After the NYCTF teaching event on Saturday, I met Mike and the boys at Madison Square Garden (after a stop at Borders - three new Torchwood novels, whoo hoo!), where we surprised them with tickets to Walking With Dinosaurs - courtesy of Carol, who rocks. You see, getting tickets to this show was a bear of immense proportions - it was only in town for a short time, and weekend tickets were akin to World Series tickets in their difficulty. But Carol pulled a lot of stops out and got us four tickets - and the seats were amazing.

After it sunk in that we were going to see the show, the kids were pulling us through Madison Square Garden. Along the way, we somehow managed to pick up a dinosaur spinning light and a 3-D poster. We were initially shown to the luxury boxes, where Heartbreaker was thrilled with the cinema seating and free sodas; I was grateful for the private bathrooms (am I getting old?). Turns out that the view was obscured, so we were moved down to the floor.

The stage was actually the entire floor of the Garden, so the seats actually began in the dark purple section here:

See dead in the center? Yep - that was us. Get your dino freak on, baby. I called Carol to thank her profusely, and the boys basically screamed "Thank YOU!" into the phone. The red and yellow section comprised the stage, so you can see how close we were.

The show was great. There was an actor/paleontologist who took the audience on a tour of the evolution of the dinosaurs, with the dinos lumbering out to eat, fight, and take care of their young. There was an Icthyosaurus that dropped down from the scaffolding to 'fly' against a moving background; there was a Stegosaurus, an Ankylosaurus, an Allosaurus (T-Rex's smaller cousin), and Velociraptors for all. The boys were thrilled; Alex really thinks the dinosaurs were real. When the Brachiosaurus came out and stuck his giant neck over the audience, he was right over our heads.

The crowd went wild when the Momma T-Rex made her appearance at the end, defending her baby. She proceeded to roar at each section of the crowd, with her baby letting a cute squeak follow her up. And when the paleontologist took his bow at the end, Baby T-Rex was there, stealing the show, even refusing to end the curtain call.

If Walking With Dinosaurs comes back - and man, I hope it does - you have to go. It's worth every cent. And in the meantime, check it out on DVD if dinosaurs are your thing - it's that good.