USA: Mid Atlantic, Tracking Dinosaurs on a Family Vacation. Dino fanatics of all ages found their interest in the magnificent prehistoric reptiles rekindled with the ABC Mega Series of Dinotopia, based one of my favorite childhood books. Luckily nearly everyone in North America is within a short drive of ancient “lizards” and mammals.

From still active dig sites to cool hallways in which immense skeletons loom, to fascinating exhibits which display the most recent theories on lifestyle this list sums them all up. Coast to coast, from sunny California to Connecticut, the U.S. offers dinosaur lovers and their families a chance to get up close and personal with natural history. Only what we believe to be the best is featured on this list. Of course if you’ve visited a fantastic dinosaur site, let me know and I will add it. Have a great time tracking dinosaurs.

Pennsylvania: Academy of Natural Science Museum. Here you can see fourteen complete life-size, nests, hatchlings, footprints (one you can crawl into.), even an animated Apatosaurus and the marine reptile Elamosaurus are all on display at this museum, which is one of the oldest in the US. Philadelphia. The Academy of Natural Sciences offers a wide range of enriching experiences for the whole family; see the site for more details. (1900 Ben Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19103. (215) 299-1000 or www.acnatsci.org)

 

Pennsylvania: The Carnegie Museum of Natural History. At the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, eleven different dinosaur skeletons are all on display. These include the; Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex. Explore the museum's rich paleontological history then check in with the PaleoLab to learn more about future plans for Dinosaur Hall. (4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. (412) 622-3131 or www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmnh)

New Jersey: New Jersey State Museum. The four major components of the New Jersey State Museum cover archaeology/ethnology, cultural history, fine art, and natural history. However, the museum’s main focus and one of its most unique fossils are the Hadrodaur or duckbill fossil evidence. Many Ice Age mammal fossils are also available for your viewing pleasure. (P.O. Box 530, Trenton, NJ 08625. (609) 292-6330 or  www.state.nj.us/state/museum)

Virginia: Virginia Museum of Natural History.  Unique to this museum is a computer-controlled Triceratops model. Due to the excellent paleontological staff the exhibits reflect the expertise of those working at the museum. On display are smaller dinosaur models, and a wealth of dinosaur track-castings. There’s an animated Triceratops nicknamed "Cera" also on display. There are two other branches of this museum, one in Charlottesville, and the other in Blacksburg. All three facilities present exhibits, programs, and field trips for the general public. They also offer teacher-training seminars, special publications for teachers on natural history called “Nature Notes” and science kits for classroom use. Their “Museum Without Walls” provides traveling exhibits and fun science education kits to the state of Virginia and classroom programs within a one-hour radius of the museum. (1001 Douglas Avenue, Martinsville, VA 24112. (703) 666-8600 or www.vmnh.net) 

Maryland: Calvert Marine Museum. Come and search for and collect Miocene (the period when a shallow ocean covered the state of Maryland) fossils 10 to 15 million years old at the Calvert Marine Museum. This opportunity is rare because it is illegal to remove most fossils from state or federal land. The exhibits of this museum include a fossil preparation lab, a restoration of the fossil bearing cliffs, and large, full scale Miocene dioramas. (P.O. Box 97, Solomons, MD 20688. (410) 326-2042 or www.calvertmarinemuseum.com)

Delaware: Dino Days at the Delaware Museum of Natural History. Dino Days is a public art project located on the sidewalks of downtown Wilmington. This exhibit of 48 decoratively painted dinosaurs is available for public viewing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  This exhibit of dinosaur statues is associated with the Delaware Museum of Natural History, a fascinating visit, even though there are no exhibits on prehistoric reptiles at this time. (4840 Kennett Pike, P.O. Box 3937, Wilmington, DE 19807. (302) 658 – 9111 or www.delmnh.org)