Ever been to a Jurassic Forest?

I have. Just this past weekend. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon on Saturday, so the five of us decided to head out past Gibbons, Alberta, to said forest. On the way there, we were wondering if it was just a tourist trap on some farmer's back forty... but as we drove up to the gates, we realized quickly that someone had put some serious time and effort into creating the place, and the experience it provides to visitors...

The woman who took our entrance fees was most informative, and we set off on our adventure feeling confident that this would be an interesting place. We were not disappointed. Our three teenagers had fun in the Jurassic sandbox, taking pictures of each other hatching out of eggs or caught in dinosaur's mouths, but the sun was hot, so we headed for the treed boardwalks into the bush. Didn't go far before we ran into...

a rather cranky sounding brontosaurus, waving his tail and swinging his head back and forth. Pretty cool!

Every bend in the path was peopled -- I mean, dinosaured -- with apatosaurs, triceratops, stegosauri, and the like. 

Edmontosauruses (how the heck should that be pluralized??) actually appeared in the background of a family picture that will likely appear with our Christmas letter this year. 

We also got to see a few mammals like the sabre-toothed tiger early in its evolution... and all along the boardwalks were all sorts of interesting info boards about local flora and fauna, from black spruce trees and mosses to moose, tiger swallowtail butterflies, and downy woodpeckers. One of our girls took a picture of a sign that explained the physics equation used to determine a dinosaur's speed based on its height, weight and body build. Can't wait to see her use it!

It turned out to be a really interesting and fun outing for our family. I took tons of pictures, but am posting just a few so that I don't spoil all the surprises. If you're in our part of Alberta and looking for a nice afternoon out in nature -- with a bunch of dinosaurs thrown in for fun -- I'd highly recommend it. Click here for the website that gives you its location and other info... and watch out for the T-rex!