My mistake...

I was so excited to go camping up at Dino Valley and I was thrilled to see the dino sculptures that I thought were present in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. They are the same type of dinos, but after some more detailed searching I have determined that the dinos in Pee-Wee's movie are not the ones at Dino Valley! They are actually known as the Cabezon Dinosaurs and they reside in Cabezon, CA next to the Big Wheel Inn. They were built by a gentleman who made sculptures for Knott's Berry Farm back in the 60's. So, DAMN IT! I am now going to have to take a trip at some point in my life to see those stupid dinosaurs! When I saw all the Dino Valley stuff and saw a T-Rex with an Apatosaurus, I just figured those HAD to be the ones, that and the fact that Pee-Wee was making his way to the basement at the Alamo, so giant, lifesize statues of dinos in Texas made sense. But alas... I was wrong! At least in Cabezon, I can crawl up into the Apatosaurus belly and buy souvenirs! There's something to be said for that.

A few more Dino Valley pics!

A front footprint of a large sauropod, most likely the 30-50 ft. long Pleurocoelus.


This photo contains two prints, the larger being a back footprint and the smaller print is probably a front foot of the Pleurocoelus. Both of these photos were taken in an area where there was believed to be a chase involving the slow-moving Pleurocoelus and the faster and very hungry Acrocanthosaurus. Exciting stuff!


This is just an awesome old, dead tree. I love shape and form of old trees and couldn't resist taking the photo of what must have been a majestic tree in its day.

More Dino Valley Pics!

A basking turtle. This was a big 'ol dude!


Another shot of the beautiful Paluxy River.


Therapod footprint on one of the rock shelves. SOOO COOL! They have determined these are most likely the prints from a 2-legged carnosaur called Acrocanthosaurus.


Another theropod footprint. They say there are a third category of prints that are much rarer, probably belonging to Iguanodon, but I never found any of those. :-(


Here is the Monkey Man's foot in a theropod print!

Camping at Dinosaur Valley

Here is our little campsite, aaaawww!


This is our RAGING campfire, it was damn near a bonfire, we had to REALLY keep an eye on the kids! But that is what happens when you get two grown men, large amounts of wood and fire accelerant together!


Here is the apatosaurus sculpture, granted, apatosaurus did not roam this area, but what the hell, he was donated to the park in the 70's, I think.


This is T-Rex, he also was not present in this area, but yet again was donated to the park in 1970. However historically inaccurate, the kids thought they were cool!


The beautiful Paluxy River. You can see the rock shelf in the shallows, it is these shelves that you are able to find most of the dinosaur footprints!

Back from camping... we survived!

I guess I would have to say for our very first camping trip, we did a pretty good job! I never in a million years would have guessed how hard camping is. It is definitely something that has a learning curve! And honestly, trying to keep track of a toddler in the woods is a chore even for an hour hike much less a three day excursion! We managed to pitch the tent with very little effort, my two kiddos went to the campsite next to us and visited while we set up camp so that was extremely helpful. I did all of the main cooking at home before we left, so other than grilling a tenderloin, making sausage and eggs for breakfast and roasting some brats over the open fire, food was easy and the S'mores were great! We shared our campsite with another family who have 2 children the same ages as ours and the other site next to us also had a toddler, so we were able to keep all the littles fairly contained and we knew that at least 3 pairs of eyes were on them at all times.

We were able to have great campfires both nights, which was especially necessary the first night and first morning as it was COLD! I am SO glad we opted for the 25* F sleeping bags! I did sleep like shit though because I spent the entire night worrying whether or not the kids were warm enough. They say it got down to something like 38* F the first night, BRRRRRR! But Saturday was gorgeous and we ran around taking in the sights of Dinosaur Valley. There is just something quite awe-inspiring to actually be walking along a site that has the dino footprints, thinking here you are MILLIONS of years later walking in the same spot that they did! So cool! I did get a little chuckle as we were driving on the road to the actual park because we passed the Creation Evidence Museum. We didn't have the opportunity to stop in for a looksy, but to be honest, I didn't want to take the chance of being exposed to some weird mind-warping ray that might have wiped away all of our sensibilities of the world around us! I did read about it when I came home though and from what I understand their main research is to prove that man and dinosaurs co-existed thus proving the creationist viewpoint, I'm a little confused on the particulars, but by all means check out their site if you're at all interested in that type of stuff: www.creationevidence.org

Anyhoo... the dino footprints were amazing, the scenery was beautiful, the company was great, the food was awesome (like I had any doubt there, I so rock!) and we had a great time. The only downside was when the Monkey Man woke up at 1am Sunday morning puking his guts out in the tent from eating too much shit at everyone's campsites! I think he may need to learn how to tell people "No thank you." But how can I fault him, I mean seriously, when you're 6 and someone is offering you chips and marshmallows and cookies and crackers and granola bars and candy and watermelon, how can you possibly resist? Especially when the junkier stuff he very rarely gets at home! I just hope he learned his lesson and will keep his eating habits in check the next time we group camp somewhere.

Well, that is the highlights of our trip. I will have pics in the next post so I can label them and whatnot. We had a blast though, but I am still in the midst of dealing with stinky, campfire-smelling laundry! UGH!

And the adventure begins...

I don't remember if I've mentioned that we are going on a camping trip this weekend to Dinosaur Valley State Park. We have spent weeks getting all the essentials together, you know, buying sleeping bags and lanterns, borrowing a cookstove, making sure we have proper utensils to stab and incinerate marshmallows! This will be our first camping trip since kids have been in the picture and I can tell you already, there is SO MUCH CRAP TO THINK OF! Am I packing enough food and water, do I have some things for them to do, will they be warm enough (temps are supposed to get into the mid-40's at night), do they have little water shoes to go wading in the creek (after all that's where the best dino prints are), do we have enough beer to keep us sane?!? So I am excited and worried and stressed all at the same time! I'm sure once we get the car all packed and I know all this stuff will actually fit into my car, I'll be fine. But for today, I will be in the kitchen prepping food. All of my fellow campers (this is a group camping event with my homeschooler group) tell me I need to be packing Pop-Tarts and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the whole trip. This just goes against every fiber of my being. Just because I'm camping and out in nature does not mean I can't enjoy a decent meal with my family for 3 days! So I have my menu planned as such:

Eggs and sausage for breakfast Sat. and Sun.
Grilled pork tenderloin and potato salad for dinner one night
Brats and potato salad the next night
Lunches consisting of chicken tortellini pesto salad for one day
Chicken salad with apples, grapes and cilantro for the next day
Healthy snacks of fruit and homemade pumpkin bread
Fresh loaf of pumpernickel to have along with dinners and breakfast

Yes, I admit it, I am a TOTAL food snob! And I refuse to pump my kids full of processed, boxed foods all weekend. All my other friends think I'm loony, but how many do you think will end up at my campsite wondering what smells so good?!? I will have a full report and hopefully some photos to post on Monday. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

OK Nature... here we come!

I have fond memories of camping with my family as a child. So, I thought this might be a fun thing to do with my little family now that my youngest is more mobile and my oldest REALLY enjoys the outdoors. I wasn't too sure how Big Daddy was gonna feel about it, I mean hell, neither of us have camped in like 15 years or something! What really got me motivated though was my homeschooler group. They have yearly spring and fall camping trips and this year they are going to Dinosaur Valley State Park and I've always wanted to go there (at least ever since I saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure). I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for our "virgin" trip. We will be right along side a bunch of camping pros and worst case scenario, we'd be about an hour away from my cousin in Dallas! Big Daddy found a great tent and he set it up all by himself out in the front yard yesterday. I was quite impressed! I think it is a good size and will house family and gear just fine. I'm looking forward to getting out there are trying this, a little nervous, after all keeping an eye on 2 kids literally 24-7 for 3 days is a little daunting, but how will we ever get into it and learn if we don't just jump right in!