Dinosaur Journey Museum, Grand Junction

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Dinosaur Journey, part of the Museum of Western Colorado, is more than just a bunch of bones in a small box. In addition to the requisite dinosaur replicas, this small, square museum on Colorado’s western front has a variety of hands-on exhibits and robotic dinosaurs. Young children will enjoy playing in the sand at the simulated dig site. And you may have a hard time pulling older children away from the earthquake maker. But the real reason to make the trek to this dinosaur museum are the fossils that are yet to be found. Take part in a paleontologist-led dinosaur dig in nearby Rabbit Valley and whether you dig for day or a week get a closer look at dinosaur bones.

Why Geologists Study Fossils

When rocks are deposited one on top of the other, stratigraphy, as the study of rock layers and their relative ages is known, is like reading a book backwards. The oldest rocks, deposited first, are at the bottom. The newest rocks, deposited last, are at the top. But when geological forces - such as folding, faulting and erosion - occur they can mix up the layers and make it difficult for geologists to know which rocks were deposited first. To help sort out the confusion, geologists study the fossils found in each layer of rock. Fossils help geologists determine the rock's age by telling them what was happening on earth when the rocks were deposited.