Memories of Four Western States · 1:36am Jul 30th, 2018
Hey everyone. Now that I'm back and had a bit of time to settle in, I wanted to share a bit of a longer recount of my trip out West.
As a big fan of paleontology and with a certain fondness of geology (I took multiple classes in college, even though I needed just the one for science credit, because I found I liked the study of rocks so much XD), I'd dreamed of someday going out to visit some of the US' big fossil sites. So after I graduated college, I made plans with my folks to fly out to Denver and head out to visit some choice destinations.
It was with a very heavy heart that I ruled out Dinosaur National Park, as I really wanted to go, but with how big that place is (it comfortably stretches between Colorado and Utah) and how far a drive it'd be... if I'd really wanted to go, that would have to be the only destination.
So with that in mind, I picked two other fossil sites:
First, the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota.
Then, after that, the Agate Fossil Beds near Harrison, Nebraska.
Both home to major beds of prehistoric mammal fossils. Hey, it may not have been dinosaurs, but mammoth fossils are really cool too. 
So anyway, on July 17, 2018, my dad and I boarded a plane at Cleveland Airport and flew out to Denver International Airport. It was only a three-hour flight (give or take the time change) but still very tiring. Fortunately I had a damn good book to read, The Republic of Pirates, and that helped a lot.
(Also, let me just say - I know it's an international airport and all, but Denver Airport is freaking enormous. It's more like a city than an airport... Dad and I had to ride a subway and take a bus to get to our rental car.)
We spent our first day in Colorado around the city of Boulder, taking pictures of the flatirons and walking along trails. It was gorgeous scenery, looking like "cowboy country" even centuries after the Old West had passed... and some rock formations almost made me imagine Wile E. Coyote lying in wait for the Roadrunner... 
Then our second day, we started the long, LONG drive through Wyoming to South Dakota. Mainly what I remember when I think of that day, is just how OPEN the land and sky was. For a guy who grew up in the Appalachian Mountains, that massive expanse of country and blue sky was just amazing. Awe-inspiring.
Finally, on the third day of our trip, we visited the Mammoth Site. Which was absolutely incredible - the Site is a fossilized sinkhole, a watering hole that would trap thirsty mammoths when they came to the water's edge... they've found over 80 specimens there, and are still excavating, with forty feet of site left to dig down into.
By luck, it turns out July is the month where excavation is in full swing, so Dad and I got to see the workers busy with their tools, carefully brushing and chipping at the rock... it may sound boring, but looking down into that pit and seeing mammoth skulls and other bones among the rock was an incredible experience.
In the same day, we also visited Mount Rushmore and the Chief Crazy Horse Monument. Both of which were absolutely awe-inspiring to look at.
On our last day in South Dakota, Dad and I went out to see the Badlands...
And my God, it was spectacular.
Seriously, words can't do it justice. The Badlands of South Dakota are one of the most striking, otherworldly landscapes I've ever seen. Almost like someone brought a chunk of Mars down to Earth... we spent five hours driving around, taking photos and hiking trails there. It was tiring, but so very worth it. 
The next day was spent driving into Nebraska, to visit the Agate Fossil Beds. That was another impressive site - in the Miocene it was, possibly, the site of a drought at a watering hole, so there were lots of fossils... mainly of Mesoceras (prehistoric rhino-like creature), Dinohyus (think "demon pigs" and you're halfway there), gazelle-camels and beardogs… along with these beaver ancestors called Palaeocastor, which lived in burrows like prairie dogs! There were entire tunnels of their old dens that had petrified into these long spirals known as "Devil's Corkscrew" because the original settlers had no idea what they were.
After that, we went to visit Fort Robinson, which had a nice museum (the standout exhibit being two mammoths who'd died fighting) and the town was also the location of the fort where Chief Crazy Horse was killed. We visited the barracks built in the historical style, and let me tell you, they were sweltering. Let me tell you, I felt bad for the people who'd had to live there in the 1800s...
Our last day in Nebraska, Dad and I visited Scotts Bluff National Monument. A major site along the Oregon Trail, it offered a breathtaking view and some fascinating rock formations.
Then began the drive back to Denver. After searching for lunch in Cheyenne Wyoming (and I do mean that, we had to walk for half an hour before we could find a suitable walk-in restaurant!!) we finally got back to Denver and spent a lazy evening around the plaza. I bought a few books at the Barnes and Noble, including two of the Witcher books.
On our final day out West, Dad and I visited Dinosaur Ridge in the town of Morrison. A place where they have actual dinosaur tracks from the Cretaceous period in the rock ridge, and Jurassic-era bones further along the ridge. It was something of an experience, to kneel by a real Allosaurus footprint, or to look at a bone and think "that's an Apatosaurus pelvis"... for a dinosaur fan like myself, it was just wonderful.
After that, we visited the Morrison Natural History Museum. A small place, but chock full of spectacular fossils... including the first ever Stegosaurus and Apatosaurus bones discovered back during the Bone Wars! I was enthralled. ^_^
We had plans to visit this local attraction, Tinytown, which is a cute place full of little 1/20th-scale buildings, but unfortunately a booming thunderstorm - the only rain on the entire trip - put the kibosh on that plan. We spent our last night in Denver at the hotel, eating at a local Chinese restaurant (which had some of the BEST lo mein I've ever eaten), and packing for the flight back to Cleveland.
All in all, it was a great trip. Long, and at times hot (though a dry heat, nowhere near as bad as a muggy Appalachian summer XD), but I'm not complaining at all.
I'm just thrilled to have been able to go. It's a trip that I will definitely remember, and treasure, for a long time. ^_^
Definitely sounds like you had fun. Shame you weren't able to swing anywhere near Cheyenne Mountain, but that's just the sci-fi nut in me talking.
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Yeah, it was all pretty great.
I'd have definitely loved to have stayed longer, looked around more at a LOT of places, but unfortunately we only had so much time.
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Isn't that always the case?
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Yeah, indeed it is.
Still happy to have went. ^_^
And besides, maybe in a few years, I can figure out some return trip... though I might drive West. Flying might be faster, but I'm in no hurry to go through Denver Airport lines again...