Take a selfie with a dinosaur in Fresno – really

Fans of Dino the big green dinosaur at Sinclair gas stations can snap a selfie with the dinosaur Thursday before it embarks on a nationwide tour.

The traveling Dino (pronounced “Die-no”) is not the same one who is always at the Maroa and Shaw avenues station. Nor is it one of several others at Valley Sinclair stations often adorned with hats or scarves, including the one who sported a hand-knit sweater last winter at Bullard and Palm avenues.

Instead, the traveling version of Dino is a 12-foot long, 6-foot tall fiberglass dinosaur who weighs just 75 pounds. Dino is an apatosaurus and travels on the back of a truck. He – actually his handlers, of course – will be tweeting his trip with the hashtag #DINO2NYC.

The public can take photos with Dino and enter a contest for a free trip to New York City from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday at the station at 384 W. Shaw Ave.

Sinclair Oil Corporation is celebrating its 100 years in business with the dinosaur’s tour across the country. It will culminate in New York City on Thanksgiving Day when the balloon version of Dino participates in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. The balloon is the actual size of an apatosaurus at 72 feet long, 24 feet wide and 36 feet tall, according to Sinclair.

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Take a selfie with a dinosaur in Fresno – really."