Dinosaur Hunting
Dinosaur fossils areas and museums are a popular vacation idea for all ages. Many states have museums which display actually dinosaurs. Fossil hunting in many areas is a great day outing activity. Some areas are national parks which have camping nearby, giving a great vacation opportunity to enjoy and explore. Dinosaur museums can be found throughout the US and the world.
Dinosaur Museums
Thermopolis
Vernal
The Wyoming Dinosaur Center is a world-class facility located in Thermopolis, Wyoming. It’s one of the few dinosaur museums in the world to have excavation sites nearby. The museum has 70 skeletons mounted on display. Visit https://wyomingdinosaurcenter.org/.
Camping nearby is available as well as lodges and motels to stay and further explore and dig for dinosaurs.
The Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis, Wyoming, offers a unique opportunity for the public to participate in their “Dig for a Day” program available 7 days a week from June through September. Ages 3 and up can participate, registration must be made ahead of time and allows 10 per day. Fossils found will be recorded and kept to help the dinosaur researchists. Most fossils are from long-necked sauropods (Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus), but Allosaurus teeth have also been found.
Vernal
Vernal, Utah, is a hotspot for dinosaur enthusiasts and is often referred to as “Dinosaurland” due to the many dinosaur fossils that have been discovered and studied in the area. Here are some key attractions:
Dinosaur National Monument : This unique park, technically a national monument, spans over 200,000 acres and is located on the border of Utah and Colorado. It houses an entire rock wall full of real fossils, some of which are even available for touching. The monument also features a deposit of real dinosaur fossils called the “Wall of Bones,” where over 1,500 dinosaur bones are on display
Fossil Butte National Monument
Located on the Upper West Side of NYC, this museum has two dinosaur halls: ornithischians (bird-hipped) and saurischians (lizard-hipped). You can spend a full day just visiting the dinosaur exhibits. Some of the highlights of the museum include:
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Triceratops
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Stegosaurus
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T-Rex
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Titanosaur
Branson Dinosaur Museum
Branson Dinosaur Museum in Branson MO, is one of many great attractions and has 45 life sized replicas of dinosaurs which were made using molds from actual dinosaur bones. The museum has interactive educational tours, and also a gift shop with many dinosaur items, and is open year round. Nearby attractions include the World's Largest Toy Museum.
Dinosaur Parks
Red Fleet State Park
Red Fleet
Temporarily closed due to renovations, Red Fleet State Park is a state park located in Utah, United States. Here are some key features of the park:
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Reservoir and Fossil Trackway: The park features a 750-acre reservoir and a fossil trackway of dinosaur footprints.
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Location: The park is located 10 miles north of Vernal, Utah.
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Dinosaur Tracks: The park is home to numerous dinosaur tracks of its own. Almost 200 million years old, these tracks were discovered near its eastern shores and have become an attraction all their own.
Dinosaur Valley State Park
Dinosaur Valley State Park is a state park located in Glen Rose, Texas
The park spans over 1,524.72 acres and was established in 1972
Dinosaur Tracks: The park is home to some of the most well-preserved dinosaur tracks in the world. These tracks were left by dinosaurs during the Cretaceous Age, approximately 113 million years.
The park offers a variety of activities including camping, hiking, swimming, fishing, and biking. There are also ranger-led track talks and other interpretive programs.
Dinosaur State Park
Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum is a state-owned natural history preserve located in Rocky Hill, Connecticut
The park spans over 80 acres and was established in 1968.
Dinosaur Tracks: The park is home to one of the largest dinosaur track sites in North America. These tracks were left by dinosaurs during the Jurassic period, about 200 million years ago.
Geodesic Dome: The park’s 55,000-square-foot geodesic dome encloses some 500 tracks while another 1,500 remain buried for preservation. The sandstone layer preserving the tracks is a section of the East Berlin Formation, which corresponds to a sandy lakeshore from the Early Jurassic, over 200 million years ago.