Planning Your Next Vacation? How About An Eco-Adventure-Themed Tour with Dinosaur Treasure Hunting for Kids?

Why wait for Halloween – one day of the year – to do something wild and weird? Why not book an eco-adventure tour with a prehistoric theme – dinosaur treasure hunting that is! Indeed this kind of vacation is perfect for active families with younger children for whom standard tours would be less entertaining and harder to accommodate to their growing needs. Better yet, plan it yourself.

It’s easy. Below is a list of dinosaur treasure trivia regarding the best dinosaur-hunting sites in the USA. Select a site and determine the best way to get there. Dependent upon the time of year you wish to go, add your favorite bit of outdoor recreational activity – hiking, biking, canoeing, birding, fishing, skiing, or horseback riding. So what are you waiting for – Tyrannosaurus Rex on snowshoes, perhaps?

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1- Whilst vacationing in 1858, which U.S. town and state did Victorian gentleman and fossil hobbyist, William Parker Foulke, discover the world’s first nearly-complete dinosaur skeleton in a local marl pit– known today as “Ground Zero” of Dinosaur Paleontology?

2- In which two neighboring U.S. states is the world-famous “Dinosaur National Monument” located? First discovered in 1909 by a paleontologist working and collecting for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, this well-visited site contains over 1,500 dinosaur fossils still embedded in the cliff face of the quarry.

3- Opened to the public in 1972 and featuring some of the world’s best preserved dinosaur tracks, this unique riverbed at “Dinosaur Valley State Park” can be visited in which U.S. state?

4- In which U.S. state can you find the #1 Dinosaur Museum in the country – located next to active dinosaur dig sites, a world-class preparation laboratory, and a fantastic gift shop?

5- Discovered accidentally in 1966 by a bulldozer operator, “Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum” is located in which U.S. state? Note this natural attraction contains one of the largest dinosaur track sites in North America and holds an annual event each year in August filled with games, films, arts and crafts, and educational programs that allow visitors to create their own track casts.

6- Which U.S. state contains the only source of Early Cretaceous dinosaur fossils along the Eastern seaboard on a stretch of land known as “Dinosaur Alley” – dating back to 115 million years ago?

7- Just last year, in which U.S. state did hikers accidentally stumble onto a two-legged dinosaur track within the “Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area” – an area aptly noted for its 3,000-foot-high sandstone cliffs perched above the Mojave desert?

8- In which U.S. state do fossil hunters continually meet together to share their “prehistoric” adventures along the creeks of the low country looking for ‘megalodon’ teeth – an extinct species of shark that lived 28 million to 1.5 million years ago which had 7 inch size teeth and the most powerful bite of any creature that ever lived?

9- In which western state does “Ghost Ranch” lie – a place associated with both American-born painter Georgia O’Keeffe and an array of great outdoor adventure activities whose large acreage hides a famous paleontological site containing over a thousand well-preserved fossilized Triassic dinosaur skeletons? Once located near the equator over 200 million years ago, this area is now better known for its red rock scenery in Hollywood-produced movies such as “Cowboys and Aliens”, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, and “No Country for Old Men” .

10- In which U.S. state can one find the internationally renown White River Badlands region – an area that is home to the world’s richest deposit of Oligocene mammals – mammals that existed 34 to 23 million years ago including the remains of fossilized rhinos, horses, and saber-toothed cats. And nearby is the “Black Hills Institute of Geological Research” a private corporation which specializes in the excavation and preparation of fossils and the sale of original fossil material and museum-quality replicas.

Answers:; (1) Haddonfield, New Jersey (2) Colorado and Utah (3) Texas (4) Wyoming (5) Connecticut (6) Maryland (7) Nevada (8) South Carolina (9) New Mexico (10) South Dakota