Imagine my undiluted excitement when I stood in front of these fossils—some as big as a house and millions of years old. I have always been interested in dinosaurs, but not until I read Steve Brusatte’s The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs and T-Rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez did my interest stepped up a few notches with some actual scientific knowledge behind it (for a laywoman).
I was completely mesmerized during our visit to L.A.’s Natural History Museum—thanks to Travis’ mom who organized everything for us. The entire time, I kept my focus on learning as much as I can about the land before time, when these giants roamed and absolutely ruled the Earth.
I did enjoy the familiar world of mammals, too. I don’t think we are as cool as dinosaurs were, but mammals did survive when dinos didn’t (at least not in their super monster shape). So dear fellow mammals, let’s pat ourselves on the back, y’all. We did it!
Ironically, the ultimate highlight of my day was the content of this little glass box. It was a piece of rock showing the demarcation between Cretaceous and Paleogene period. That little subtle pink line shows the moment when dinosaurs suddenly died out due to a certain Extinction Level Event (an asteroid hitting the Gulf of Mexico some 65 million years ago). Science is so much fun!
