fascinating fossils

As a substitute for our scheduled (and rained out) butterfly banding adventure, we instead spent yesterday afternoon at Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, CT. We got to handle, examine, and study fossils; saw two films on dinosaurs (one specific to the dinosaurs and fossils found here in CT); had the museum practically to ourselves all afternoon; got to meet some of the resident animals; and learned tons about the geology of this area (well, I did anyway -- my interest in geology has recently been re-awakened. I was very interested when I was a kid, but haven't thought much about it in the past 30 years or so).

Zoo Boy at one of the interactive exhibits that shows where fossils are found in the layers of rock that make up the Connecticut River Valley. (Which isn't really a river valley, it was just named that because the Connecticut River flows through it. In fact, it is a rift valley that was formed at the end of the Triassic period when West Africa and New England broke away from each other due to continental drift. The strain on the earth's crust caused sections of it to collapse inward, causing rifts. Do you see what I mean, geology is TOTALLY FASCINATING!!!!)

One of many chances for us to touch real fossils of plants and animals at the museum. The museum was built over a "track bed" where there are over 500 dinosaur tracks -- the central part of the museum is open down to the track bed. It's extremely cool. Around the edges are walkways chock full of displays, information, and interactive exhibits so that kids (and adults) can garner an understanding of how that track bed was made, preserved, and eventually discovered by humans. (Accidentally, while excavating for a state office building.)

The boys spent a good amount of time examining smaller fossils using magnifying glasses and a guide to identify the kinds of animals. On our way out, I purchased them each a small fossil -- J got a type of ammonite (an ancient mollusk, like a snail) and Zoo Boy got a cephalopod (an ancient squid). They've been playing Paleontologist ever since! I got souvenirs too -- a book on geology (put out by Google, actually -- really cool book with lots of info and photos, plus website addresses to visit for educational activities on each topic), and a book of places in CT to visit to see examples of various geological formations. Not that I'm interested in geology or anything....

I even managed to find this butterfly display in the museum and tie in our original theme a bit. (Well, not much -- the museum is dedicated to education about the Jurassic period, and butterflies were non-existent than, since there were no flowering plants yet!) But really I was tying in our trip to the Springfield Science Museum the day before where we learned all about Dinosaur eggs.

Anyway, an AMAZING field trip, and one that I'm sure we'll take again. They have an incredible arboretum of plants that are similar to those that grew here during the Jurassic period, we definitely need to get back on a better weather day to explore that!