Dinosaur trail a treasure for fans of prehistoric creatures
Some schools – like the one whose tassel would be hanging from my rearview mirror, if I were that sort of person – don’t have room in their worldview for dinosaurs. I’ll leave it to you to speculate about the school where I matriculated, but the upshot is that I am a dinosaur idiot.
Thirteen facilities in the state of Montana, along with nine regional, state and federal agencies, have banded together to help me out.
Their creation, the Montana Dinosaur Trail, links museums, interpretive centers and field stations in 10 communities in the eastern and central part of the state into a mother lode of fossil fun.
The easternmost spot, Carter County Museum in Ekalaka, showcases a mounted skeleton of an Anatotitan copei, one of only three such collections of bones known to exist today. You’ll also see complete skulls of a Triceratops horridus (three horns), Pachycepalosaurus wyomingensisi (dome head) and Nannotyrannys lancesis (tiny Tyrannosaur), all collected from the Hell Creek formation.
(I have no idea what any of that means. I just typed what they told me.)
Up the road in Glendive, Makoshika Dinosaur Musem houses more fossils and artifacts from the Hell Creek formation. An exhibit of dinosaur replicas covers the late Cretaceous period.
Makoshika State Park, Montana’s largest, has yielded 10 different species in or near its borders, including a complete Triceratops horridus skull. If you stumble upon a find of your own during your visit, there’s a prep lab at the museum where you can, presumably, rinse it off and bum a baggie.
Continuing along the trail, you’ll encounter a full-size replica of Peck’s Rex, one of the most complete set of Tyrannosaurus rex remains ever uncovered, towering in the entry of The Fort Peck Interpretive Center and Museum. Nearby, the Dinosaur Field Station hosts paleontologists researching and processing the real thing and offers up close approximations in the gift shop.
Peck’s Rex isn’t the only famous Tyrannosaurus from the neighborhood. The first one ever discovered – in 1902 – hailed from Jordan, and the Garfield County Museum there has a complete T. rex head and a full-size replica of the Triceratops horridus excavated in the vicinity.
The Phillips County Museum’s most intriguing attraction is a 33-foot long Brachylophosaurus named Elvis. It’s one of the best-articulated dinosaur skeletons ever found (and it sings a great rendition of “In the Ghetto”).
The Dinosaur Field Station in Malta offers a guided tour through the lab, where the staff is working on Stegosaurs Giffen and Gates; Ralph, a new sort of Sauropod; and Leonardo, a mummy dinosaur generally regarded as the best preserved specimen ever unearthed.
The trail makes its way next to the H. Clack Memorial Museum in Havre, where you’ll see 75-million-year-old eggs and embryos, then on to Harlowton’s Upper Musselshell Museum, home to Ava, a replica of the Avaceratops from the Judith River formation.
The Old Trail Museum in Choteau boasts a paleontology gallery and a field program. Staff members provide instruction about dinosaurs, geology and archeology during one-, two- and five-day adventures for adults, families and schools.
The Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Bynum also schedules a number of research and education opportunities, some of which qualify for college credit. They have baby dinosaur bones there as well.
At the last stop, Museum of the Rockies, browse the largest fossil collection in the United States. The new Siebel Dinosaur Complex emphasizes the upper Cretaceous dinosaurs of Montana.
For hours, fees and additional information, visit www.mtdinotrail.org. Or call Travel Montana at (800) 847-4868.
Room and board games
Seattle’s hotels continue their quest to lure you in with – well, let’s just call a spade a spade – odd gimmicks.
At the Sorrento, for example, you can plunk down a mere $20 to Split the Sheets.
According to the hotel’s announcement, this is a “two-temperature zone sheet system.”
I’d really like to mock that description, but I don’t think I can squeeze any more comedy out of it than is already there.
Also known as “Some Like it Hot,” this particular amenity covers one side of your bed with warm polar fleece and the other with cool 100 percent cotton.
To experience the latest innovation in bed management for yourself, make a reservation at www.hotelsorrento.com or (800) 426-1265.
Over at the Hotel Monaco, “Room with a Vroom” (my gosh, I wish I’d come up with that) packages overnight accommodations with all-day access to two scooters. Rates start at $479 per night (whew!) based on double occupancy, and the special runs through the end of the year.
You can contact the hotel at www.monaco-seattle.com or (800) 715-6513.
Regional events
•Tacoma Dome Antique and Collectible Show, Sept. 24-25, Tacoma. Hundreds of exhibitor booths selling turn-of-the-century furniture, antique toys, vintage clothing, estate jewelry and more. (503-282-0877, www.palmerwirfs.com).
•Bear Paw Battle Commemoration, Oct. 1, Chinook, Mont. Join the Nez Perce National Historic Park and Lapwai Veterans of Foreign Wars in a traditional pipe ceremony. (www.visitmt.com/406-357-3130)
•Cranberry Harvest Festival, Oct. 8-9, Grayland, Wash. Mascot Barry Cranberry is back with cranberry bog tours, a cranberry cook-off, the Firefly Parade, the cranberry marketplace, games for the kids, and more still. (www.2thebeach.org/800-473-6018)