The Ruth Hall Museum of Paleontology at the Ghost Ranch Conference Center,
Abiquiu, New Mexico, has a preparator doing his/her thing during the main
visitor season.  S/he occupies the center of one end of the gallery, along
with a block of rock and some tools.  Only a couple of feet away from
visitors, the fossilized bones of small critters are being exposed in the
matrix..."right before your very eyes" and "up close and personal."  The
preparators have always been gregarious young paleontologists who readily
share their knowledge (and enthusiasm) with visitors.  On the other side of
the walkway around the "block" and in the rest of the gallery are exhibits
that provide more space-time context for what you see and learn in the
demonstration.

I've seen the ongoing demo maybe ten times, and I'm always fascinated anew;
it's one of the often overlooked excitements of northern New Mexico.

Tom Vaughan                    \_   Cultural
The Waggin' Tongue             \_    Resource
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11795 County Road 39.2                \_       Planning, &
Mancos, CO 81328 USA                    \_       Training