Since I retired from my IT career and began to pursue life as a writer, I have noticed a childlike curiosity returning to my life. I think part of it is also living in these troubled times, a world where a lot of things that seemed certain now seem a lot less certain. I find history and nature so much more relevant.
I still might not have wanted to go to Dinosaur World if it were not for a Blog I follow, written by a fellow RV traveler. She and her husband both really enjoyed the place so I thought we might too. There is a senior discount which was nice and once again, they are dog friendly.
Kismet was absolutely fascinated and very cautious about the small models that were at eye level. It was like the stuffed bobcat she met back at Giant City State Park.
There are over 150 life size dinosaur replicas and because they are placed out in the woods, it felt like We were walking through the set of Jurassic Park. I relearned a few things I had forgotten. Dinosaurs were reptiles and they lived 250-65 million years ago. While some of them are huge, most of them were not. And then very quickly, they all became extinct. So everything we know about dinosaurs comes from their fossilized remains.
No one really know what color dinosaurs were so these are all just guesses but the body structure was verified by researchers.
Scientists believe that a huge meteorite struck the earth about 65 million years ago. This caused tidal waves and clouds of dust blocked the sun. I had forgotten that other animals lived at the same time, birds and mammals and most of those species also became extinct.
We even got to see some woolly mammoths!
I am sure when I get home, watching the series of Jurassic Park movies and reading a few books about the work of paleontologists will be on my to-do list.