Washington, DC Trip: Dinosaurs in the Museum of Natural History (Plus a Moai and Giant Gem)

Recently we went to Washington, DC to see the Christmas Trees and stopped by my favorite places- the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History! Since I first visited in the 1980s, I was captivated by the Dinosaur exhibit there.   Although we live within 20 miles of it, we haven't been there for years - and it has been totally updated!!  Today's blog will provide a few photos of the newly upgraded Dinosaur exhibit - including where oil comes from, amazing fossils and dinosaur extinction. -  Before we reached it, though we saw one of the giant heads from Easter Island, and a massive Quartz from Arkansas called the Berns Quartz.

NOTE: They've also added a full display explaining how the 7.5 mile in diameter asteroid that impacted the Gulf of Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous period helped cause the mass worldwide extinction of the dinosaurs. It features a great short film with archaeologists, climatologists and other scientists.

 I was like a kid in a candy store!! -  We didn't have a lot of time, so we'll go back, but this is the best-ever exhibit!!!- Rob 

BELOW: Entrance to the Dinosaur Exhibit! 

BELOW: A giant prehistoric plesiosaur that roamed ancient oceans. Look how big it is compared to the people standing in front of it! 

Fossil Skeleton of a Stegosaurus!

An Exhibit of Where Oil Comes from - This was a fascinating exhibit. I didn't know that ancient plankton is responsible for the development of oil deposits. Here's the exhibit. 

Below: The massive Quartz from Arkansas called the Berns Quartz

WHAT IS THE BERNS QUARTZ? - At 7 feet tall and more than 8,000 pounds in weight, the Berns Quartz is among the largest examples of quartz specimens on display in any museum in America. It took a team of experts to prepare the display in the front gallery, adjacent to the museum’s historic north entrance.

  

EASTER ISLAND MOAI (STONE FIGURE HEADS ) -Thousands of massive stone monuments, known as Moai, preside over Easter Island. The way they were carved, using only stone tools, seems unfathomable.  They are are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500.

  The production and transportation of the more than 900 statues is considered a remarkable creative and physical feat. The tallest moai erected, called Paro, was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 82 tonnes (80.7 tons)

From: SECRETS: Eastern Island http://bit.ly/1veg4yr

VIDEO: How the heads were carved: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8PyKKkDIzI&t=3s