Last week was a mess at our house. Sleepless nights with a sick kid meant that by the time the weekend rolled around, I was determined to sit at home and do absolutely nothing.
As it turned out, we got bored with doing nothing pretty quickly. By Saturday afternoon I was getting antsy, and by that evening I had decided we’d be going on a short road trip the next day.
The Lost City Museum is located in Overton, Nevada, not too far from Valley of Fire. Normally my daughter wouldn’t be too excited about a small museum, but when I explained that the museum focused on the Anasazi, the same people who had made the petroglyphs at Valley of Fire long ago, she perked up. Valley of Fire is one of E.’s favorite places to visit, so the connection was enough to make her curious.
Although the museum focuses on the Anasazi people who used to live in the area (and in parts of Utah and northern Arizona), it also highlights the excavation process that took place on the site. Outside, visitors will find reconstructions of pueblos and a pithouse, one of the earliest types of structures that has been found in Southern Nevada.
All of this made for a good, educational outing. But the highlight of the visit for me was…
mummified giant sloth poop.
Yes, for some reason the Lost City Museum features a piece of mummified poop in its display of prehistoric fossils. Apparently giant sloths roamed the area around 11,000 years ago.
(And if you’re thinking, “Gee, hasn’t Sarah mentioned giant sloths before?” the answer is yes, yes I have.)
I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I have a photo of the giant sloth poop. However, I’m not going to post it here. Oh, no. You just have to go to Overton and see it for yourself.
The Lost City Museum is located at:
721 S. Moapa Valley Blvd.
Overton, NV
