Dino Park

Rasa’s mom’s birthday is August 4th. We decided that going up to Mažeikiai would be a nice weekend trip. Of course, since we were already going to be heading that way, we may as well go a little early and take Monki out for something fun. The beach was again considered, but the weather was being a bit prickly so instead, we opted for the Dinosaur Park, the signs for which we pass every time we head towards Klaipėda.

We weren’t in any hurry when we packed up on Friday morning. Not knowing what to expect from the Dino Park, we figured it was good for at least a couple of hours and it would take us a couple of hours to get there, but even with our leisurely pace, it was before 10am when we hit the road.

Like last time, the drive out was punctuated by a vehicle fire…or two. Sure, by the time we passed it this time, it was well in hand, the fire department already there, but the stick was pretty bad. Instead of a car, it was a truck and what was on fire was the contents of the back of the rig. Hard to tell at first glance what it was – I guess garbage but Rasa insisted it was more like old clothes and furniture. Not that it was someone’s possessions during a move, more like stuff heading to a donation shop. Either way, though, it was bad. Fire foam was everywhere!

We passed quickly and within a few miles came upon (I originally wrote “hit” but that might give the wrong impression) another wreck, this one surrounded by ambulances (ambuli?) and other emergency vehicles. We silently paid our respects to the god of highways and drove past.

The Dino Park itself is a ways away from pretty much anything. Located on the former grounds of a manor house, there’s a spa and hotel on the premises and, for an extra fee, there’s an upside down house you can tour (we didn’t, this time).

Once inside the park, though, it was easy to get the lay of the land and we realized, fairly quickly, this was not a park for adults. Almost everything there catered to small and medium sized children. Monki rode a couple of empty lot style fun fair rides and got her face painted (a new fascination for her) which were all in the upper part of the park.

The lower area was accessed via a pathway through a small forest and contained a wooded play area with zip lines (I took Monki since she wasn’t big enough to go by herself) and a pedalo boat dock (which is far more work than it looks like, thankfully I’ve been working on my legs so I could get us around the small lake).

There were also bouncy houses, a weird, waterbed type of thing for the kids to walk on, some optical illusions to play with, and some of the rudest staff at the pizza place I’ve ever encountered (which, for Lithuania, is saying something).

And, oh yeah, there were dinosaurs.

Lots of them. Most everything was dino branded, with life-size animatronic animals everywhere you looked. Most were motion activated so as you stepped up, they started their programming, roaring and wailing. We had been concerned that Monki might be scared but she was fine, more interested in the play areas and rides than standing next to a Stegosaurus or Triceratops.

Exiting through the gift shop, as you do, Monki did pick up a Tyrannosaurus ring, which she proceeded to feed during meals for the next few days.

From there we headed off to Rasa’s mom’s place. Since the GPS couldn’t quite pick us up at the park, we took a guess as to the best way to go, which meant Rasa got in some time navigating single lane dirt roads as we wended our way back to the main highway. Always an adventure with us!

Spending time with family was fairly uneventful. Monki got to see her cousins, play with their pets (including getting up close and personal with a cat) and jumping on a trampoline. Rasa broke her toe when she tripped and stubbed it into the sofa, and I got caught up on some work.

Yeah, she broke her toe. Fractured it really (it hurt less when she thought it was fractured and not broken), which necessitated a trip to the emergency room. Being a Saturday in the 7th or 8th largest town in Lithuania, the place wasn’t crowded. All told, we were in and out, with x-ray, consultation, toe wrap, and prescription, in under 20 minutes with no out of pocket costs.

So that was our weekend. Now back to the grind. Three more weeks until the new semester starts and it looks like we’ll all be heading somewhere, so we’re going to enjoy these next few weeks as much as possible.