Dinosaur Valley State Park

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This was on the top of the list of things I wanted to do as a family before Dave deploys again. I was so excited when he told me he took a 4-day pass so we could go this weekend. I chose this campsite in particular because of the awesome Dinosaurs and real dinosaur tracks in the river bed. Its only a 2 hour drive from here on a nice State highway.

We arrived Sunday morning around 10am, set up camp, ate lunch, then went out to explore. We walked over to the huge Dino sculptures and the great little gift shop then on to one of 4 main Track sites. The tracks are so cool to see in the water, even the kids thought it was exciting. There were also tons of little minnows & several bigger fish too. The water is so pretty and clear and a bit on the cold side still. Although by later in the day there were plenty of people wading and even sitting in the water.

After a ridiculous attempt to get them to nap we snacked and loaded up for a hike with our Kelty packs. Diego was out within 5 minutes. We followed all along the creek bed enjoying the view and making a few tricky rock-hopping river crossings. By the end of the day we saw every track site. For dinner we made the campfire and had hot dogs and sausages. I cheated on the S'more and just used Marshmallow Creme.

Cali started asking to go to bed by 6pm, I think a combination of being tired and really wanting to sleep in the tent. She was out by 7:30 but we kept Diego by the campfire with us until he was good and sleepy so he wouldn't disturb Cali once we put him in the tent. Everyone slept really well, except Diego who was a bit restless and insisted on going to the potty at 4:30 am.

Breakfast was muffins, yogurt, and bananas. Wished I had a nice kitchen like the other campers to make a hot breakfast. Oh well, we made do. Went for a short hike with the kids the other way up the creek. Took the net to catch minnows and could hardly find any this time. Once we got back it was time to pack up.

As soon as the tent started going down Cali cried that she did not want to leave and chose to sit in her carseat the entire time until we drove out. Came home exhausted with a few scraped knees, a bruised tailbone, and a broken camera but it was a great time spent together and we can't wait to do it again.