Fun in Dinosaur Valley

For several years Glen Rose has been one of my favorite places in Texas to visit. Only a thirty minute drive from Stephenville (which is where I live) I can visit pretty often, and very rarely am I disappointed or bored. I can always find things to do there and it is a small little city so crowds are few. I would not expect to see things such as a name brand grocery store or any chain restaurants (sit down that is) in Glen Rose you will have to take a short 15-minute drive over to Granbury for that.

Glen Rose is unique in that it is a small town but filled with so much. There is a nuclear power plant located in Glenn Rose which brings in a lot of revenue, allowing for the city to look quite nice. Glen Rose is also claimed to have found dinosaur tracks in the ground here. Hence the name Dinosaur Valley State Park. There is also Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Big Rocks at the Pauluxy, and other little things like the park, the amphitheater, which host Christian concerts and The Promise.

Since Glen Rose is one of my favorite places I can tell you of several places to visit and to eat. Of course as far as food goes I have only eaten a few places and have my tradition of going to eat a blizzard at Dairy Queen after spending the day at Dinosaur Valley Park, but there are a few places I have tried. The Loco Coyote is one of my favorites. And it is a place packed with entertainment.

Not only does Glen Rose have lots to offer but the scenery is breathtaking. The sunsets are amazing and when coming into Glen Rose on 67 from Stephenville there is a peak you come down on your way down you can see all of Glen Rose. It truly is something to see.

Quick Tips:

Some of my suggestions for Glen Rose would be the things that are listed in my journal. I think the State Park is a great cheep way to spend some time hiking, camping, biking, swimming, or just relaxing. The Promise is usually something you could do and enjoy the night sky watching a Christian play.

I also recommend taking a drive out to Big Rocks, which is a small little park that leads to the Pauluxy River. There you can swim, walk and have a picnic. In the summer time it s a great place to cool off and draws a good-sized crowd.

Best Way To Get Around:

The best way to get around is by ca, everything is pretty spread out and a few things are just a little ways down a country road. Also a fairly big town is about 15 minutes away that might have more activities for a longer stay.

The Loco Coyote is a unique little eating-place kind of in the middle of nowhere. It is off the highway and down a county road. It sits alone but has some cool things to offer. A small group of about 4 and a 2 year old decided to go there on a Friday night for dinner, after we got our food we may should have had more people to help us eat.

First of all when you walk up to this place is looks like an old wood shed with graffiti and all sorts of signs, and metal decorations hanging all over. Yes pretty much looking very tacky. When the host comes to seat you can choose to eat inside or outside. When you walk inside you will see the floor covered in sawdust or wood chips. It like it was a work shed and they put a kitchen in it and some tables.

Once we were seated we began to order our food. Three of us ordered the Loco coyote big feed or something like that. What it is, is a meal that is made to feed 2, 4, 6, or 10 people. The meal includes chicken tenders, catfish, fried shrimp, sausage, corn on the cob, fries, and Texas toast. We ordered the one for 2 and fed 3 adults and a 2 year old kid off it. That is how much food it was. The portions are what we can true "Texas sized" portions. And this place means it.

The other guy in our party ordered the catfish platter and he shared it with us as well. It was enough to feed three people as well. With both means we were all stuffed to capacity and there was still food let over. One thing this place is know for is its Texas sized portions which means there burgers are the biggest I have ever seen. I was not able to snap a shot, but let me tell you they are BIG and that is an understatement.

Now the food was great. It’s the best shrimp I have ever had. The service was okay, I think they focus more on the food and a little less on the service, but for this establishment it works for them, people come for the food, not necessarily for the service or even the niceness of a restaurant. For me it worked I enjoyed it and look forward to going back soon. The prices are a little high, I think it was like $20-25 for the 2-person meal, but once again you get your money's worth.

Loco Coyotes hours are Thursday from 5-8pm, Friday and Saturday from 4-9pm, and Sunday from 11-3 pm.

Dinosaur Valley State Park, located just northwest of Glen Rose in Somervell County, is a 1,524.72-acre scenic park set astride the Paluxy River. Eastward-dipping limestone, sandstones, and mud stones, deposited from approximately 113 million years ago along the shorelines of an ancient sea, form the geological setting for the park area. Dinosaur Valley State Park contains some of the best-preserved dinosaur tracks in the world. The dinosaur tracks are located in the riverbed.

Dinosaur Valley Park has tons of activities for the whole family. Some of these activities are campgrounds, picnic tables, hiking trails, mountain biking trails, swimming, and some equestrian opportunities. There are also restrooms and a gift shop.

Upon entering the park, you will be greeted by an actual-size dinosaur replica of a T-Rex and Stegosaurus. You drive through the park and begin to find the maps that direct you to the dinosaur tracks, and then you can hike down into the river when the tracks lie in the riverbed. The tracks are clearly marked, so they are easily identified.

When not looking for dinosaur tracks, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the park. Take a hike or go for a bike ride in the hills and enjoy the scenery from above. This park makes a great place to take the kids, plan an engagement proposal, or go for a safe swim. Whatever your pleasure, you can surely do in this fun and friendly park.

Dinosaur Valley State Park is opened 7 days a week from 8am-10pm. The cost is $5 a day.

Flowing through a cute little area called Big Rocks lies the Brazos River. Big Rocks is a public park area where people can hike, swim, tub, play, and picnic.

Big Rocks has huge rocks to climb (free climbing), hence the name big rocks, and a the river is usually always flowing, providing entertainment for the kids. There is no cost to play at Big Rocks, as it is free and everyone is welcome. There are picnic tables and a covered slab to have lunch or sit under a bit of shade. It is a great place to go for activities and just a quiet, romantic walk.

I have come out here for several different reasons: to swim and play, to hike, and to just sit and think or read. It is one of my favorite places to go, and since it does not cost anything, it is that much better.

Glen Rose is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to, and I love to go there to escape the world. The sunsets in are some of the greatest I have seen, full of color and character, and there are so many place to see the sun set from. It's great.

It's such a little city, but one packed with so much natural beauty at an affordable price.

So my son and I need something to do and knowing how much I love Glen Rose I thought we would head out that directions. With so many things to do there and kid friendly things I thought surely we can find something to do. Well of course we did. I decided to stop at Fossil Rim on the way in and see if they still had the petting zoo. Sure enough they still did, and we ended up staying for three hours.

We choose not to take the scenic drive, which I think they tell you takes around 2-3 hours since it is a little on the pricey side and I was not sure my 3 year old kid would be able to endure that long. So instead we headed a few miles up the road to there mid point and look out and spent the morning there.

First we took a walk through the gift shop and around the information center, and then we headed to view all the observatories. They have an ocelot and a few macaws that are endangered. There is where the look out point is and the café. At the look out point we were able to see several giraffes, zebras and deer out in the field. It was pretty cool.

After that we headed over to the petting zoo, where you can brush and pet goats and see an emu and a huge tortoise. The goats are very nice and they love to be brushed. They follow you around and were very nice to little boy.

After all that we took a 20-minute hike, which was about all my son could handle' at the beginning of the trail is another observatory with a wolf pacing around watching us. There really was not much to see on the trail but it was fun for my son and I to do together. After that we had worked up an appetite. We headed back over to the café and ate lunch while watching cars drive through the park and feed the giraffes and the zebras. After a filling lunch we recharged and ready to go again. My son wanted to play in the sand box that was on the way in, so we stopped and I let him play.

All these things we did up here we FREE. They did not cost us anything. This was a very nice treat since we did not really want to spend a lot of money.

The scenic trail drive is quite impressive from what I hear but it does cost around $20 per person and like $12 for children 3 and up.

I think Fossil Rim is a great place to spend the day and can be dirt cheep or you can splurge and spend a lot of money, either way I don’t think it will change the amount of fu you have, just what you see. Check out www.fossilrim.org