Archaelolgy's Dig....

DIGGING WITH DAD

When your dad's job is digging for dinosaurs, summer vacations can really be fun. For Hannah and Amy Fraser from Martinsville, Virginia, last summer was no exception.

"We have a dad other kids really dig," says nine-year-old Hannah. "He's a paleontologist for the Virginia Museum of Natural History and he specializes in dinosaurs."

Hannah's dad, Nick, is involved with a long-term dig out in the Badlands of Wyoming. Last summer, dozens of volunteers from Virginia came out to help him find and dig up rare Apatasaurus bones and those of at least four stegasaurs. Hannah and Amy got to come along with their mom for part of the dig.

"Some of the bones are really big and we dug up some as big as me," says seven-year-old Amy. "We found bones from many different dinosaurs in one small place. Wyoming must have had lots of dinosaurs."

After digging at their dad's site and camping at a fun campground, the entire family went to Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore, where Hannah and Amy got to see Old Faithful, huge buffalo, bear, and what Amy calls 'that place with the big presidents in the rock'.

As for the dinosaur dig, Hannah and Amy have already asked their parents to return next year. Their dad says, "It's a great learning experience for the kids. Hannah and Amy really understood a lot more about dinosaurs after our Wyoming trip and they can't wait to go back again next year." For more information about the dig and the museum, just call the Virginia Museum of Natural History at (540) 666-8600.