SAVE THE DATE! Explorers Club Texas Winter Meeting

The Explorers Club Texas Chapter Winter Meeting
February 15, 16 in Glen Rose, Tx. and Dallas, Tx

$45 Cost for Sunday Lunch Meeting, Perot Museum, Dinosaur Valley State Park

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Meet Old Friends and Family Weekend: “We’re talking fossil old!”

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020. The warm-up events!

Dinosaur Valley State Park

Glen Rose, Tx 2:30 Meet-Up: Tour by Tony Florillo, Ph.D.

We will have a private tour by Tony Florillo, Ph.D., V.P. of Research & Collections and Chief Curator of the Perot Museum of the dinosaur features of the park where we will see and learn about the famous dinosaur tracks.  Take a “foot” selfie with your naked foot placed inside the footprint of Cretaceous period dinosaurs which lived until just prior to the last mass extinction. We will have time to roam and explore, just as they did.

Then, head for Dallas, around 5:00 and check into your hotels.

Eat, Imbibe, And Tell Stories, “some can even be true!”  (Dallas, Tx)

Dallas, TX – 7:30pm Restaurant (TBD by Nancy)

At 7:30 in a restaurant in Dallas, TBD by Nancy, we will have a very casual, self-pay, dinner at a Dallas restaurant at 7:30.

It seems we are always too highly/formally scheduled so this will be an evening for a friendly, informal conversation about exploration or anything we choose, unceremoniously, with no planned speakers. If anyone wants to have the group’s attention to tell a tale and talk through an issue, just stand up and tap your glass to get the floor. Feel free to get “rowdy” but get some sleep for the main event on Sunday.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, the main event!

Quarterly Meeting Luncheon and Tour of “Origins” Exhibit at the Perot

11:30 Lunch Meeting: MesoMaya Mexican Restaurant with Lyda Hill and Becca Peixotto, Ph.D. Hosted by Lyda Hill

Corral Bluffs, Rise Of the Mammals: In addition to our usual agenda, fellow Texas Chapter explorer Lyda Hill, our kind host, will speak briefly about the recent, significant Corral Bluffs discovery in Colorado where she has had an important hand. Click here to see the PBS film.

Homo naledi: Then, with Lyda’s kind help, we are extremely privileged to have Becca Peixotto, Ph.D. from the Perot Museum speak to us about our early relatives (e.g. Friends and Family) in what National Geographic calls one of the 10 most important discoveries of the last 100 years. Becca was one of the six “small, brave, scientists” selected by renowned paleoanthropologist Lee Berger to squeeze through openings as small as 7.5” to go deep into previously undiscovered areas of the Rising Star Cave in South Africa to discover 15 skeletons of a new species, Homo naledi.

Naledi lived some 335,000 to 236,000 years ago meaning it may have overlapped with our own species, Homo sapiens. The species, first discovered in 2013, also had a mix of primitive and modern features such as a small brain-case (about one-third the size of Homo sapiens) and a large body for the time, weighing approximately 100 pounds and standing up to five feet tall.

“Origins: Fossils from the Cradle of Humankind”Perot Museum Tour:

We will adjourn and move across the street to the Perot Museum where Becca will lead us through the very special Origins exhibit about Homo naledi to see actual skeletal remains of the new species as told through her 1^st person eyes. This important discovery is highly chronicled. See the links below.

The idea is to get you on the road to your homes around 3:00 or earlier to avoid driving late at night.

$45 Cost for Sunday Lunch Meeting, Perot Museum, Dinosaur Valley State Park

Questions? Contact Joe Watson, Vice Chair Programs: 281-932-4143, jwatson@apdllc.net

Key Links:

Perot Museum: Origins: Fossils From the Cradle of Humankind

Wanted: Fit, Fearless Scientist for Huge Underground Find

Nova Science Documentary: Dawn of Humanity