Prehistoric Gardens in Oregon
To go or not to go?
This is one of the places we visited on our honeymoon. The Prehistoric Gardens represents dinosaurs as they were thought of before Jurassic Park came out in theaters. The new science of feathers and warm-bloodedness doesn’t make an appearance in the signs on the trails, and dinosaurs still drag their tails on the ground. While that made me wonder if the park would ever decide to update its models, it also caused me to think about the power of keeping the statues as they are. After all, the way that the thinking about dinosaurs has evolved is part of the history of science. A simple sign could suffice to explain the philosophy of keeping the dinos as constructed rather than changing them to meet today’s conception.
The good news is that the dinosaurs aren’t the only attraction at the Prehistoric Gardens. Nestled in the Oregon Rainforest just off Highway 101, the park provides a great opportunity to see, as my wife says, “what’s behind all of those great big trees.” As scenic as 101 is, the average person might forget that there are whole forests to either side of the road when there isn’t the ocean there. The rainforest part was a great experience for my wife, and she allowed me to see with new eyes, the beauty that lies at the Oregon Coast. (Of course, I should also point out that one of the first activities we did together was go to a temporary dinosaur exhibition in Italy, so this helped us relive those moments. And I really like dinosaurs.)
The good news is that the dinosaurs aren’t the only attraction at the Prehistoric Gardens. Nestled in the Oregon Rainforest just off Highway 101, the park provides a great opportunity to see, as my wife says, “what’s behind all of those great big trees.” As scenic as 101 is, the average person might forget that there are whole forests to either side of the road when there isn’t the ocean there. The rainforest part was a great experience for my wife, and she allowed me to see with new eyes, the beauty that lies at the Oregon Coast. (Of course, I should also point out that one of the first activities we did together was go to a temporary dinosaur exhibition in Italy, so this helped us relive those moments. And I really like dinosaurs.)