Monday, Jul. 13, 2009
South Dakota
Photo credit: Layne Kennedy / Corbis
South Dakota was once home to more dinosaurs than a Michael Crichton novel. The most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever discovered was dug up there in 1990, and the area continues to be the place for all the best paleontologists to see and be seen. Tour company PaleoAdventures will let you tag along and dig for real fossils on private land. You'll hunt for dinosaur, amphibian and mammal bones that are significant enough to be sold or donated to museums, though participants are allowed to keep $50 worth of less noteworthy fossils. Good luck getting that T. rex tooth through airport security. Tour: $500 for a family of four