When my family lived on Maringo Drive in Dallas, 1961, my friends and I would rush to the woods and the limestone deposits not far from home where we picked at rocks and dug for fossils — almost every day after school.
We had big dreams and big ambitions. A baseball-sized recession in a stone outcropping was imagined having once held a dinosaur egg. We were sure that underneath the gentle rise and slope of a mound of dirt lay the resting skeleton of a Brontosaurus.
At the Dallas Museum of Natural History Museum, I would gaze longingly at the specimens hoping that one-day my rare finds would be on display, as treasures in the vitrines, labeled with my name as the discoverer. Although I never became an “official “ paleontologist my life as an artist is infused with the investigative spirit. I took to heart the rigors of the scientific method.
This year I celebrate my big 60th birthday, so I am keen to check off my “bucket list” finding a trilobite in the wild. According to authorities, the Trilobite Wilderness Area is THE place for aspiring fossil hunters so with a photograph, topo map and rock hammer in hand, on the search for this famed site, we were on for adventure.
My undaunted companions (Richard, my sister Janis and brother-in-law Paul) determined to realize the dream, avid in their search, chipped away at the shale for hours. We were disappointed that we did not find even a fragment but there were tracks, evidence that they had once been there. We have since learned that the site is a paleontologist’s mecca and as Dr. Roseanne Chambers reports, even for an expert, it's not that easy.
When we finally realized that there were no trilobite fossils to be found we headed to Las Vegas for the razzamattazz and bright lights, so my sadness was mitigated by a Cirque du Soleil show and some fabulous meals.
Even though my life–long dream of finding a trilobite in the wild still remains… we did have a great get-away to the desert and mountains. We will try again next spring, just heard about a U-Dig in Utah, where you are guaranteed to be successful.
Not wanting to be disappointed, in advance of our trip, I carved a trilobite with a nose and glasses face, that I could bury then discover on site.
SUCCESS!
