Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

Ethan, Courtney and I were watching a documentary on dinosaurs a few weeks ago and it mentioned the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Park.  I told the kids that I grew up near there and they wanted to go.  Luckily, we had a trip to Emery County planned, so we obliged them.  Unfortunately, I had forgotten how long the drive was on dirt roads.  But we survived. 

We were at the gates a bit early, so Courtney, Ethan and Grandpa got to walk around and hunt for more dinosaur bones while we waited.  The volunteers pulled up, unlocked the gate and we drove to the Quarry.  Now, when I was in 1st grade, this was the field trip.  We all thought it was so cool to see the metal building where the bones were being dug.

It certainly has changed, like everything else.  They actually had a museum-type building where you could look at fossils and do some activities.  The metal buildings were still there and looked a lot smaller to me than they did back when I was a kid.  It was "free National Park day" so that was a bonus.

Here are Ethan, Courtney and Grandpa in the museum:

 Here is Courtney after pulling together a dinosaur:

 Ethan after putting together the dinosaur:

After the kids put together the dinosaur bones, we went for a hike around to see some other sights around the quarry.  It could have been a really long hike but we shortened it by cutting through some areas.  It was a beautiful day!

Above: Grandpa, Courtney and Ethan in one of the metal buildings looking at the bones.
Below:  On the hike:

Then we loaded back in the car, drove back to Castle Dale and went to the cemetery where the Oman side of my family is all buried.  It was fun to tell stories to the kids about their ancestors.