What a day of exploration! We left our campground to tour the Dinosaur National Monument which is more of a park than a Monument. It extends from the upper east corner of Utah into Colorado. We only explored the Utah side. Our early morning drive took us about 14 miles to look at some petroglyphs. The carvings are at least one thousand years old. I cant imagine people living in this environment for any length of time. It was very hot during the day and very cool in the evening. How did people survive? I complain about not having cell service but they lived here in these extreme conditions. We took many pictures which I will post after I finish typing. I know we said no more gravel roads but we had to go 2 miles on a gravel road to see the petroglyphs and it was worth it. I started worrying when we crossed over a dirt road bridge but we made it. When we were finished we headed back to the visitor center but as I was reading the pamphlet, I realized we missed one of the stops. So...Chris turned around and we went back over the gravel road a second time. Well worth it since the first site only had lizards and the second one had very different symbols.
After the tour we went to the quarry to see the dinosaur fossils. It was an amazing exhibit. The excavation was finished so they built a huge building into the side of the mountain covering almost 200 feet in length and over two stories high of dinosaur fossils. The bones were exposed coming straight out of the mountain. There were thousands of bones. The area was once a lake during the time of the dinosaurs. Later there was a drought that dried up the lake and many dinosaurs just died in the area. In time, the water came back and the lake filled up again burying the remains. Sediment was layered on and through time all was under layers of rock and sediment. The bones became fossilized and are now preserved like rocks. Then came modern day erosion and one day a mountaineer was hiking and saw a large skeleton showing on the side of the mountain. The dig is done now and preserved for everyone to see in an air-conditioned facility.
We were very hot and tired so for a time of relaxing we found a Laundromat and had lunch while the clothes were washing. The laundry's in Yellowstone and Glacier all had signs "do not wash pet blankets". This one had a sign, "do not wash horse blankets". When we were done it was 3pm and we had not driven any distance for the day. We thought we could go about 150 miles before stopping but after 10 minutes it was clear we would not make it very far. We drove about 50 miles and stopped early enough for me to make a pot of potato soup for supper. We ate out side with the wind howling and blowing at about 20 mph. It was wonderful.
Tomorrow we need to stay focused as we have to get as close to Zion as we can. It is hard not to stop and take in the beautiful vistas and there is a turnout every few miles. When we stop at the pullouts we always meet people and we stop and talk too long. It is interesting that almost everyone we talk to has just recently retired. I guess this is what you do. We are doing at least 10 years of vacations in just two months. I feel blessed everyday.
Tomorrow should be just a travel day so I may not post unless something interesting happens. Oh, the RV started right up with us using only one sleep machine through the night.
Peace to my family and all of my friends, Barbara
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