Dinosaur National Monument, Starvation Reservoir

Day 25: Thursday, June 17, 2021

Starvation Reservoir State Park; Duchesne, UT 

We visited Dinosaur National Monument Quarry site

This is an actual wall in the quarry site, partially excavated in order to be used as an educational tool. These are actual dinosaur bone fossils. Reconstructed dinosaurs from this site are in museums across the country, including the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

We have a raccoon skull in our garage that is a miniature of this one…sort of

I had some questions about pelvic anatomy of this Allosaurus and found out that dinosaurs have two distinct types of pelvic anatomy: bird-like and lizard-like. Who knew?!

An actual fossil that you can touch…and, as you can see, many have!

The wall of fossils is an actual excavation. The visitor center was built around it. 
Amazingly cool.

We did some driving today and had some “discussions” again about Google Maps. Google Maps is becoming the third “person” on our trip. Mr. Maps decided to take us down a dead end road, luckily discovered sooner rather than later. We both were dismayed at that stunt. Very dismayed. Luckily we recovered and got to where we were going. 

Today was the third day of temperatures in the triple digits. After the dinosaurs, we had to wait for my phone to cool down enough after leaving the grocery store (supply day—so good to have fresh fruits and vegetables!) to eat for dinner. Cucumbers in rice vinegar, bacon cheddar burgers on the Blackstone, dinner salad. And the fresh strawberries were beautiful!

I love Utah scenery. So many rocks. So many rock layers. Here are some pictures from today’s drive. Enjoy!

We drover through an aspen forest and my thoughts wandered to fall, ablaze in gold

Starvation Reservoir as seen from our site

Good night from Starvation Reservoir State Park. 

Tomorrow: Park City. Stay tuned!