30th May - Dinosaur National Monument NP II

Belated happy birthday to Ruth Castley!! (Will’s ‘mom’ hehe).

Me pretending to be a dinosaur in Dinosaur, UT.

We left when the ranger parked extra extra close to us this morning in the carpark where we’d stayed. There was heaps of room so it seemed a bit weird, but  we were ready to go so we left! I think the ranger was off talking to the rafters, some of whom had just arrived that morning. We drove to Dinosaur where we stopped at the Visitor Information Centre to try and work out what this National Monument has to offer. Found out that dinosaur bits and pieces are actually on the Utah side. There were various hikes to be done in the Colorado side, but it was a drizzly, windy day so we decided to continue on to Utah where we found the weather was not much better. We also stopped at a small store in Dinosaur (actually the name of the town!) looking for a Colorado magnet, but no luck L.
 

Me and Dino.

Josie Morris' cute cabin.

We stopped at the visitor centre in Utah – the temporary one as the other one suffered ground movement a few years ago and has been an unsafe construction site ever since. I got a picture with the awesome dinosaur there! Reminded me of the Loch Ness Monsters we saw last year in Scotland. We had lunch at the campground and chatted to a few Scotty Squirrels which scampered around and nibbled on water we’d poured out (yes, weird I know, but that’s what he was doing!!). Then we drove to the end of the park’s road, mooing at the cows on the side of the road (no fences, could’ve had steak!). We stopped on the way to admire some cave paintings, which could have been done by somebody yesterday with a sharp rock. We did a
short walk from the cabin of Josie Morris into the canyon. Amused Will by echoing in the little caves at the end of the valley (echo, echo, echooo) – the area was called Hog’s Canyon. Then we walked the shorter Box Canyon, where she corralled her animals, particularly pigs. Surely this should have been hog’s canyon??! We giggled at the ladies with their walking stick pole things – the walk was half a mile, as in 800 metres. Return. Hardly needing walking support. We admired the cute cabin of Josie Morris  and the wild mint growing in the stream – not to be drunk, because of some mysterious water-borne illness starting with G. 

Will in a little cave.

Then we went back to the campground, where Will read and I had a nap (role reversal!). He escaped from the deathly jaws of a snake and hid inside, after warning our neighbours of the black creature, particularly as they have a small child. We chatted to them later on and the guy is from Bendigo and went to school with a colleague of mine at Horsham, Steve! Small world. He and his lady and little son came over for a chat. After our dinner of flame – grilled cheeseburgers (made by us – not instant!!) and a chocolate banana for dessert, we joined them at their fire for chats. It also turns out Matt’s brother used to live on Quayle St where Will and I used to live before we moved in together. Small world!! He and Lara know and like Horsham because of the rockclimbing at Arapiles. They have been travelling around south and central America for nearly a year with their little son, Tas, who is such a cutie. It was nice to talk to them and we hope to catch up with them again at some stage during our travels.