A Dinosaur Birthday Party! (Sort of)

It seems as we age it gets tougher to come up with new birthday ideas, but remember that dinosaur themed birthday when you were 7? We had a real dinosaur party… and we are not talking about the attendees (sorry, bad joke).

Many months ago, we met someone who did some great plant maintenance and building projects in our yard. We learned he had a very large property…. About 1500 acres. And on that acreage he had found a megaladon…..

He was kind enough to take 9 of us on a big hike through his property (with terrific assistant guides). First stop was the megaladon… just a quick side trip off the road. Amazing to think it was there for millions of years but not revealed until a heavy rain uncovered it’s spine and teeth.

Next stop was a group of small buildings designed to allow them a good place to sleep when deer hunting. They were busy building a big grill and we are hoping to join them for a big barbecue one of these days.

We did not have a clear idea how long we would be hiking or exactly where we were going. Regardless, we were not disappointed! But it would be nice if I worked on my Spanish. The terrain was not easy. Lots of ankle turning rocks in stream beds followed by trail clearing with a machete and finally a steep climb to an observation tower (for those deer). Along the way we saw many fossils, glass like sheets of quartz, beautiful (but a very dry) landscape.

Well we do wish we’d packed a bit more water… so happy the guys helping with the hike had extra. Despite that minor detail, we had a wonderful day.

Be sure to turn the volume up …,

We are glad the ocean retreated and gave us this great playground. And so glad to have friends to share the experience with who never once whined (at least not in front of me). Brant and I want to try to use our birthdays to have new experiences. (Hey nice weather here in February if anyone wants to help next year). Brant says this one will be hard to top. I better get working on it. We headed back and soaked our sore legs in the ocean so we could get ready for a wonderful party for Brant at our friends’ home the next day. So kind of them to do after hiking all day the day before! We refuse to fossilize quite yet…. Gotta keep moving (but with more water in our mochilas next time).