the devonian fossil gorge in coralville is kind of awesome. we printed out the map and fossil guide the night before and went through some books we have about fossils from PositiveRoleModel’s childhood. now, since the books focus largely on cool fossils like trilobites and dinosaur parts, i was afraid the boys wouldn’t be impressed with the coralville fossils, which are mostly brachiopods and corals. they were so excited every time they found a fossil, though, so the outing was tons of fun. after we got out of the parking lot. because they jumped out of the car and immediately started hunting for fossils on the asphalt. which led to a discussion of why man-made rock-like stuff would not have fossils in it. and a discussion of why asphalt, like acid, is not a bad word, but yes, asshole still is, and you still get grounded if you say it.
so. 20 minutes later, we made it into the actual gorge for a couple of hours of fossil-hunting fun. and more intellectual discussions! topics included whether or not humans could turn into fossils, and why carbonite is not a fossil – that was with the twits. the questions EG came up with were much more esoteric… like, what will use us as fossil fuels? our descendants? aliens? (my answer: dogs. i referred him to the clifford d. simak book, “city.” because why rely on non-fictional sources of information? boring!)
