Dinosaur Ridge

It was finally going to be a nice weekend, so we knew we had to plan on doing something outside. So, after doing some research, we decided to head into Colorado and go to Dinosaur Ridge. Not only would be able to see some dinosaur tacks and bones, but we also would be able to enjoy a 2 mile walk. 

Before we started our adventures, we thought we would stop at the Discovery Center. This is when the kids finally figured out what we were going to be doing for the day because most of the time we keep what we are doing a secret so they are surprised when we get there. So, when we turned the corner and they started seeing dinosaur statues, they started getting super excited. 

 

Inside the discovery center they had some bones and some tracks and like always McKaila knew everything about them. She was in her element and I loved it. Being at the discovery center didn't last long, because the kids were more than ready to start our walk to see dinosaur tracks.

And so the walk begins. It was a perfect day, weather wise. The only down side to the walk was the snow was melting, which then made mud, so yeah. 

Not too far into our walk, we walked right up to the first dinosaur bones. It's truly amazing that these are all visible for us to see and touch and that we are only about 30 miles from Denver. 

These bones are from a stegosaurus, the first known stegosaurus discovery. 

Brontosaur bulges. 

It's hard to see in the pictures, but there are areas where the rock bulges down, those are from the brontosaur. You literally can see where they walked. I am not the biggest dinosaur fan, but seeing stuff like this is pretty amazing.

I would probably have to say that this was all of our favorite part of the whole walk. Getting the chance to get up close and personal to the dinosaur tracks and actually be able to touch them. 

In this section alone there is more than 300 dinosaur tracks (3 distinct dinosaurs) and 1 crocodilian track. 

At this point we were ending the first mile of our walk on Dinosaur Ridge. The kids were doing so good, but Courtney still had to keep it interesting by doing different walks with McKenna, which she loved. She loves goofing around with daddy.

At this end of Dinosaur Ridge was the visitors center. We of course had to go check it out, before we had to turn around and go back up the hill and head back to the car. 

It was a beautiful walk. Not only did we get to see some awesome dinosaur tracks and bones, but we also had some very beautiful views. To add to it, the kids did so well on the walk. Logan had to be carried for a bit up the hill, but all in all, all 3 kids did awesome. I'm looking forward to the spring/summer time and going back to Dinosaur Ridge to hike some of the trails.