History through bones: One of the museum’s docents and tour guides shares fascinating facts about the first Triceratops ever found - in Colorado. PHOTOS BY OMAYRA ACEVEDO[/caption]

I’ve been trying to dig deep into my past, wondering where I went wrong to deserve some of the bad luck I’ve had lately. I can’t find the answers I’d hoped would help turn my luck around.

Fortunately, I can find plenty of things to feel grateful for. When my friend Amy Hager asked if she could join me on one of my Discover Colorado adventures, I thought it would be fun. What I didn’t know was how much fun it would be and how badly I needed good company.

We did a lot in one day, covering Ride the Rockies in Gilpin County to making a few stops in Kittredge and Morrison. And for one day, I enjoyed each moment as they came and had forgotten about life’s challenges.

One of our stops was the Morrison Natural History Museum. The museum isn’t huge, but the information you discover inside can fill the entire planet. The stories and facts of the lives that once roamed the Centennial State will leave you speechless.

For example, did you know the first ever triceratops remains were discovered in Denver? Did you know that the stegosaurus is the Colorado State Dinosaur? Did you also know there were baby dinosaurs the size of a small house cat?

Hundreds of millions of years ago, during the Mesozoic Period, our state was covered in low-lying plains and many slow-moving rivers, making it an ideal home for dinosaurs.

Colorado’s ecological composition helped preserve many dinosaurs as fossils, which continue to be discovered and displayed today by places like the Morrison Natural History Museum.

To learn in-depth facts about Colorado dinosaurs, take the free guided tour included with your daily admission. Many of the displays in the museum are experienced with both your eyes and hands! The Ice Age exhibition is one of the many impressive aspects of the tour.

If you’ve ever dreamt of being a paleontologist, your dreams can come to fruition as the tour ends. Guests may use specialized tools to clean part of a rock formation like the ones found to host dinosaur bones.

Outside the museum, younger visitors can dig for bones, and if they wish, they can take one home. Perhaps, another lesson I learned from the Morrison Natural History Museum is that I may not be digging deep enough to find the answers I’m looking for.

The Morrison Natural History Museum is located at 501 Highway 8, Morrison. You can find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MorrisonMuseum or you can give them a call at 303-697-1873.