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Museum of Western Colorado: Dinosaur Journey Museum

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Museum of Western Colorado: Dinosaur Journey Museum - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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Fruita, Colorado : Dinosaur Journey Museum

Dinosaur skeletons and animatronic dinosaurs. Has a Fruitadens, the smallest known dinosaur, and a sandbox where you can make dino tracks. A truck out front resembles a horned dinosaur.

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Dinosaur skeletons and animatronic dinosaurs, too. Has what may be the world's largest Triceratops skull as well as a Fruitadens, the smallest known dinosaur. Also here: a working paleontology lab, a simulated earthquake ride, and a sandbox where you can make your own dinosaur tracks. A truck parked out front has been customized to resemble a horned dinosaur.

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Allosaurus Roar

Dinosaur Museum Reviews!

Dinosaur Journey Museum of Western Colorado, Fruita, CO

The Dinosaur Journey Museum of Western Colorado is located in Fruita, a town at the base of the spectacular Colorado National Monument, about 20 miles or so east of the Utah border.  While not a terribly large museum, it is a great place to visit (especially for kids) and see a variety of dinosaurs and other prehistoric fossils.

The trip from Denver to Grand Junction, CO on I-70 is one of the most beautiful drives on America’s interstate highway system.   From the breathtaking cliffs of the Rocky Mountains to the gorgeous canyons cut from the Colorado River near Glenwood Springs, this stretch of area is surely among the most visually stunning in the United States.  Once in the Grand Junction/Fruita area, the spectacular Colorado National Monument looms above.  Overlooks along the road at the top of the monument allow visitors to enjoy the rock formations for many miles, and all the way down to the cities of Grand Junction and Fruita below, where dinosaur hunters have worked for nearly 125 years, finding some of the largest ( Brachiosaurus & Apatosaurus ) and smallest ( Fruitadens ) dinosaurs yet discovered.

website: Dinosaur Journey Museum of Western Colorado

Dinosaurs have been a part of the Fruita community for almost 120 years.  Around the turn of the 20th century, Elmer Riggs of the Field Museum in Chicago first described the dinosaur Brachiosaurus from a specimen discovered about five miles from the future site of the Dinosaur Journey Museum (DJM).  He also found a large Apatosaurus (formerly Brontosaurus ) less than a mile from the museum, in an area now referred to as “Dinosaur Hill.”  Plenty of dinosaur hunters have continued to work in the area, and other dinosaurs have been discovered since, including one of the smallest herbivorous dinosaurs.

At DJM, my children were excited as soon as we turned into the parking lot off of Jurassic Ct., all because of the colorful museum van decorated to resemble a Triceratops  that was parked in front of the building.  Once inside, dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes dominate the large room that makes up the bulk of the display area.  Several animatronic dinosaurs immediately drew our attention; my younger son was enthralled with a huge Utahraptor that stands near the entrance with the head and neck of a large sauropod dinosaur in its bloody mouth.  It’s a far cry from the “Barney” type of display that we sometimes see that can occasionally make huge meat-eating dinosaurs look almost cuddly.  At DJM, there are several animatronic dinosaurs, and they were very popular, particularly with the elementary-school crowd.  Look out for the animatronic dinosaur that has a surprise for visitors!

While the animatronics are fun, there are quite a few real dinosaur fossils in the museum, including a beautiful Allosaurus .  Like many of the exhibits in the DJM, the Allosaurus comes from the Late Jurassic time period.  Others from this time on display include a flock of Rhamphorhynchus, a relatively small pterosaur with sharp needle-like teeth, and a great display of a cast skeleton of Stegosaurus .

The Stegosaurus is particularly appealing, posed in a modern style with the tail up and the front legs lifted slightly off the ground.  There is no agreement on whether or not Stegosaurus could or regularly did rear up on its hind legs in order to eat tall plants and leaves.  The Houston Museum of Natural Science displays one fully rearing on its hind legs.  While it is amazing to see, I also like the display at DJM, which suggests that the animal might be able to rear up…a position many paleontologists would agree with–at least until more evidence is collected and analyzed.

A number of cast skeletons can be found around the Dinosaur Journey Museum.  The well-known juvenile Camarasaurus that was found at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah (and is on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh) hangs from a wall inside, and an adult Camarasaurus stands over visitors near the entrance to the museum.  One of my favorites at DJM is the ankylosaur Mymoorapelta , a medium-sized tank-like dinosaur that lived in western Colorado during the Late Jurassic.  Other dinosaurs on display include a cast of the popular Velociraptor, and a well-done display of the Jurassic herbivore Camptosaurus.  Additionally, throughout the museum are individual skulls and femurs of other dinosaurs.  Some of the skulls include Triceratops , Pachyrhinosaurus , Gastonia , Edmontosaurus, and a recently recognized species of Allosaurus.

One nice feature of the museum is the terrific job they do with educational material.  Many of the displays have the standard placards you might find in any dinosaur museum, but almost all of them at DJM have quite a bit of additional reading material that describes each dinosaur, how and where they lived, and some interesting facts about them.  There are also some nice educational tools–my sons particularly enjoy the big red cube that shows the size of various dinosaur hearts.

A highlight of our trips to the DJM is that each time we have visited, there has been a terrific national touring exhibition on display.  The first time we went it was an exhibit called “Super Crocs” and featured the giant Cretaceous alligator relative Deinosuchus .  The second time, the touring display featured the giant Paleocene snake Titanoboa , the largest snake ever discovered.   The huge constrictor from Central America lived shortly after the demise of the dinosaurs, around 58 to 60 million years ago.  Both of these displays were very popular at the museum, and my sons really liked each of them, even though we had seen the Titanoboa display previously at another museum.

Before we could leave, we had to see one of the more recent dinosaur discoveries from the Fruita area, the tiny heterodontosaurid dinosaur Fruitadens .  One of the tiniest dinosaurs discovered from the Jurassic period, an adult Fruitadens was only about two feet long and weighed just over a pound.  Heterodontosaurids (meaning “different toothed lizard”) were small dinosaurs that had teeth designed for chewing, an evolutionary advantage that allowed them to eat a wider variety of plants (and possibly animals) than other herbivorous dinosaurs.  The Fruitadens fossils are located in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, but at DJM there is a nice display featuring a life-size recreation of this interesting little fellow.

IF I DON’T LIKE DINOSAURS, WILL I ENJOY MY VISIT?

Probably not so much.  This museum is one of several among the Museums of Western Colorado, and it is focused almost entirely on dinosaurs and other prehistoric life.  The good news: the Fruita/Grand Junction area is full of things to do, particularly if you like hiking, camping and other outdoor activities.  The terrific Colorado National Monument is only a couple minutes from the museum’s front door, and I highly recommend a trip through the park–the views are fantastic.

WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

There are a surprising number of full skeletal displays at the DJM, even if most of them are casts rather than real fossils.  The educational elements in place at the museum are well above average, and there are fun surprises throughout the museum.  I would have liked to see a little more about the Riggs fossils–perhaps more cast bones or even a cast skeleton of one of the large dinosaurs.  While Fruitadens is a great little ambassador for the area for dinosaur enthusiasts, Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus are two of the most iconic dinosaurs, and having a large cast of one of them would be really spectacular for this nice museum.  Nevertheless, the museum does a great job with the resources it has and is a fun place to visit.

DID MY CHILDREN ENJOY THEIR VISIT?  

We have been to the DJM twice now, and both times my children enjoyed it quite a bit.  One of the animatronic dinosaurs has been a favorite of my younger son since he first saw it, and he was thrilled to get to visit it again.   My older son enjoyed the dinosaur tracks displays and the Fruitadens exhibit, but also the touring exhibitions which were very well done.  Both boys spent some time on the 2nd floor looking through the window of the working paleontology lab where they could watch volunteers working on various fossils.  There is a nice little play area for small children which includes some climbing equipment and dinosaur toys and books.  My sons didn’t spend much time there, but it was quite popular with younger children.  If your child wants an authentic dinosaur experience, the DJM has a series of “Dig for a day” programs in the summer for all ages to explore a working paleontology site in the area–check their website for details before your visit.

HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I PLAN TO SPEND THERE?

For most people, an hour should be plenty of time to see all the fossils and exhibits.  If you have young children who want to play in the dig pit and such, I would maybe plan for 90 minutes.

The Dinosaur Journey Museum is a really nice place to visit, particularly if you have children who are dinosaur enthusiasts.  My sons have been fortunate to visit a lot of dinosaur museums yet they always remember their visits to this museum in Fruita.  Although not terribly well known, this museum is one of the top 25 places to see prehistoric fossils in North America and I strongly recommend a visit.

Rating Aspects of the Museum’s Fossil Displays:

N umber of Fossils/Dinosaurs on Display: (6.5 out of 10)

Fossil Displays/Creativity/Visual Layout/Overall Scene: (7.5 out of 10)

Unique/New/Famous/Important Fossils on Display: (5 out of 10)

  Educational Materials/Display Information/Signage: (8.5 out of 10)

Activities/Play Areas for Children: (7 out of 10) 

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Tickets & prices Dinosaur Journey Museum - Museums of Western Colorado

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Who We Are: Meet Julia McHugh, Dinosaur Journey Museum’s new curator of paleontology

Local Local | Jul 28, 2014

Editor’s note: Who We Are features men and women embodying Grand Valley’s unique spirit. Send nominations to [email protected] .

When Julia McHugh took over Dinosaur Journey Museum ’s open curator of paleontology position June 23, she hit the ground running — working in the field all but a handful of days, which culminated with the extraction of 6-foot-7-inch long, 2,800-pound Apatosaurus femur from the Mygatt-Moore quarry last week . The site, located just a few miles from the Colorado/Utah border, is home to a variety of prehistoric fossils, both dinosaur and aquatic.

“I’m having a blast,” she said. “This is a great area for paleontology. There’s so much right outside.”

McHugh took over from longtime curator, John Foster, who recently moved on to work for the Museum of Moab .

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“She’s really good,” Foster said of McHugh. “She definitely bonded quickly with the volunteers. I’m looking forward to working with [Dinosaur Journey] on future projects.”

Before moving to Grand Junction, McHugh worked for Oklahoma State University’s Center for Health Sciences in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. She was the senior research assistant for the anatomy and vertebrate paleontology track.

“I assisted in faculty research labs for vertebrate paleontology, and managed the volunteer program and public outreach,” McHugh said.

While in Oklahoma, McHugh also worked as a research associate with Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History . She received her Ph.D. in 2012 from University of Iowa’s Department of Geoscience and previously studied at both Idaho State University and Hanover College in Indiana.

“This job [at Dinosaur Journey] was written like it was made just for me,” McHugh said. “Right now I‘m taking stock, learning the lay of the land and status of the museum. Then I’m coming up with a vision for the next 10, 20 and 50 years. You always have to be moving forward.”

One long-term project McHugh would love to accomplish is a joint expansion on Dinosaur Journey’s Fruita site with The John McConnell Math & Science Center of Western Colorado , which is currently located in Grand Junction.

“It would be a math and science campus for [grades] K-12,” she explained, with a shared education building. “We’re still in negotiations with the City of Fruita. Nothing is set in stone at this point.”

McHugh also traces her first dinosaur dig to Mesa County in 1997.

“It was a dig in Wyoming that was done through Dinamation International, the company that was here and built this building,” she said.

According to McHugh, her interest in geology and paleontology is long-standing, originally stemming from a childhood passion for rocks.

“Mom has a photo of me at 18 months, sitting in a flower bed in a dress looking at scoria. I got into fossils at age 13.

“My favorite dinosaurs are the same ones I liked as a kid,” she added. “Apatosaurus is my favorite herbivore and Allosaurus is my favorite predator. They’re both prevalent in Grand Junction.”

Besides sharing her passion for paleontology through tours, volunteer-based dinosaur digs and community outreach, McHugh will also be teaching classes (one each semester) at Grand Junction’s Colorado Mesa University . This fall she will instruct an Introduction to Geology class; then in spring she’ll teach an Introduction to Paleontology class.

When McHugh isn’t working, she loves to travel and dabble in photography, documenting her trips across the world.

For more information about Dinosaur Journey Museum, visit http://www.museumofwesternco.com/visit/dinosaur-journey .

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2024 19 Rd. Improvements Project

The City of Fruita is accepting bids for the 2024 19 Rd. Improvements Project.

This project consists of utility, pedestrian and roadway improvements on 19 Rd. between Highway 6 & 50 and J.2 Rd. in the City of Fruita. Work includes, but is not limited to, traffic control, the modification of existing and installation of ±1,250’ of new domestic water line and fittings, ±4,200’ of sanitary sewer line, ±5,000’ of storm drain line, ±2,500’ of irrigation line, inlets, manholes and diversion boxes, removal of an existing canal box culvert, installation of ±150’ of new cast-in-place canal box culvert, stormwater BMP installation & maintenance, earthwork, grading, road reconstruction and widening, removal and replacement/resetting of fences, driveways, culverts, mailboxes, etc., installation of concrete curb ramps, traffic islands and sidewalks, and surface restoration/reseeding once underground and paving improvements are completed. A portion of the work will take place in the CDOT right-of-way at the intersection of 19 Rd. and Highway 6 & 50.

The project is anticipated to have a delayed construction start of mid-November 2024 in order to avoid impact to irrigation water delivery; however, if the contractor feels that some work can take place without disruption to irrigation delivery and with a minimal amount of impact to traffic on affected roads, the City will consider allowing construction activities to commence early.

Download project plans and contract documents below.  Bidders are requested to provide contact information to Steve Martinez, Project Manager, at smartinez@fruita.org or by calling 970-858-8377.

There will be a mandatory prebid meeting for interested parties Monday April 29th at 1:30pm at the City of Fruita Civic Center.  Sealed bids will be accepted until Friday, May 10th at 1:30 pm at the City of Fruita Civic Center (325 E. Aspen Ave., Fruita, CO 81521).  Bids must be submitted electronically through Rocky Mountain Bidnet or mailed/turned in by hand to the Civic Center.  The bids will be opened and made public at that time.  Contact the Fruita Engineering Department at 970-858-8377 with any questions during the bid period.

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Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Excluding Municipal Holidays

Location Address : 900 Kiefer Avenue Fruita, CO 81521 Phone: (970) 858-9558 Fax: (970) 858-4952

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City of Fruita | 325 E. Aspen Ave. | Fruita, CO 81521

The #1 Dinosaur Experience in North America!

You're gonna need a bigger weekend. Our world-famous, life-size dinosaurs are meticulously painted and animated to be realer-than-real. Whether you're 3 or 103, this is a one-of-a-kind experience you'll never forget.

Don't miss the Spinosaurus, T-Rex, and so much more!

On your adventure...

Ride A Dino

Jump on a dino’s back and hang on tight! Some of our animatronic dinosaurs are ridable and kids always find their favorite.

Explore Bounce Houses

Our big, dinosaur-themed bounce houses are full of roars …of laughter. Some are designated specifically for small children. (Note: socks are required and sold at the event.)

Create a Dino Craft

Unleash your creativity! The crafts table is free and open to all. Create your own paper dinosaur, color a dino, or choose from other exciting crafts.

Dig for Fossils

Paleontologists of all ages welcome! Uncover ancient secrets like triceratops fossils, T-rex fossils and more at our science tables.

MEET BABY DINOS!

If you think the huge dinos are awesome …just wait. Meet our baby Triceratops, Camarasaurus and more! A fan favorite, these babies are amazingly life-like and yep, cute. Learn More

Walk With Dinosaurs

Our playful adolescent dinosaurs like to run around and play with the audience! Take photos and hang out with our dinos while you’re exploring.

WHAT GUESTS ARE SAYING

Great fun! Our second time to do this. The grandkinds really loved it! — Janice K.

This was an amazing event with a ton of things to do! I feel like we really got our money's worth. It was so much fun. My girls enjoyed the exhibits, bounce slide, baby dinos, and meeting the walking Dino, Diego. Some events just have the "exhibit" but all of the interactive parts were really awesome. Thanks so much for the experience... we are all very glad we went!!! — Daryl V.

My grandson wanted to go back the next day! We all had a blast! Fun family adventure! — Melissa S.

My two year old enjoyed himself! He didn't want to leave! — Natasha J.

Discover Mesa County’s Rich Heritage

The Museums of Western Colorado inspires and connects our community by championing the scientific and cultural heritage of the Colorado Plateau.

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More than Museums

The Museums of Western Colorado also owns or helps manage multiple important paleontological sites. We encourage you to visit them with respect.

This Museum-owned site is where Elmer Riggs found the Brachiosaurus in 1900. Explore this historic site and check out the geocache.

Trail Through Time

This trail includes the Mygatt-Moore Quarry, an active dinosaur quarry managed by the Museums of Western Colorado and the Bureau of Land Management. Hike the trail, or register for a Dinosaur Dig .

Fruita Paleo Area

Some of the first fossils in the MWC collection came from this special site, now famous for microfossils.

Dinosaur Hill

Elmer Riggs found an Apatosaurus here in 1901. Hiking trails help you explore this site jointly managed by MWC, the City of Fruita, and the Bureau of Land Management.