Photo Essay: Our Visit to the Museum of Ancient Life

Ian, Nathan, and I recently had a chance to visit The Museum of Ancient Life in Thanksgiving Point. If you've you've looked at the page about last year's excursion to the National Dinosaur Monument in Vernal, Utah, you already know that both of our boys are pretty crazy about dinosaurs. Since we were going to be near the museum on our way to a party that evening, we arranged our trip so we could spend several hours there.

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This picture is to give you an idea of the scale of this place. Just compare Ian (who stands about 46 inches tall) to the big brachiosaurus relief on the side of the building. Funny Nathan refused to stand there because he was afraid of the big dinosaur. (This actually set the tone for much of the day.)

While Nathan was running around in the lobby, Ian was happy to pose for another picture. Both boys then immediately made a beeline for the gift shop. Naturally.

The people who run this museum really know their clientelle. The whole place is filled with fun things for kids to do. Here's a good example: dinosaur costumes. Ian chose to be a dimetrodon. Nathan didn't want to wear a costume, but still posed for the camera.

Behind the boys on their right is a real dimetrodon, or what's left of one. Some other alligator-looking creatures are posed to the boys' left.

Nathan really liked the little eoraptor, maybe because it's a dinosaur that is just his size. You can also see part of a plateosaurus in the glass case.

This picture doesn't really do justice to this exhibit, which is probably the coolest one in the whole museum. Though Nathan was afraid of many of the dinosaurs (especially the big ones posed on stands) he really liked these, perhaps because they were safely behind glass.

Here's what they were looking at. Several ceratosauri (medium-sized predators with prominent nose ridges) are feasting on a downed camarasaurus, while several gargoyleosauri (not shown here) keep their distance in the back.

Ian and Nathan both immediately recognized this dinosaur as a stegosaurus. I didn't have the heart to tell them that it's a close relative, a hesperisaurus. (Note: round plates instead of pointed plates.) Here, Ian has a "close encounter" with the herbivorous dinosaur.

Ah, the dreaded utahraptor. When we saw a similar skeleton at the dinosaur museum in Price, Utah, Ian informed me that it was a "Jazz raptor." Do you think we watch enough basketball at our house?

Here's a nice close-up of the utahraptor's tools of death. Nathan didn't want to have anything to do with this particular dinosaur. He kept his distance, and was careful not to turn his back on it.

Another fine example of the great hands-on exhibits here at the museum. This is a circuitous track with several water recirculating bubblers and drains, to help kids get firsthand knowledge of erosion and how it helps shape the land.

Ian, the colossal flirt that he is, immediately found a friend and put her to work in the sand. They played for quite a while, building dams, watching them break, and positioning plastic dinosaurs and palm trees.

Nathan wasn't at all interested in playing with the sand and water. For one, he was too short to reach over the edge, and didn't want to hold still long enough for me to prop him up. Instead, he played on one of many computers found throughout the museum. Ian, still in his smock, joined him.

The triceratops is a perennial favorite at our house. This one is a beautiful specimen. You can tell by Nathan's expression that he really didn't want to stand still for another picture.

Here's why: the tyrannosaurus rex standing across from the triceratops. Actually, there were a couple of them. The cretaceous hall, where these dinosaurs are found, also has a strutiomimus, an edmontosaurus, and a thescelosaurus. Very cool stuff.

We spent almost 20 minutes in the Design-a-Dino area, putting various pieces onto a generic dinosaur frame. Ian really got a kick out of the fact that the same body could be a T-rex, an ankylosaurus, and a triceratops.

Here's Ian, truly in his element. Note the various spare dino parts that litter the ground.

While Ian played with the fuzzy dinosaurs, Nathan had his own agenda. There was a ramp that led back down to the main exhibit floor. Nathan ran up and down, roaring at people. Here he does his best dinosaur impression.

Once we were past the main dinosaur hall, the boys started to lose interest. I thought this stuff was interesting though. Here is an archelon, which is essentially a giant prehistoric turtle. Hanging from the ceiling to the left of this creature was an aquatic reptile that Ian correctly identified as a tylosaurus.

We're out of the cretaceous perioed now, and into the age of mammals. Here's a nasty looking bird.

Ian recognized the mammoth from our previous visits to the museum in Price. When I asked him what kind of skeletons were attacking the mammoth, he looked puzzled for a minute before he said, "Those are people!"

We watched as a mom and dad took turns posing with their brood. They took me up on my offer to take a picture of all of them together. To thank me, they graciously took this (kind of blurry) photo. Nathan obviously doesn't want to be here.

The final exhibit in the museum is the "Sunset Quarry," which gives kids a chance to do their own dinosaur dig. Here, Nathan and Ian look on while some other kids uncover the skeleton of a stegosaurus.

We really enjoyed our visit to the Museum of Ancient Life. It was definitely worth the time and admission fee. Now on to the gift shop!

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