TripHip - Travel Tips and Advice for Traveling on a Budget

You can show kids the bones of dinosaurs and the fossils of plants all you want...but there's nothing quite like the thrill of actually finding these things for yourself.

Now, your kids - or you! - won't find any dinosaur bones at the Fossil & Prairie Center, but what you will find are Colony and Horn corals, Brachiopods (seashells), Bryzoans (too difficult to describe - you'll need to look at a guide to know what you're looking at!), Crinoids (long, circular tubes), Gastropods (snail shells), Pelecypods (Shells, but with equal top and bottom sides, as opposed to Brachiopods which have uneven shells on top and bottom), and Cephalopods.

There's no need to use tools, these fossils are so abundant that anyone who visits can take home a large box full, no problem. (No reselling of these fossils, please - no commercial use!)

The park is open year round - sunrise to sunset. The Center is open from 1-4 p.m. daily Memorial Day through Labor Day and weekends in May, September, and October.

There is no fee to hunt for fossils, but donatons are gratefully accepted.

The street address for the Fossil & Prairie Center is 1227 215th St. Their website is http://www.fossilcenter.com. Their phone number is 641-756-3490.

In addition to the fossil quarry, there's hiking trails, historic beehive kilns, and a re-created log cabin.