This month’s "Let’s Go!" breaks my solemn vow to only write about places I’ve been to and events I have seen. But that’s only because I’m pretty darn sure that Sierra College’s Dinosaur Day 2007 is going to rock your family’s world to the late Cretaceous period and beyond. Besides, betting against dinosaurs is for suckers.
I’m willing to make a huge generalization and say that everyone in the world is impressed my dinosaurs, in some way. You might be intrigued by their size, by their sudden extinction, or by the fact that people seem to still be digging them up all over the place. I know I like them for their power to transform me into a six year-old boy filled with wonder every time I’m in the same room as their bones. I also enjoy watching my 4.5 year-old son’s mind try to wrap itself around the very idea of these giant beasts’ existence. At the same time he wishes he could go back in time and see them live, he’s also utterly paralyzed at the thought of living in the same world as these prehistoric monsters. This complex duality of childhood fascination and fear is the main reason my family will be in attendance at this year’s Dinosaur Day.
Dino Day is a biennial celebration put on by the Sierra College Natural History Museum, meaning it only happens every other year, folks. This year’s event takes place Sunday, March 11, from 9am–4pm. The good people at Sierra have a whole day of great fun lined up with all kinds of dinosaur exhibits and activities. On the top of the list for me is a hands-on display of the leg bone of an Apatosaurus— yes, you can actually touch it with your bare hands! It’s 150 million years old and, at one time, held up a dinosaur that weighed around 33 tons (that’s about 1,500 four year old kids). For the younger kids they’ve got coloring and puppet building as well as a hands-on exhibit where you can dig up bones. There will also be videos, lectures, a planetarium show, lots of fossils, real live paleontologists who love nothing more than to chat about dinosaurs, and a BBQ lunch. (Note: The BBQ hot dogs and hamburgers will not contain dinosaur meat, but I will attempt to convince my son that they do, and I encourage you to do the same.)
So mark your calendar and make plans to spend the day. Bring your lunch or purchase food at the BBQ. Advance tickets are on sale now, and all proceeds benefit the Museum. For ticket prices, and more information, check out Sacramento Parent’s event listing under March 11, or go online to www.sierracollege.edu/museum.
In case your family already has plans on the 11th, I’ll let you in on a little secret: the Sierra College Natural History Museum is awesome all year round. It’s crammed full of neat, cool, wonderful stuff (like an entire whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling, lots of stuffed animals, including a polar bear, a wall of animal skulls, a working seismograph, and, of course, a bunch of dinosaur bones). My son’s favorite exhibit is outdoors on the walkway around the science building; it consists of several full-sized paintings of giant deep-sea creatures.
My apologies for momentarily geeking out there. I just think it’s great that there’s this cool living history museum in the foothills that not a lot of people know about. But don’t take my word for it— check it out yourself. You can find all their info, including a great online museum at their website.

Jason Adair is a husband and father of two. He lives in Auburn, California, where he enjoys writing, performing and geeking out.