Since I was so close to the Utah side of Dinosaur National Monument, and that's where all the cool fossils and 2,000 + year-old Fremont Indian petroglyphs and pictographs were, I decided to hop over to Utah for a couple of days of ancient history...and I mean really old!
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| This part of the state knows how to welcome you |
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| Anyone sense a theme here? |
This park was the dream of a paleontologist named Earl Russell, who discovered the fossils and began a campaign to preserve the remaining finds in situ, after tons had been excavated and carted off to museums around the country. As I was looking at some of the photos, I realized I've seen two of them - at the New York and Washington D.C. Museums of Natural History - funny how the past has connected me to this moment.
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| 150 million years ago, it looked like this, until a great flood drowned hundreds of dinosaurs in the area and piled up their bones into a sort of log-jam |
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| Yes, I'm really touching a dinosaur fossil! |
Sort of puts it all into perspective.....
Now off to search for petroglyphs, while the light is still good for photographing this ancient rock carvings.
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| Can't ignore this warning! |
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| That lizard is more than six feet long and is in perfect shape! |
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| Kokopelli, trickster, rainmaker, fertility god? |
Random shot of the backseat "passenger" in the car next to mine...
In 1914, recently divorced, her children grown, Josie Morris headed for the hills and homesteaded near a small box canyon, where she had river for water, pasture land for horses, room for a garden, and not a few hardships (poisonous snakes, cacti, strangers, harsh winters. She lived there until she died at the age of 90. Wow - what a life!!!!
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| Just catching dinner on the pond algae |
As the sun sets, the light turns the cliffs rosy, and I'm not the only one to enjoy the Green River views....
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| A lone pronghorn antelope just chillin' by the river |
Sort of puts it all into perspective.....
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