After that Stanley visited the Thornton fire department station #5 where he met Lieutenant Harry. Stanley got to see all the fire engines and he even got to take a ride in the back of the ambulance!

After Stanley left the fire department he made even more friends! Dan took him for a motorcycle ride. It was just around the parking lot because Stanley doesn't have a motorcycle helmet. But he LOVED it!

Stanley wasn't finished yet! The next friend he made was Mike. Mike let Stanley check out his awesome dune buggy. He even got to sit inside and check out all the fun stuff!

After all the excitement, Stanley was tired and ready for a snack so he made one last stop. Chik-Fil-La!!! They even offered Stanley a job but he had to say "no thank you." Stanley is a busy kid! He has way too many places to visit to be held back by a job but he did manage to make another friend. Her name is Morgan and she said that she hopes Flat Stanley can visit many more amazing places while he visits Colorado. Stanley said "Thanks Morgan!" And of course, Morgan said "My pleasure, Stanley!

See the pictures of this adventure in the linked Google Doc.

Stanley met his first new friend, Brian Laurence. Brian is the general manager of the entire race track!  That is a very important job! Brian is so important that he even has his own golf cart to drive around in. We hopped in and he took Stanley into the pit to see all the cars and meet all the drivers! He is such a great guy! It's no wonder they put him in charge!

PIT TIME!!! 

Today was a very important practice session. These sessions give the racers time to practice their amazing driving skills and make sure their race cars are in tip-top shape. They begin racing next week! They have to be ready to go if they want to win and they ALL want to win. 

Stanley is VERY good at making friends! Let's meet them! 

Now it's time to check out the car engines!

Some of Stanley's new race car driver friends even let him check out the inside of their awesome race cars. There are so many buttons, lights and switches in each car AND they can even take their steering wheels on and off whenever they want to. Stanley was worried they would take their steering  wheel off while they were racing. They NEVER do that!

Then… Stanley's race day got even better! He was invited into the race tower to help wave the race flags! The flags are super important. They wave a green flag for GO. They wave a yellow flag for CAUTION. Then they wave the best flag: the black and white checkered flag! This flag is the best one of all. They only wave this flag for the winner of each race. They let Stanley wave the flag for today's race winner.

Watching the races from the tower was really exciting for Stanley. The race cars are really loud and super fast!

Then when Stanley thought his day could not get any better, he was invited to ride along with a racecar driver during a practice race.

There he goes! Here he comes! 

Stanley won the race! Yahhhhhh!!! 🏁

It was the most incredible day! 

All of Stanley's new friends really want to meet you, Patrick. They had a message for you.  

They said as soon as you are able to come to Colorado for a visit, they want you to come to the races! 

They also sent some very cool stuff home with Stanley to give to you! Stanley wants it to be a surprise so there aren't any pictures but he will ship them to you as soon as he makes it to the post office. Stanley really wishes you were here but being safe and staying at home is so important!  

In 1937, dinosaur tracks were discovered on the east side of Dinosaur Ridge. They found animals that lived 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic period also known as the "Age of Giants." 

In 1877, scientists dug up fossils of Stegosaurus and the Apotosaurus. 

 Stanley was only a little scared of these HUGE dinosaur skeletons. 

Stanley learned so much about dinosaurs at Dinosaur Ridge. It was a very exciting adventure. During a global pandemic, even the dinosaurs are required to wear a mask.

Stanley had a great time digging for fossils and learning about dinosaurs but it was time to move on to his next big adventure. He did send you something very cool from his trip to Dinosaur Ridge. He hopes that you really like it!