We took breakfast to my mom this morning, and had a nice, short visit before getting on the road to Pennsylvania.
After arriving in Danville, we couldn’t check in the hotel until 3pm, so we went to the Montour Preserve to check out the fossil pit. We passed some gorgeous scenery, parked in one of the small lots, and walked the short trail to the amphitheater-shaped fossil pit.
The makeup of the fossil pit is 350-million-year-old Devonian shale. It’s too old for dinosaurs, but I was pleased to learn that trilobites lived in the shallow seas that once covered this area. I’ll be very happy if we leave here with a trilobite fossil. Otherwise, I think we’re all content just to dig.
My sons and I were also pleased to make the acquaintance of a Butler’s garter snake just chilling out while bumble bees bumbled from flower to flower.
We checked into the hotel just before 3pm, went to our room, and washed up. Exhausted for no apparent reason, I promptly fell asleep for 2 hours.
After waking, we called in a takeout dinner order (pub food). On the way to pick up our order, we stopped by a local hardware store where we bought a small hammer, a bucket, gloves, trowels, and a spray bottle for water – paleontology supplies for our return visit to the fossil pit tomorrow morning.
With no need to go anywhere else or visit anyone for the first time on our trip, we just relaxed for the rest of the night. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s dig with our very enthusiastic 4-year-old, and (hopefully) some more painting/sketching in and around Montour Preserve.
Be good to each other.
~MS
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