Our third stop was Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.
From the time Emmrey introduced us to this as a stop on her road trip, she referred to it as Fluorescent Fossil Beds so I had a hard time getting the image of neon colored fossils out of my head. While the fossils were not fluorescent, the national monument is famous for the abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that are found in the mudstones and shales.
Kars still wasn't feeling 100% so she chose to stay at the visitors center. The rest of us set out for a walk.
We took the 1 mile Petrified Forest Loop where we saw petrified redwood stumps up to 14 feet wide
My favorite part was the story of Adeline Hornbek, a single mother of 4 who homesteaded in the area in the late 1800's. Her property is located just north of the Fossil Beds. I love visiting buildings from another time and imagining a life there. I have no illusions that it was an extremely difficult lifestyle, but there is also something appealing about it as well.
She had a total of nine buildings on her 80 acres. The main house is the only original structure still there. A few other buildings from other homesteads have been added to replicate what it might have looked like.
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