Love story inspires B.C. couple to install dinosaur duo outside driveway

Adam finds out the love story behind a pair of big, blue dinosaurs on a driveway.

Dan Taylor was visiting the U.S. a couple of decades ago when he first spotted a dinosaur standing outside a gas station.

“Then I realized it was a whole chain of gas stations,” Taylor says, before showing countless photos of bright brontosaurus statues.

“And it just blew me away.”

Turns out, Sinclair Gas’ mascot has been a colourful dinosaur since its commercials were black and white.

“I thought, that’s kinda cool,” Taylor smiles. “Maybe everyone should have a dinosaur at some point.”

But first, Taylor had to meet Alex Whitman. After he said ‘hi’ to her at his cousins wedding, neither wanted to say goodbye.

“[We] just talked the whole night,” Whitman says. “And had a fun conversation.”

Given Whitman lived in the U.S. the two started exchanging hand-written letters, which led to cross-border visits. Eventually, Taylor proposed.

“I said, ‘I think you’re the one too,” Whitman says. “And then he flew down, and we eloped.”

Eventually they staged a more traditional ceremony and had a couple of kids. The only thing missing was one of those gas station dinosaurs.

“It’s impossible to get a hold of one,” Taylor says, explaining how he had tried everything to buy one for decades.

He didn’t know that Whitman was secretly doing the same. Eventually, she found one.

“Amazingly it fit exactly in my car,” she says, of the blue dinosaur she found at a small-town store specializing in large metal statues.

“The tail was coming around and pointing [right at my face] and I’m like, ‘please don’t get in a car accident’.”

After avoiding a prehistoric impaling, Whitman staged an unforgettable Father’s Day surprise.

“It just blew me away,” Taylor smiles. “I felt amazed and loved.”

After the pair of dinosaurs were placed on the boulevard in front of their home, the couple’s children named the statues Gerald and Maurice - who sports a small, black moustache they made for him.

“We joke that when we’re dead and gone our kids are not going to want china or glassware,” Whitman smiles. “They’re going to want dinosaurs.”

Before they moved to their new house, their old neighbours begged for Gerald and Maurice to stay, because they’d proved to be a Jurassic spark for creating community.

“There’s a lady that took a walk [to see them] every day and pet the dinosaurs.” Whitman says. “And people would come by with their kids and sit on the dinosaurs.”

“They used to get decorated at Christmas,” Taylor says, adding how people would put bows and garlands on them, alongside dressing them up for Halloween and putting bunny ears on them for Easter.

Since Whitman and Taylor have arrived in Canada, Taylor has surprised his colleagues by bringing Gerald to work. He hopes their new neighbours also find these driveway denizens dino-mite.

“I think it’s important to get joy out of where you find it,” Taylor says.

“And if it’s a big blue dinosaur, impart that joy on to others.”