Day 25: Driving to Dinosaurs

We slept in until 7 a.m. then told the kids to have “quiet time” until 8 to give us parents a few more minutes of rest. Rob made an extra yummy breakfast: fried eggs, pancakes, and sausages.

It was great having the RV in the same place for nearly a week, but now we were headed out again, this time to Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal, Utah. We had a few miles of interstate driving today, which was a first in several weeks.

The rest of the trip was on a pretty bumpy road, We pulled over in a chain-up area for a lunch break. Rob took us through a crazy windy mountain pass that had a 25 mph speed limit (on a highway) so you can imagine how slow we went. Throw in some cows along the road, and it was a bit of an adventure. The road after the pass was again bumpy, but nothing too tough.

We arrived at the Dinosaur National Monument visitor center mid-afternoon. It’s small, but its main function is the departure point for the short tram ride up to the quarry.

This part was incredible. In a big section of rock there are over 1,500 dinosaur bone fossils. Why so many? A bunch of dinosaur bones collected in a river, where they fossilized. One of the femur bones on display was the size of an adult. There was even a section where you could touch a fossil to feel the difference between it and the surrounding rocks.

Both boys earned another junior ranger badge, which was thrilling as always. 

Rob found an awesome campground just down the road. It is on the Green River and super peaceful. There are no hookups, but everything is so much more bearable when temperatures don’t break 100 (the shade and cloud cover helped, too). We ate dinner and then went for a family walk around the campground, skipped some rocks in the river (a skill I have apparently lost), and then headed back to the RV.

We chilled with some more reading of Wonder and then aimed for early bedtime to help alleviate some grumpiness.