The Real Jurrasic Park

65 million years ago dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but you can still catch a glimpse of these giant beats... as concrete and wooden roadside attractions. Multiple “dinosaur parks” are still littered throughout the US countryside, attracting curious tourists with their awe inspiring size, and sometimes comically unscientific look. Rapid City, South Dakota's Dinosaur Park is at the top of the hill and features large scale dinos that have a more cartoonish than accurate look to them. These replica prehistoric beasts have been overlooking Rapid City for over 70 years. For forty years, sculptor E.V. Nelson has been crafting dinos with surreal colors at the Prehistoric Gardens in Port Orford, Oregon, which is located in a genuine American rain forest. Fellow dino crafter Jeff “Fish” Wells has been making the creatures since 1981 at the Wells Dinosaur Haven in Uncasville, Connecticut. His proudest creation is a full scale T-Rex made from a submarine hull, and the Rex rocks out with oversized mandolin held in it's arms and mouth. And how could you expect to find quirky American attractions in small towns without running into a little religious fanaticism along with your dinos? At the Dinosaur Gardens Prehistoric Gardens Zoo in Ossineke, Michigan, visitors are greeted by a statue of Jesuss. Then those brave enough to enter the over 70 year old so called zoo will walk through a historically inaccurate yet well crafted display of dinos interacting with cavemen. At the end of your tour, enter the belly of a Apatosaurus statue, where you'll find a heart shaped Jesus inside. And the two dinos known as the Cabazon Monsters in Cabazon, California have recently had their own Christian conversion. Located in the middle of the desert and clearly visible from the highway, Dinny, the Apatosaurus and his unnamed T-Rex neighbor took a decade each to build and became pop culture icons in the 80s, appearing in “Pee Wee's Big Adventure,” “The Wizard,” and various commercials. They were recently purchased by a fundamentalist group who replaced all the scientific dino information in the gift shop located in Dinny's belly with anti evolution propaganda. Which is ironic, because the anti evolution info is inside a dinosaur, which does not appear in the bible. Don't think about it too hard. But if you want to stand next to full sized models of the great beats who once walked the Earth, there are plenty of dino parks across the US. I’m Liesel Hlista for TravelWishTV.com. Keep watching for more quirky, odd, and outrageous American travel destinations. Distributed by Tubemogul.