Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Last, Day 10

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 Our last day on the road, began with another cloudless Alabama sky.  Gorgeous!


We drove by the exit to Huntsville, though we did not stop.  I wish we could have had time, the boys would have loved it.  We did all see this rocket as we passed by the rest area near the Alabama border.  


Of course, when we crossed from Alabama into Tennessee, the boys remembered that "Tennessee!  It's Time to Pee!"  But I started feeling really terrible, dizzy, my ankles were swelling again, so I stretched out on a park bench, and Eric literally ran the kids around the rest stop.  My tongue started to tingle, and I was really worried about something going wrong, I ate a bunch of chips and sugar and prayed that it was just a sugar nose dive,  but it took almost an hour for me to regulate, by which time I had called my sister and she talked me down through the hills of Tennessee as she googled to see if I was just experiencing "normal" abnormal pregnancy symptoms.  Yup.  I was.  


We didn't stop any more in TN, it was a relatively quick drive through, but when we hit Kentucky, we started talking about lunch or making some kind of stop. It had occurred to us, and been recommended that we stop at Mammoth Caverns.  But Chris said No.  We already went to a cave, he said.  True, we'd been in a cave at Ruby Falls.  And honestly, Mammoth Caverns is so huge, a tour would be hours, and with me feeling crummy, we didn't want to do an entire National Park, we'll have to save that for another day.  Meanwhile, while I was researching Cave City, KY thanks to my fabulous collection of AAA books, I found Dinosaur World.  Ah yes, I remembered passing a giant dinosaur just off the highway on the way down, read about life size dinosaur models and a playground, and that sold me, but the boys initially balked about it, they wanted nothing to do with it....until we fed them. 

Imagine, Feed them and they become more human. 

Much like monsters of old...


So we took the boys to Dinosaur World, it was a bit pricey, but cheap compared to most of the other stops we've made on this trip, 50$ for all of us to do the park/museum/playground/ and find their own fossils!  


They were really interested in the little board that told what the various dinos did.  Chris is beginning to be quite the reader!  Good thing they write out the pronounciations of the dino names, we were pretty hysterical trying to say them.  


Ironically, Sam's Favorite was the dino shaped trash cans.  
He could Not keep his hands out of them.


Sam with an Allosaur.  He looks so tiny!


The boys loved to run off ahead, which was problematic for me.  At one point, there was an optional turnoff where they could go to the Mammoth park and visit the Dino by the highway, which is they call Photosaurus, which wasn't real.  Eric took my camera and the boys up the path so I could rest a bit.  Good for all of us! 


The boys cozy up to a baby Mammoth. 


The boys charge up the hill to Photosaurus! 

Say Cheese boys!  They look so tiny, toenail size, yipes.  
Good thing we know that dino wasn't real. 


This one was.  Chris couldn't wait to see the T-Rex.  He was probably his favorite.  



Get that energy out boys!  Climb away!  We still have a state and a half to go. 


Who got eaten by that dino?  It's Daddy! 

One of the other neat spots at Dinosaur World is the fossil bed.  I couldn't help but be thrilled to see it was raised, so we wouldn't be bringing home a ton of sand.  They had an inground one too, but it was a bit too crowded for the boys to enjoy,  I was totally ok with that.   They have specific Fossil Dig times, and they have the little kids get up on a bench, they get a sieve and a little cup, and they can sift the sand and pick out their goodies.  


Here's Christopher with his cupful of goodies.  He snagged a lot! 


Sam learns about his collection of fossils.  



Chris gets his fossils explained to him.  



Now Chris tries to recite his interpretations of the 3 fossils he chose to keep. 



One last cheesy photo op before we get back on the road.  
We loved Dinosaur World, if you're ever  doing that kind of trip, with small stops, it's a great one!  


After Dinosaur World, we were back on the road again.  I was loving the colors of the hills of Kentucky, so gorgeous!  But no more time for dilly dally, we still have a state and a half to go. 


One of the most Beautiful sights to me - the sun setting in Indiana, beautiful flat farmland.  


It's good to be Back Home Again in Indiana!




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