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Dave's Down To Earth Rock Shop and Prehistoric Life Museum & the Burpee Museum


Nimravis

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Today I had the great pleasure of spending 9 hours with Fossil Forum Member @Monica while we visited Dave's Down To Earth Rock Shop and Prehistoric Museum in Evanston, Illinois and then we drove 90 miles NW of Chicago to the Burpee Museum in Rockford, Illinois. Monica flew from Ontario, Canada on Friday with her husband to attend the Stars Wars Celebration at the McCormick Place. Today she set time aside for me so we could do some Fossil stuff while here husband went back to the convention.

 

After picking her up from her downtown hotel, we drove North on Lake Shore Drive so I could show her the lakefront. After a couple quick stops, we made a detour to my sons house so I could drop off a new Lego Jurassic Park Set for my 5 year old Grandson, that's as far as he goes with fossil related stuff. After this we had a 15 minute drive to Dave's Rock Shop, this was the first time that Monica has been to a Fossil Store and this is a great one to visit..

 

This post will be picture heavy

 

Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop-

The below pictures are just some of the fossils that are for sale, I will then post some of the fossils that are in the stores downstairs museum.

 

I am not one for pictures, but had to take one to for the post.

 

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After Dave's, we had a 1 1/2 hour drive to get to the Burpee Museum, so before we got on the Interstate, I wanted to take Monica to eat some Chicago food. Since she was going to eat deep dish pizza with her husband at Giordano's tonight, I decided to stop at Portillo's for Chicago Style Hot Dogs and Portillo's famous Chocolate Cake.

 

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After lunch it was off to Burpee-

 

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And a couple Non-Fossil related critters-

 

IMG_0343.jpg.07e9f4ee135e6247ad13de150d74ad25.jpgIMG_0344.jpg.1aedf3ca20bbb5f0ea8c87cee781bdcb.jpgIMG_0345.jpg.d0a1e5667b1bed71434c8beaff3cda1b.jpgIMG_0346.jpg.502f9625802f97a9f3fd3959bc431066.jpgIMG_0349.jpg.887d2c91a015edfc0fa502303e009b0f.jpgIMG_0350.jpg.22361dee25b91691bd478dd73add27dc.jpg

 

 

@Monica thanks again for spending the day with me, it was a blast and thanks for the Hungry Hollows fossil plate and I hope that the fossils that I gave you were small enough to get through airport security in your carry on luggage, next time bring a checked bag and I can fill it up for you with bigger/ better fossils. Lol.

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20190413_205531.png

Did you happen to notice the price on this piece?  I wonder if they offer shipping? :P

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1 hour ago, caldigger said:

20190413_205531.png

Did you happen to notice the price on this piece?  I wonder if they offer shipping? :P

That was a cast and not for sale- :)

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6 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Today I had the great pleasure of spending 9 hours with Fossil Forum Member @Monica while we visited Dave's Down To Earth Rock Shop and Prehistoric Museum in Evanston, Illinois and then we drove 90 miles NW of Chicago to the Burpee Museum in Rockford, Illinois. Monica flew from Ontario, Canada on Friday with her husband to attend the Stars Wars Celebration at the McCormick Place. Today she set time aside for me so we could do some Fossil stuff while here husband went back to the convention.

 

After picking her up from her downtown hotel, we drove North on Lake Shore Drive so I could show her the lakefront. After a couple quick stops, we made a detour to my sons house so I could drop off a new Lego Jurassic Park Set for my 5 year old Grandson, that's as far as he goes with fossil related stuff. After this we had a 15 minute drive to Dave's Rock Shop, this was the first time that Monica has been to a Fossil Store and this is a great one to visit..

 

This post will be picture heavy

 

Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop-

The below pictures are just some of the fossils that are for sale, I will then post some of the fossils that are in the stores downstairs museum.

 

I am not one for pictures, but had to take one to for the post.

 

IMG_0357.PNG.e5f721effac3e95a0a46fc4f0f472f23.PNG

 

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Thanks for these. Did you take any pictures of the torvosaurus tooth?

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6 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Adam @Tidgy's Dad is going to be jealous of Monica playing with this big boy that was roaming the halls.

Lovely Sully, a sulcata tortoise,  Centrochelys sulcata, from the southern sub-Sahara, though this one was born in the US, it is lumpy in places from being brought up too dry when young but looks fine now. :)

It's the biggest species of mainland tortoise and they are very strong.

image.jpeg.c511e51235f3debd2c9f680e5b8b5d0a.jpeg

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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5 hours ago, caldigger said:

 

Did you happen to notice the price on this piece?  I wonder if they offer shipping? :P

Yeah, this is a very rare example of a horse pooping fish. 

Love this in my collection if the price is right. ;) 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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Always love to see forum members getting together, the photo of you and Monica together is fabulous, you both look so happy.:)

As usual thanks for all the time you spent taking these incredible photos for us all to share the places you visit, I remember you posting Dave's Rock Shop before, but there's always something new and fascinating there, loved the dragonfly nymph, the land scorpion, the Ordovician and Mazon Creek dioramas and so much more. 

The museum was brilliant too. 

Tremendous. 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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37 minutes ago, paulyb135 said:

Thanks for these. Did you take any pictures of the torvosaurus tooth?

These are the only pictures that I took.

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28 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Lovely Sully, a sulcata tortoise,  Centrochelys sulcata, from the southern sub-Sahara

Adam, BTW- I forgot to tell you that the tortoise was 15 years old and they go him from someone who could no longer take care of him.

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2 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

Adam, BTW- I forgot to tell you that the tortoise was 15 years old and they go him from someone who could no longer take care of him.

Happens a lot, there are  a large number of unwanted sullys in the US that have been abandoned when they got too big and destructive. :(

Yeah, he's still a growing boy, he'll get bigger! 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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@Nimravis That looked like a great way to spend the day, wish I could of tagged along for that one. Lots of great pics. Nice of you to show Monica around. She looks like she was having a blast.:dinothumb:

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Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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Thanks to Ralph @Nimravis for a fantastic day out yesterday!!!  It was great meeting you and your son and grandson, and it was wonderful to visit some new fossil-filled locations!  Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop was awesome - the museum downstairs does indeed hold a nicer selection of Mazon Creek fossils than I've seen anywhere else - it was especially amazing to see those three holotypes as well as Ralph's beloved onychophoran (I'll post a picture of it when I get home to my computer).  I also bought myself a little fossil souvenir for our trip to the shop - a gorgeous iridescent ammonite from England (Psiloceras planorbis).  The Burpee Museum's Mazon Creek re-creation was awesome to see, as was their "little" tortoise Rocky and their dinosaur displays.  And, of course, lunch was unbelievable - the Chicago-style hot dog and chocolate cake were delicious - I may have to have another of each today for lunch before we fly back to Toronto. :)

 

Anyway, we're about to head out for a quick visit to the Field Museum to see Sue and her friends.  Thanks again, Ralph, for being so generous with your time, knowledge, and fossils - I truly appreciate it!!!

 

(Oh, and by the way - the deep dish pizza last night was delectable!!!  The cheese and crust were especially super-yummy - I think Adam @Tidgy's Dad would've loved it, too, since he loves cheese so much ;))

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1 hour ago, Monica said:

 

 

(Oh, and by the way - the deep dish pizza last night was delectable!!!  The cheese and crust were especially super-yummy - I think Adam @Tidgy's Dad would've loved it, too, since he loves cheese so much ;))

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad you're having a good time down there, Monica. :)

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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