Spring break 2016: Dinosaur Land

Evan and I didn't want to do a huge spring break trip this year - last year we had a blast in Boston, but this year we wanted to stay a little closer to home. We had talked about taking the kids to Luray Caverns at some point, both because I thought they'd enjoy it, and because Evan had never been there, and this year it worked out great to make that trip happen. We spent just two days, leaving early Thursday morning, and coming back late Friday evening - a good couple of days away, just the 4 of us. I have split the trip into five parts - here's part one.

On the drive down is a cheesy tourist place I had heard of: DinosaurLand! I knew we absolutely had to stop in there. Not only do a I love cheesy things like this, but I knew the kids would love seeing the dinosaur replicas. And boy was I right! We were nearly the first people there for the day so we had the place nearly to ourselves, which meant lots of time to explore each replica. It helps that they make it so you can climb around and touch the dinosaurs - extra enjoyable for the kids!

Next to each dinosaur is a small plaque with the name and some facts about them. Not being totally up on my dino-lore, I"m not totally sure how factually accurate it all is, but they were a lot of fun to touch!

Henry, while fascinated by the T-rex (and other large carnivores), did not really want to go near it. Natalie had no such problem. Isn't the T-Rex so lovable? :)

There was also a giant King Kong in the middle of DinosaurLand that the kids could stand on. Again, Henry at first was a bit afraid, but after watching Natalie and I climb up there he wanted his turn too!

And, of course, the raptors are always scary. Ack!

 

If you're heading south and find yourself near DinosaurLand, I definitely recommend checking it out. A fun way to spend an hour (not really much longer than that), and when on your way to some other destination it's a really great pit stop to make.