Instead of going straight home, we decided to take two days to make our way back! Our first stop came just about 45 minutes after saying goodbye to Joe's family. The Agate Fossil Beds National Park was a field trip destination for Joe when he was in elementary school, and since it was on our way home, we decided to stop. We are so glad that we did! It was a beautiful morning and we had a great time looking around the grounds and the visitor center!
We learned a ton about the fossils that have been and continue to be found in this area. About a 100 years ago, paleontologists found these amazing spiral fossils, which at the time were thought to be roots of trees. It was later determined that they were actually fossilized burrows of small groundhog like animals, and bones of those animals were found inside. It was really cool to see all of the different types of animal bones that have been found here over the years.
The Park Ranger at this site was great and gave us a bunch of information and chatted with us. He also introduced Alex to the Junior Ranger program, which is totally right up his alley. In order to become a Junior Ranger, he had to complete some activities which he had to explore the grounds and visitor center displays. Once he completed that, the Park Ranger presented him with a badge and certificate. The best part, we learned, was that just about all National Parks have this program. Alex would really like to get badges from all 124 parks!
We could have definitely spent more time here, and next time we'd like to take the trail up about 2 miles to see the actual dig site. But, since we had only gone about 45 miles and still had a ways to go, we decided to continue on to our next stop!
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