A battle of colossal beasts: T-Rex vs. Titanosaur

This is not Tokyo, friends. On the left is pictured a Titanosaurus and on the right is what many consider the meanest, most ornery beast to every walk the Earth: the Tyrannosaurus Rex (aka "T-Rex")

Admission to Dinosaur Land

Kids wait in line to purchase admission to Dinosaur Land, a park with life-sized dinosaurs located in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, a short drive from DC

Entrance to Dinosaur Land

Even the entrance to Dinosaur Land is intimidating with its multiple locks and iron grate. The park is a bargain though, with admission being only $4 for ages 2-10 and $5 for ages 11-108.

Enchanted Forest

Luke Jr. seriously contemplates entering the scary base of this tree in the "enchanted forest."

Enchanted Forest scary tree

It may be an enchanted forest, but this one scary, creepy looking tree that looks ready to attack the uninitiated and/or the unaware (think darkness).

Dinosaur Fossils

Faux dinosaur fossils embedded in rock, like these, are what paleontologists find world-wide from their various expeditions and are on display in many museums throughout the world.

Luke Jr. in the mouth of a giant shark

Luke Jr. peers out of the mouth of a 60 foot long super-shark which were common creatures in the Mesozoic era, and as the largest fish that ever existed, it, naturally, had no predators. "Top of the food chain" as the saying goes.

70 foot long octopus and friend

A life sized rendering of a 70 foot prehistoric octopus slithers in stark contrast beside a 20 foot Mesozoic era dinosaur, species unknown

Giant tentacle of octopus

A giant tentacle of the 70 foot octopus lies in stark contrast to his prehistoric contemporary of a dinosaur's tail. Although these would never have met "face to face," it would have been an interesting scenario if they did

Pteranodon tries to grab Lyra

If this were present day America, this Pteranodon(tuh-RAN-uh-don)would be wreaking havoc on many people, including Luke Jr, Luke St. and little Lyra. This particular reptile could ruin a lot of peoples.

Luke sizes up a Mammoth

A mammoth (this one appears not to be of the "wooly variety") is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants.

Dimetrodon

Equipped with a sail on its back (perhaps for show or body temperature regulation)Dimetrodon was one of the largest land animals and the king of predators of its time. Dimetrodon’s diet could have included freshwater sharks, amphibians, reptiles and...

Protoceratops

Protoceratops had a large neck frill, which may have served to protect the neck, to anchor jaw muscles, to impress other members of the species, or combinations of these functions. Protoceratops had a large neck frill, which may have served to protect...

Luke Jr. grinning with Protoceratops

As happy as the child is, I think things would be slightly different if this monster were alive, as Protoceratops was approximately 6 ft in length and 2 ft high at the shoulder. A fully grown adult would have weighed less than 400 lbs. The large numbers...

Styracosaurus and a little Lyra

This dinosaur, Styracosaurus, was a relatively large dinosaur, reaching lengths of 18 ft and weighing nearly 3 tons. It stood about 6 ft tall. Styracosaurus possessed four short legs and a bulky body. Due to the fact the dinosaur was a herbivore, Lyra...