The dinosaurs in the attraction are the work of sculptor E.V. Nelson. He began work in 1953 and based his dinosaurs on "extensive research at the larger natural history museums of the United States: the American Museum in New York, the Field Museum in Chicago, the Denver Museum and many others; and at the Geology and Paleontology Departments of the University of Oregon."
We visited on a rainy, gray day in early March and found the weather fit the setting perfectly - water dripped off of the moss-covered trees and the creek bubbled noisily through the woods. Here's what the brochure has to say about the setting:
"These Rain Forests are different from other forested areas, and are due to several localized conditions...our average rainfall is over 6 1/2 feet per year. This heavy rainfall makes it possible for the Rain Forest vegetation to grow so abundantly: here the ferns grow to gigantic size, many types of mosses hang from the trees, and even the common skunk cabbage develops huge tropical leaves."
The brochure also includes this handy map:
Here are a few of the photos we took on our visit - remember to follow the tracks.
Stinky used to demonstrate how large a dinosaur track would be compared to a full grown human.
Gigantic turtle
Armor plated
Baby Triceratops
No surprise this guy never survived
All of the displays have these great informational signs
Even though it was still early March you can see how tidy the Gardens and trails are as well as the dinosaurs
Stinky once again demonstrates scale
The parrot-beaked Psittacosaurus
A short video we filmed on our visit
If you find yourself heading along the southern Oregon coast we'd highly recommend a stop at The Gardens!
Jeff & Kelly
6 comments:
Wish I had visited here last summer! great photos as usual!
Rick - Don't feel bad, we live in Oregon and it was our first visit. Next time you're out here it's well worth a visit though. Plus, that area of the coast is beautiful.
What fun! I haven't been there, but I have seen the dinos at Dinosaur World in Plant City, FL!
That looks like such fun! I loved places like this when I was a kid (and still do).
Great photos and detail. There's another of these concrete dinosaur attractions at Dinosaur Gardens, Ossineke, Michigan.
I seriously love the way your video captures the sounds not only of tromping along the damp path, but of the traffic passing, for that true roadside attraction flavor. My school class visited this site around 1967. I came, at a young age, to love the moss, ferns, crowding trees of such places to visit.
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