Museum of Ancient Life

A friend mentioned this museum, because they knew of Sean's love of dinosaurs, and it was excellent!! We were so glad that we added it to our itinerary. Funny that it was almost not present in the tour books we looked at... Granted, it was a 'for profit' venture, and not on the same level as our National Park & Monument stops, but it was pretty spectacular! Here can be seen the largest collection of assembled dinosaur skeletons in the world, as well as a fair number of other fossils as well.

The museum is divided into the developmental periods of earth - starting all the way back before it began. There was a tunnel with a representation of the 'big bang'. It was pretty cool, with the expansion of the universe talked about, but all I could really get was this blurry picture of the stars...

It chronicles the development of early life forms. I was amazed at how many of them Sean knew about and could tell me as much or more than the signs did! Yet, there were a few he had never seen, and he absorbed that knowledge as fast as he could.

Kayl said she found many of them 'creepy'...

Then the museum goes on to the next era of life, and it's life forms. Once again, our 'tour guide' went to great length to describe the life forms from that era.

And finally, the museum gets to the age of the dinosaurs! Although you run into many of the smaller ones first, the biggest ones can be seen across the room - since they take up whole walls!! It's amazing to think of something that large roaming the planet in herds...

Some of them are so big that the displays are behind, beneath and amongst the bones! It really adds perspective to be able to walk under and around one, rather than just try to imagine it being "as long as a school bus" or "as tall as a 4-story building".

Some are a bit scary... Even though they are just bones, it runs a shiver down your spine to see one posed over another 'eating' it. we must have at least a few instincts, since it made you want to run and hide...

At the very end of the museum there was a play area for kids to discover fossils. It was a great was to relax and rest after the long walk though the ages.

These few pictures don't even begin to do the museum justice - it was an incredible learning experience, with surprise after surprise! We spent a couple hours there, and had to 'rush past' many of the kid play areas as we still had miles to go before we stopped for the night If you are ever in the Salt Lake area, this one is a Must See!!