Oregon or Bust: Day 4 Prehistoric Gardens

Oregon or Bust Day 4: Prehistoric Gardens

June 1, 2015

Above this sign is where you pay to enter the park

It was still raining (second day) at the Coos Bay Jetty where I camped the night before I continued on to the Prehistoric Gardens in Port Orford, Oregon. 

Prehistoric Gardens (PrehistoricGardens.com) is very easy to find as it’s on the US-101 highway (on the left if you’re going north), and there’s a decent sized gravel parking lot as well as a Tyrannosaurus Rex statue outside.  I went into the gift shop and looked around for a bit just to check it out before going out in the park area since it was raining.  The lady who was working that day (I think she owns it or is the manager) had let a very pretty and quite friendly gray cat out of the office area.  It actually came to me when I called to it and let me pet it for quite awhile.  Then the cat wandered off and went back into the office. 

Tyrannosaurus Rex in front

I bought a ticket ($12 for 13 years+) to go into the garden, and the lady working (I really should get names) let me know to “follow the dinosaur tracks” and told me where the umbrellas and walking sticks were should I want one.  These were just inside the door to the gift shop.  I picked an umbrella in a giraffe print (might as well stick with the nature theme) and headed outside.  You don’t have to enter the gift shop to get to the dinosaur area as there is a window you can walk up to and pay there.  It’s between the T-Rex and the gift shop if you are coming from the parking area. 

The Prehistoric Garden is kept as a forest area and has small wood bridges throughout going over the creek areas.  The path is gravel and wasn’t the least bit muddy with the continuous rain. There are signs throughout for the plants as well as for the dinosaurs.  I saw a few dinosaurs which I hadn’t heard of before, which was strange since I grew up with a younger brother who was obsessed with dinosaurs.  There were some older ladies in the garden area who were getting ready to leave when I walked to the first dinosaur.  I was pretty much the only one there until about halfway through when I encountered a family with two young boys.  

Geologic Time Chart just before the Brachiosaurus

Brachiosaurus

Dimetrodon

Triceratops

 

Annual Rainfall Chart

Dyatrama

Archelon

Lystrosaurus

Psittacosaurus

Ankylosaurus

Elasmasaurus?  This thing was terrifying in peron

Elasmasaurus

Elasmasaurus

Struthiomimus

Trachodon

Ichthyosaur

Baby Triceratops

Cynognathus

Back of Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus

Pteranodon

Eryops

Bradysaurus

Seymoria

As you can see I took lots of pictures, and these are really only a few of them.  I had forgotten to grab the tripod out of the trunk of my car so I used the fence posts to hold the camera so I could take pictures with the dinosaurs.  I had a lot of fun checking out the dinosaurs and being a kid for a few hours.

After walking through the garden, I went back into the gift shop to return the umbrella and buy a couple of souvenirs.  I’m realizing now that I didn’t buy any postcards (I use them for scrapbooking), or perhaps, there weren’t any for the place.  I did buy a t-shirt for myself and a pen for a friend.  I’m posting this after being home from my trip for two weeks, and a week after seeing Jurassic World.  So, of course I want to go back and reenact scenes from the movie.

From the Prehistoric Gardens I had time enough to get to Cape Blanco to check out the historic Hughes House and the Cape Blanco Lighthouse which will be posted on YourFriendElle.com at a later date.  I’ll update this post with the link once Elle gets it posted.  

TTFN,

V