Spring Break in the Valley of the Dinosaurs

Little known fact: dinosaurs once lived in Texas.  And I don't mean H. Ross Perot.

No, I mean actual, real dinosaurs.  They roamed freely throughout the Texas Hill Country, presumably until hipsters opened too many coffee bars and they became extinct.  Fortunately, Dinosaur Valley State Park in beautiful Glen Rose, Texas, memorializes this lost time in history for those with patience and a full tank of gas.

Here is Princess sitting in the fossilized footprint of a Sauropod, the class of dinosaurs that include Brontosaurus.

Here are Sven and Princess crossing the river to see more fossilized dino prints.

 Here is Dexy, sitting with me with his feet in the water.  That's as far as I got.

After exhausting ourselves at Dinosaur Valley State Park, we visited Dino World, which features hundreds of life-size models of dinosaurs on an outdoor path.

Welcome to Dino World!

 I don't trust that one, Mommy.

Run! Quick! I don't want to end up like Newman!

 You guys are funny.

 And we're done.  Home again, now!

Unfortunately, pictures cannot capture the way Dexy ran from dinosaur to dinosaur, screaming in fright when he saw each new one, but saying, "Bye, Dinosaur!" in a very friendly way when we moved on.

Neither can pictures capture the elaborate narrative Princess crafted, in which each dinosaur we approached told us, "You will not pass!" and then she would say, "Yes, but I am Princess, and I am a friend to all the unicorns!  You must let me pass!"  And then they would have a conversation about all of their mutual acquaintances, and we would leave as soon as the dinosaur had told Princess how beautiful she is.

It runs in the family.