Dinosaur Park

Somewhere along the Oregon coastline, we hit this little nugget of a dinosaur park. Starved for attractions, Albie & I went in with our cameras, moi intent on doing some damage. Now, it IS easy to make fun of things like these; you can always point out how fake some of the models look or that the whole thing has a helplessly amateurish tint to it. Not least might one joke about the gaga aspect of the gift shop, which among other things feature crystals and other new age bullshit.

On the other hand, someone went through a lot of trouble and devoted considerable time and effort to making something educational here. It is hard enough to cut through the creationism, the Intelligent Design rubbish, the various scientifically illiterate young earth theories floating around US society to give kids some sorely needed truths. Someone must have put their savings into a half crazy project they had great faith in, and that's pretty much what capitalism is all about.

So, in the name of scientific enquiry and secular capitalism, I suggest you spend some time here if you're ever in the area. Take some pictures, savor the feeling of the almost junglelike forest, try looking at the figures with a light heart... and stiffle your giggle till you're out of hearing range.

All pics here.

T-Rex.


Flying lizzard.


I have no idea what this was supposed to be.


Some things were just too bizarre on the face of it, but these ancient monsters actually sometimes got caught in the tide and became stranded like this.


There was some unearthly light creeping though the trees.


Chipmunks. One of them actually came up and sniffed my shoe. We also came upon an impossibly cute scene of a tiny one sitting on the path, nibbling at a mushroom, but it was gone before we could get our cameras up.