Our drive back from Arizona was not as smooth as our drive there. All I will say is that someone had us seeing a LOT of rest stops. We made nine stops on the way home. Nine. I kind of lost my mind after the sixth. We did have a nice two-hour stretch where we made no stops, thanks to this:
Normally car naps are the devil, but this was the exception.
There was one stop that we had pre-planned. I’ve driven past the Cabazon Dinosaurs (the Pee Wee Dinosaurs!) dozens of times in my life, but I’ve never stopped. I told Mike that this was the time I finally wanted to pull over the car. Annie isn’t the rabid dinosaur fan she once was, but I thought she might think it was cool. The timing worked out perfectly, as Annie woke up from the aforementioned nap just as we arrived at the dinosaurs.
They are humongous. Or, as Annie said, “I can’t believe how big they are!”
There are a few different things to see there, but we just focused on the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Apatosaurus. Annie kept running back and forth between the two.
We told her the dinosaurs were actual size…I have no idea if that’s true or not, but it sounded good.
I like the historically accurate Burger King in the background.
My favorite part was after Mike did this:
Annie wanted to do it, too:
This kid of mine is a crack up.
After she ran between the two dinos 187,000 times in fifteen minutes, it was time to get back in the car and finish our drive home. Annie was sad to leave the dinosaurs. “Mama, what if they go away again?” It took us a few minutes, but we think she meant become extinct again. We promised her that wouldn’t happen before we made it back to visit.
nicole says:
Oh wow, my daughter would flip her lid if she saw these dinosaurs!
Sinead says:
I love Annie’s face when she is getting ‘eaten’ by the dinosaur. She’s hilarious.
Johanna says:
So cute!
Stephanie says:
This is awesome! I had my wedding photos taken at the Museum of Nature in my hometown and we took photos with the dinosaurs. Including one of the groomsmen feeding my husband to a T-rex.
Holly says:
My grandparents lived in Phoenix while I was growing up, so we drove out there from So Cal at least twice a year, and ALWAYS stopped at those dinosaurs. I distinctly remember a year when we didn’t stop because my little sister was asleep, and I was old enough to not really care either way, and hooooboy, my sister was NOT happy when she woke up and found out we’d passed them already.
It’s nice that they’ve cleaned them up again. There was a section of time there where it was practically a wasteland, and almost made you feel like “uh, are we supposed to be here? It doesn’t seem…. safe….”
giselle says:
Ok that first picture of Annie looking scared at the dinosaur is amazing. She should be in movies!
Glenda says:
The last 2 pictures of Annie = priceless
she can be an actress!
Christina says:
I just keep thinking, what an awesome hotel that would be to stay in, for at least one night….. Love her pictures, its almost like she was trying to show them her teeth LOL
Elissa says:
that is 5 minutes away from us! My kids love to visit too. The best was at the dinosaur museum there you can climb up the T-Rex all the way up to his mouth! For a big Pee-Wee fan like me it was AMAZING!
AndreaW says:
I saw those dinosaurs for the first time last year after dropping my daughter off at school in Arizona. They are amazing!
Rebecca says:
The first photo of Annie looking into the Dino’s mouth needs to be used in promotional material for that park. An amazing expression.
Norma says:
Her expressions are hysterical! She is an amazing child.
Barbara says:
Forget the historically accurate Burger King, one of those dinosaurs has air conditioning!
Heather says:
OMG I didn’t even notice that! HAHA!
Auntie_M says:
Is that what that is??? I was thinking “OMG! You get to go inside and see what it looked like to be eaten by one!” Little bummed out now–though glad the dino is nice & cool on hot days!
Kristy H says:
After watching the movie The Wizard when I was a kid, I wanted to go here soooo bad to see the dinosaurs!! Still haven’t gotten there, but it’s look like it’s still as cool as I thought it was 20 something years ago, lol!!
Auntie_M says:
I love that Annie put her head in the dinosaur’s mouth! She’s the best!!
You guys are sooooo cool! She must have flipped on the inside when she realized she was visiting dinosaurs!!!
And I think that she is way beyond your average 3-yr-old in understanding the concept of extinction. Amazing!