Hello and welcome to episode 30 of the Ready Set Depart Podcast. We are so glad you’re here!

Do you have a dinosaur obsessed kid, or are you a little bit dinosaur obsessed yourself? (You know, I saw a meme once that said that the worst thing about adulting was the fact that no one asked you your favorite dinosaur anymore. Mine is triceratops, if anyone would like to know.)

What if there was a place you could go where you could see hundreds of dinosaur bones right there in the rock where they were found? Rather than take them to you, why not go to them?

So today, I’m going to walk you through how to get there, where to stay, and exactly what I’d prioritize doing with kids.

Let’s talk about Dinosaur National Monument that sits on the border of Utah and Colorado, and how it is just such a place that you want to go with your kids!

Let’s start with the practical stuff, because getting there is half the battle.

How to get there

Dinosaur National Monument is just over a three hour drive from Salt Lake City, or 20 minutes from the little town of Vernal, Utah. And while Vernal does have a little, tiny regional airport, flying into Salt Lake City and driving over to Vernal is probably a better option.

Because the National Monument is also in Colorado, you could come from that direction as well. Grand Junction Regional Airport is a 2 hour drive from that side of the park, but if you want to go to the Quarry, which you do, we’ll talk about that again in a minute, then you’d have to drive all the way to the other side of the park. So I recommend flying into Salt Lake City, which is a bigger airport anyway, and driving from there. 

Now you could get up early, drive to Dinosaur and drive home that same day, but I’m all about having adventures, so why not find a place to stay in Vernal. There are nice hotels and even an Airbnb or two. So think of this as either a long day trip if you’re ambitious, or an easy weekend if you want to slow it down.

What to do when you get there!

Before you even head into the Monument, there are a couple stops in Vernal that are worth your time.

The very first one is to stop and take a picture with the pink dinosaur. Dinah the Pink Dinosaur will greet you as you drive down Main Street and she is worth the stop. Built in 1958, she used to welcome people to the Dine-a-Ville Motel, but when that closed in 1999, she was moved to a special place on Main Street to welcome visitors. A trip to Vernal isn’t complete without the Dinah the Pink Dinosaur!

Vernal is a cute little town with a lot of dinosaur themed shops and souvenirs so take a look around before you head to Dinosaur National Monument.

This next stop is optional, but if you have time or a dinosaur-obsessed kid, it’s a great add-on.

The Utah Field House of Natural History is a great place to get even more dinosaur knowledge in those heads. It’s a state run museum that houses even more dinosaur bones, information about field research, and a dinosaur garden you can enjoy. I would recommend going to this museum in the morning and then heading home. Leave the whole day for the National Monument.

Dinosaur National Monument

Alright, now for the main reason you came.

After the entrance gate, make sure to watch for the entrance sign - you always need to get that family photo. Then head to the Quarry Exhibit Hall.

Here’s a little history about the Monument. In 1909, the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania wanted more dinosaur skeletons. In fact, they wanted more big dinosaur skeletons. So they went to the museum’s paleontologist, a man by the name of Earl Douglass, and gave him the task to find some big dinosaurs. 

Because of some other excavating he had done a few years earlier, he knew that northeast Utah was a great place to find dinosaurs. So they started digging. Just as they were about to give up, they found 8 connected tailbones from an apatosaurus and the rest is history.

After 15 years of excavating the site, the dig ended for the Carnegie Museum, but not for Earl Douglass. He knew there were still bones in the rock, but he also had a dream. He wanted to excavate those bones just enough to see them, and make a sort of museum out of the area. 

It took time, but he finally convinced the National Park Service that this could be an amazing place for families to come. The museum is built around the hillside that contains the fossils. For almost 35 years, people were able to watch paleontologists reveal the fossils from the wall of bones inside the museum. Work on the wall ended in the 1990’s, but visitors can now see over 1,500 dinosaur fossils in the rock. 

You may be wondering WHY there are so many dinosaur fossils at this specific site. Well, an ancient river flowed through the area, but then there was a huge drought that killed off a lot of dinosaurs. When the rains came back, those bodies were picked up by the floods and eventually deposited at a curve in the river.

It is an amazing site.

That’s why the Quarry Exhibit Hall should be your first stop when you’re visiting Dinosaur National Monument. Wander along the mezzanine and see if you can spot the fossils. If that’s a little hard, there are tons of pictures around with the fossils circled so you can see what you’re looking at. My favorite fossil is the head and neck of an apatosaurus that can be seen towards the top of the wall.

Not only can you see the wall of bones in the Quarry Exhibit Hall, but also a lot of other amazing information and fossils. And, it’s air conditioned because in the summer, it can get HOT!

Friends, if you only do one thing at Dinosaur National Monument, make it the Quarry Exhibit Hall!

After the Quarry, this is where you choose your adventure: a short hike or a scenic drive. If you have time, I recommend both of these for your family.

First, let’s talk about the hike. The Fossil Discovery Trail is a 0.7 mile trail that starts in the Quarry Exhibit Hall parking lot and loops back around to the Hall. It’s a fairly easy trail that your kid will love. Trooper loved finding the cool rocks that we just took a picture of and left there because you’re not supposed to take rocks from National Parks. And honestly, the place looks like Tatooine if you’re a Star Wars fan like us!

However, we were told there were fossils and we never saw them, but even without spotting the fossils, it was still worth it for the views and the experience. 

And we did see some petroglyphs which were cool!

Don’t forget to bring water. Again, this is the high desert - hot and dry in the summer, cold and snowy in the winter.

There are other trails around the Hall and further on, but it was July when we were there and pretty hot, so we didn’t hike anywhere else.

But we did take a drive to some more petroglyphs! But the drive itself is worth it! Remember when we talked about Joshua Tree National Park back in episode 20? While Dinosaur National Monument is not quite as otherworldly as Joshua Tree, it’s pretty close. The rock formations are breathtaking! And seeing the Green River there at the bottom of a cliff with just a little bit of green vegetation on either side - worth it!

This next stop is a great option if you’re traveling with grandparents or anyone who has some mobility issues.

The Cub Creek Petroglyphs are right on the side of the road and easy to get to. We had grandma and grandpa with us this time so the easier the better. And even though these petroglyphs are easy to get to, they are also really cool. We saw warriors and bighorn sheep and swirls. My favorite was the handprints because they could have been left yesterday but they’re about a thousand years old.

There are other petroglyphs and other hiking trails but remember, one big thing a day keeps your sanity, and makes for much less tired and complain-y kids!

Thank you for that Trooper! I had almost forgotten but the geocaching was fun there.

To recap: dinosaurs, easy wins for kids, and just enough adventure to feel special without being overwhelming.

So, there you have it, Dinosaur National Monument. If you or your kids are even a little interested in dinosaurs, this is the place to go!

And as always, let’s keep making traveling with your family easier, one trip at a time. See ya next time.