Dinosaur Ridge/ Rocky Mountains Pt.1

A little over a week ago Connor and I visited Colorado for the first time to meet up with part of Connor's family. Connor's father had a work meeting, so Connor's Mum and brother joined him. We flew into Denver quite late, looking forward to the next day's adventures. Connor's father had one more day of meetings, so the remaining four of us went out to see what could be seen. And what we visited first was my choice: Fancy Tiger Crafts. I've been curious about the shop for years, but never thought I'd get to visit it myself. It's lovely! I didn't take any pictures since I was busy petting yarn. Then I was disciplined and left with nothing....
Just kidding! I have no discipline when it comes to yarn. But these are the last skeins for a long time. I really need to knit down the stash... or give some away... or something. It isn't fitting anymore.

Hue Loco Tweed Sock in Fuschia and Fancy Tiger Crafts Heirloom Romney in Poppyseed

After Fancy Tiger, Connor's brother Mason gave us some options of where we could go.
Mason: We could see Red Rocks or Dinosaur Ridge.
Me: What's at dinosaur ridge?
Mason: Dinosaur footprints.
Me: Dinosaur footprints?!?!
So we went to Dinosaur Ridge.

We opted to walk up the road rather than do the official tour. It was much more relaxing to go at our own pace. We walked up the hill and saw that there was a point of interest. I'll say. Look! It's a dinosaur track. It looks grey because some charcoal has been added to help make the track more visible.

Connor's hand for scale

Then we looked up.... More tracks. It was so cool. Just the day before I had been talking about my personal goal in life to see dinosaur bones. I didn't know dinosaur footprints were a possibility.

Now these prints were quite neat, but they weren't from my personal favorite dinosaur: the brontosaurus. But further up the road I got to see it: a cast of a brontosaurus foot. This was created when a brontosaurus stepped into soft mud. Eventually the underpart eroded, leaving a cast of the foot. The smooth bit you see is the underside of the foot. You can even see its nails. This guy was facing towards the left.

It started to rain as we say the brontosaurus print, but there was one more point of interest up the road. I'm glad the rain didn't deter us, because I was finally able to fulfill my lifelong goal of seeing a dinosaur bone in person. There were bones embedded in the rock everywhere. This area had been discovered when the road was being put in and the scientists decided to leave some bone so that people could see what they looked like still encased.

Connor's arm for scale

We walked back the way he had come, chatting along the way. Before heading back into Denver, we took some pictures by the dinosaur statues.

That evening, after picking up Connor's father, we drove to Estes Park, the entrance to the Rocky Mountains.