet BING from the dash signalled an alert from our Jeep: Hot Oil. A quick look through the owner's manual revealed....nothing. The subsequent thorough search of the owner's manual still uncovered no helpful information. They seemed to have left this bit out. Fortunately, our other recently acquired wonder of modern technology saved the day - the iPhone actually had a signal, and a search of "Rubicon Hot Oil" revealed that our transmission oil was too hot and we needed to switch to low gear. No need to turn back, although if we didn't follow this advice our transfer case may have burst into flames. OK, maybe not, but at least ignited something on the road. Thank you Google!

At the top, now in BLM lands, we discovered a herd of cattle milling around a cluster of radio towers. They stood placidly chewing their cud while we took pictures. We marveled at the schmuck who got stuck with this "allotment" for his ranch. After a diaper change at 10,000 feet we headed back down. It was getting late, so we decided to hike in the morning, but we did check out the Stegosaurus standing outside the visitor center before going back to town.

The next morning we were back at the quarry for our dinosaur hunt. Storm clouds threatened us but didn't follow through except with a few light showers. This was something, considering my notorious bad luck at getting caught in sudden and severe thunderstorms. The quarry visitor center looked to be an impressive and beautiful new structure perched on a cliff. Unfortunately we couldn't actually visit this visitor center because the ground it was built on had shifted, and now the whole building swayed when the wind blew hard. Your tax dollars at work!

We found some dinosaur bones, fossils of clams and worms, and some petroglyphs. Admittedly Harry found more "bones" than the rest of us combined, mostly because after a while every rock qualified. The really good ones were helpfully marked with white arrows and dots. We picked up some trash and brought it back to the visitor center. I did such a good job reinforcing this that Lily is now a bit obsessed with picking up trash on our walks and throwing it away :)

After another picnic lunch and (wet) romp on another playground, we set about taking the long way home (socks and shoes drying under the dash) by way of the Red Cloud Loop through Ashley National Forest. We only got a little lost. The Jeep was anything but shiny and new by now. Eventually we made our way to Flaming Gorge for supper and a walk around a lake, then the long drive home. By this point, the kids were not as excited about being stuck in the car as they were the morning before. But, we have dragged them enough places by now that they have come to accept travel as the price of adventure, so they were reasonable.

Time to plan the next trip!