Thermopolis, Wyoming is sort of an odd little town. Its major attraction is Hot Springs State Park. In the park, there are two hotels (a Days Inn and a Best Western, where we stayed). The Hot Springs is one of the largest mineral hot springs in the world. In addition to providing the water for the state bath house and the two hotels on the property, there are two pool complexes, with multiple pools and waterslides and hot tubs. The photos above are all from the state park, with the boys on the bottom at the headwaters of the springs.
The reason we ended up in Thermopolis is so that the boys could take part in a kids' camp at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. It turns out that Thermopolis was once a hot bed
of activity, millions of years ago. There is an active dig site right outside of town, where lots of dinosaurs are being excavated. As part of the paleontology camp, the boys went out to two different dig sites, one for a sauropod and one that was a marine site. They could keep whatever they found (that was an invertebrate) at the marine site. They both came home with some fossilized clams and oysters, and parts of belemites. In the afternoon, they went to the lab and learned about cleaning and the instruments used, and how to make casts and molds of fossils. 
Graham preferred the afternoon session; Patrick liked them both. If you ever find yourself in the area, the Wyoming Dinosaur Museum is absolutely outstanding. They have an archeopterix specimen, one of three complete ones in the world (one is currently at the HMNS). Their whole collection is outstanding. It's a small museum, but filled with amazing fossils and models.
As far as pie, the food in Thermopolis is not its highpoint. The cafes seemed to close up early. For pie, we are reduced to counting the pizza pi we ordered delivered to the hotel from Pizza Hut. But they swam and enjoyed the pool and recuperated after being out in the sun so it was time well spent.
No comments:
Post a Comment