Are you still looking for something to do? How about… Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs! Everywhere, dinosaurs!
Whether you simply have a casual interest in these big beasts, you’re a Jurassic junkie, a dinosaur diva, or a serious student of life more than 65 million years ago, check out the Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life, in Lehi, UT. It is guaranteed to have something for you. This museum is yet another great attraction at Thanksgiving Point (along with Ashton Gardens with the Light of the World Sculpture Garden, and several other venues), which—with 60 complete dinosaur skeletons—houses one of the largest displays of mounted dinosaurs in the world. With hands-on exhibits and special programs, there is always something to do, whether you are five or eighty-five!
The museum opens with “Ruth” a Gorgosaurus from the Tyrannosaurus family. Ruth is well-mounted in a display where it is chasing three little Othnielia Rex skeletons. This is before you even pay to get in! Not only is it amazing to look at in its own right, but the posted information is fascinating. We learn that “Ruth” experienced significant trauma in life, including broken bones, fused vertebra, bacterial infections and a brain tumor. That’s the level of detail that makes this museum a must-do for both kids and adults.
Once you do pay, because this is Utah, and one of the earliest homes to dinosaur digging, you enter the recreation of an early dig site. We won’t get into the eras, epochs or ages, but you’ll get the opportunity to if you go to the museum. Suffice it to say that the museum starts well before the dinosaurs appeared, in an age of simplicity—trilobites, stuff like that. Sure, you saw those in biology class, but here there are amazing fossils and models, supplemented by murals. As the rooms change, you advance in time, finally hitting the one we’ll mention: the Mesozoic or Age of Dinosaurs, with all those names like the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods (see, that wasn’t so hard). This is when we say: “Let the dinosaurs begin!”
All your old favorites are there: Tyrannosaurs, Triceratops, Stegosaurus. But there are also some you may not have heard of unless you’ve been looking into dinos lately. What there are none of are those modern interpretations of dinosaurs you see more recently, with bright colors or feathered patches. Right or wrong, you see these thunder lizards in more traditional poses, and nothing but bone, though some are moving quickly with an outstretched bony tail. The placards give plenty of details and you are free to absorb them, or keep moving, simply taking in the sights. My family did a little bit of each, plus (of course) posing like the king of the tyrant lizards, complete with tiny, outstretched arms!
You will move from room to room, with ramps and views from a higher elevation. Don’t forget to look up at some random Pterodactyls swooping by overhead. And there, in a display of ancient woods, you may see another dinosaur.
As you advance, so do the dinosaurs, becoming larger and more complex. Finally, there is a small theater with an imaginative “documentary” about what the end of the age of dinosaurs might have been like. And then, you turn one last corner to find…us. Or at least, the very earliest humans hunting down a wooly mammoth.
The walk has been informative, amazing, and fascinating. It’s a lot of reading—if you do it. But I haven’t mentioned hands-on, yet, have I? Let’s talk about them; more than 50 of them, meaning taking little ones along is not only doable, but totally fun and they may learn something in the process. The hands-on exhibits that stood out to me are the Erosion Table and the Quarry Dig. The Erosion table is an extra long, wet, elevated sand table with dinosaurs to play in. Don’t get me wrong this is not some fancy scientific exhibit but simply a long trough filled with sand and water, and a fun place to gather, dig, pose the plastic dinos, wash sand away with water, and just enjoy. There is space for dozens around the table and it just feels good playing in sand and water. I had to drag the family away from it (after spending plenty of my time, too), and we were a group of adults!
The Quarry Dig is what it sounds like – a big sandbox you can dig through to discover dinosaur bones. There is also a wall where you can assemble bones to create a dinosaur skeleton, and an area to match skulls to the animals.
Each week there are plenty of activities – including Tales for Tots and Bubbles and Bites (where you watch the Alligator Gars hut for their lunch!), as well as bedtime stories during Good Night Museum. There is a new fossil to investigate during the Weekly Dino Discovery, and they are all included in the price of admission. There is plenty going on to keep everyone engaged.
As far as events at the museum, there are several. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, the museum has special lighting for Dinos After Dark, which includes puppet shows, storytelling, scavenger hunts, soda and popcorn and all included with the price of admission. Want a fun date night? Check out Dinos and Ice Cream – it includes admission for two plus ice cream for one flat discounted price.
Activities with additional costs include taking a private tour, participating in the Junior Paleo Lab or picking out a geode to crack and take home. Throughout the week you can pay to watch a 3D movie in the Mammoth Screen Theater.
The museum has discounts admission discounts for seniors, children and military. Kids under 2 are free of charge. They also participate in the Museum for All program which gives massive discounts to anyone presenting a SNAP card. The museum is easy to find and parking is free and plentiful. The museum is easy to navigate to a great outing for our friends with limited mobility.
