I’ve been telling the kids that I’m dying to see a dusty West Texas town, and now I have. The soundtrack to an old western showdown keeps ringing in my ears, spurs jangling in the background. It’s dry, dusty, and brown as far as the eye can see. Oil refineries and pump jacks dot the landscape, and every vehicle on the road is either an 18 wheeler or a white Ford pickup. The minivan stands out like a sore thumb around here. And it’s hot already, really hot.

We started the day at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Midland and were happily surprised by the quality of the exhibits. We had discussed the usual critical thinking questions before entering: who established it, what story are they trying to tell, and what are the most likely inherent biases. Obviously, this museum wasn’t going to be extolling the dangers and environmental consequences of the petroleum industry. It did, however, do a great job of explaining the geological history of the Permian Basin and how oil and gas formed here, as well as how the industry operates today. It also had exhibits on cleaner, renewable energy resources and I was surprised to read the positive take on these sources. The museum was unexpectedly forward-facing about the need to find other energy sources in the future, and why, as of today, the current technology isn’t sufficient to meet our enormous energy needs. The many hands-on activities were fun and educational.

We stopped by a couple of attrations on our drive toward New Mexico. First up was a recreation of Stonehenge in the middle of some university. Talk about random. Possibly even more random was a recreation of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (situated inside a different university). These made nice short stops to stretch our legs.

Our final stop in Texas was the Monahans Sandhills State Park so that Graham could dune surf and drive his RC car. I’ve never seen anything like this — huge dunes felt like being at the beach, but there was no ocean, and the dunes went on for miles. It is almost 4000 acres of dunes! We rented the sand disk at the visitor center and hiked to the top of the closest dune. Graham had a blast sliding down, but the trek back up the dunes, combined with having to repeatedly wax the disk, meant this quickly became exhausting. He enjoyed it enough that we are going to hit White Sands, NM in a few days, where the dunes are much taller. Walking back up those dunes was exhausting for all of us, but worth it. Apparently, the trick is to go right after it stops raining. The sand is packed tight then and you can really fly down the hills.

We got up early the next morning to finish the 2-hour drive to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Because we visit Luray Caverns often, we hadn’t been sure this stop was going to be worth it to us, but we gave it a shot and were all so happy we did. This place is amazing. It was so much larger than I could have even imagined. The Big Room of the cavern is 750 feet below ground, almost the height of the Empire State Building, and is over 8 acres large. There are even bathrooms and a restaurant down there at the bottom! The two-dimensional pictures do an awful job of showing the depth and the size of this cavern. It was truly breathtaking. The walk down (if you don’t take the elevator) was no joke – over an hour of steep, winding darkness – but it was well worth it. Altogether we spent about 3 hours here and could have stayed longer but our poor, tired legs needed a break so we shamelessly rode the elevator back up at the end. Neither words nor pictures can do this place justice. I tried videos, and they don’t capture it well either. All I can say is that everyone should visit here if at all possible. The drive up the mountain was itself worth the trip for the view. I would love to come back to see the bats and their nightly exit en masse to feed. The only drawback is that they are only there during the summer. If we found early April to be too hot, I can’t imagine summertime.

The Natural Entrance Walk Down

The Big Room

On the way out of Carlsbad, we stopped for a while at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens state park. We enjoyed the views, animals, and gardens, but it had gotten really hot at this point. The greenhouse was over 130 degrees. That’s hot. I’m sensing a new temperature-based theme for the trip, and I think we will be hitting lots of ice cream shops for the next few weeks.

It was past time for us to take a day off, so we are doing that today. We drove to Roswell to look for aliens and UFOs, but first, we are spending today at a hotel with a pool and spa (for the aching back and legs). It’s time for laundry and cleaning out the car, and I am finally getting to write my posts. Tomorrow we will explore Roswell. Thanks for reading!

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We started the day at the Billings Productions factory where we had a two-hour private tour of the facility where they make lifesized dinosaur animatronic exhibits for museums and parks. It was a unique experience, seeing behind the scenes what goes into making these gigantic creatures. We learned about the delicate and time-consuming molding, casting, and painting processes. Everything here is done by hand, and their aim is to be as scientifically accurate as possible. Mer really enjoyed discussing which things were accurate, and which were artistic license. Our guide was a paleontologist who stays up to date on all the latest scientific findings so that the designs can reflect the most current understanding of how the animals most likely looked. Graham enjoyed seeing the brains and guts of the electronics and pneumatics that power the movements (photos aren’t allowed in many of the areas though, so I couldn’t take pictures of what the insides look like). We also learned about the process for moving, crating, and shipping these things. Some of them have telescoping legs so that they can fit into a regular-sized shipping container.

Next up was the enormous Perot Science Museum in downtown Dallas. We spent the most time in the mineralogy and engineering sections, but also enjoyed the energy and paleontology exhibits there. As large as the building is, it actually didn’t take that much time to get through everything. Not surprisingly, we are getting a tad jaded about museums. It takes a lot now for us to get impressed. The good thing is that we can now blow through exhibits we’ve seen before and concentrate more on unique exhibits that we haven’t already seen.

Our last stop of the day was the Dallas World Aquarium. This is really more of an indoor zoo than a traditional aquarium. The majority of the building housed non-marine animals, which we hadn’t expected given the name. It also isn’t part of any of the reciprocal membership organizations, so we had to pay full price (about $70 total). Honestly, even the kids didn’t think it was worth it. It was a beautiful design inside, and we certainly enjoyed seeing the animals, but Graham really wanted marine life, and there wasn’t as much of that as we would have liked. It would be a great summertime place to visit though since it’s all inside and air-conditioned. Just walking around downtown Dallas on such a beautiful day was pleasant.

We ended the day with some authentic Texas brisket and bbq ribs in a restored old barn with the most talkative waiter I’ve met. I keep forgetting that you have to be careful in the South: make any statement to a stranger that seems like an invitation to chat and you better free up your schedule for at least the next 30 minutes. And be prepared to learn some private details. Strangers don’t stay strangers long round here. It’s been refreshing to experience the friendliness we have felt on most of our travels this year.

The next day was all about the Fort Worth stockyards. This is an adorable historic area that’s been converted into a unique tourist destination. We saw the cattle drive of the Stockyards Herd through the main street and an old-western-style shootout. Mer sat on Outlaw, a huge longhorn steer, while Graham opted to try the mechanical bull. It was, he said, much harder than it looks. Having been thrown off several of those in my younger years, I wholeheartedly concur.

Saturday night we headed back to the stockyards for the Cowtown Coliseum rodeo and I got to check off another bucket list item. This was a ton of fun, but what a scary, dangerous sport. Dem bulls! Talk about your huge, angry animals. I guess if I had a tight strap wrapped around my hindquarters, I would buck like mad too. It was amazing to see the skill required of these cowboys and cowgirls and I was surprised that only one rider seemed to be injured after his ride. It looked like the bull stepped on him and he needed quite a bit of help limping out of the arena. The rodeo definitely helped us understand how difficult roping cattle and breaking horses is. We weren’t quite sure what to think of all the little kids chasing after sheep and calves though; to me, it looked like one big tort waiting to happen. I think Texans are just less risk-averse than most people. It was the largest – yet politest- crowd we’ve been in since before COVID. It was only later that I realized all the exaggerated politeness may have in part been because most of those in attendance were packing. Welcome to Texas. The pictures stink because of how fast everything was. Still just using my phone as I don’t have time to fiddle with anything larger or more complicated. Only one person stayed on for 8 seconds, and it was a bronco, not a bull. Most of the rides were under 4 seconds.

I finally got to meet up with Ele, one of my best college friends, for brunch on Sunday. We haven’t seen each other in over 25 years! She and her daughter met us for brunch and then we spent several hours at her house catching up on our lives. It was like no time had passed at all. That’s always the sign of a true friend, you just pick right back up where you left off. We talked for hours until my kids finally dragged me out.

We spent the afternoon driving through Abiline and towards Midland. On the way, we got hit by the biggest hail storm I’ve ever seen. At first I thought something was on the roof of my car. I hadn’t ever heard anything that loud pounding on the top. Then I saw the bouncing balls of hail and realized what was going on. And it was 91 degrees outside. 91 and hail. It blew all the large lounge chairs into the hotel pool too. At least it was fast – one second storming, and the next was clear blue skies again. Texas weather is nuts, y’all. Tomorrow we will look around Midland and Odessa before moving on to New Mexico.

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We woke up this morning to horrible rain, wind, and tornado warnings flashing on the phone. A review of the weather forecasts made it clear that we should stay put for the day. We did laundry, repacked, and waited out the storm. The heavy rains and winds passed by mid-afternoon and we drove around to enjoy the scenery. I see why this is such a popular area for vacationing. The Mountains, forests, and many lakes are gorgeous. It was still drizzling, so instead of outoor activities, we visited the Mid-America Science Museum. It is a small Smithsonian-affiliated museum that houses the world’s largest working Faraday Cage. We attended the Tesla show about electricity and it was quite the experience. Worth a trip just for that. There was a large school group visiting and Graham had fun playing with some of the other kids. Due to the rain, we didn’t get to walk around the promenade spa area of Hot Springs, but we at least got a preview during our driving tour around town.

The weather was sunny and beautiful the next day for our drive to Texas, again. I am trying to get the kids a tour of an animatronics factory in Allen (outside Dallas) but haven’t been able to arrange it yet. We decided to drive that direction and hope for the best. We took a short detour to view the Paris Cowboy Eiffel Tower. It’s just a cute little roadside attraction, perfect for a quick photo stop. We also drove through the adorable historic area in McKinney and stopped at a huge playground so the kids could get the wiggles out and I could plan our next steps. Thankfully we heard back from the factory and we have a 10 am tour scheduled for tomorrow morning. We got a hotel nearby and enjoyed our first nice sit-down dinner of the trip. Lucky Dog – Allen, Texas – Bacon Candy. Yup – Bacon Candy. Amazing. We ate it too fast for me to even get a picture.

The next few days will be jam-packed. We will visit some museums in Dallas and then spend the weekend in Fort Worth doing all the cattle stockyard attractions. We also have tickets to the rodeo Saturday night and plans for brunch with a college friend on Sunday. It looks like clear skies and nice temperatures too. Yea! We are so excited to be back in Texas.

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We got off to a great start early Sunday morning and made excellent time to Memphis. There were thankfully fewer big trucks on the roads today, which definitely made for a more pleasant drive. We bypassed Nashville and instead will stop there on our return drive home. We started the day by watching the Peabody Duck March, which was of course absolutely adorable. Such a cute tradition. They really did roll out a red carpet. The kids got to sit right on the edge, but the ducks walked so fast they didn’t get any pictures except this extremely blurry one. We were surprised- but really shouldn’t have been – over how crowded this was. I’m afraid that the luxury of empty museums, no kids, and short lines is now over for us, but it is wonderful meeting new people and seeing how happy everyone is to be back to normal. We have already had so many nice chats with people in just the first few days.

We explored downtown and enjoyed walking around Beale Street and looking at all the music clubs and memorabilia from B.B. King, Elvis, and Johnny Cash. We also stopped in the Cotton Museum and enjoyed learning about its importance in history. I can’t say that I’ve ever spent much time thinking about cotton, but it was a truly interesting museum.

On the way out of town, we stopped at the Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid, a repurposed basketball arena that is now a huge indoor attraction. I don’t even know how to describe this place. It’s a Disneyfied replica of the outdoors with a lake stocked with enormous fish, an arcade shooting gallery, two restaurants, and -oddly- a bowling alley. The upper levels house a hotel. The place was wild; I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I don’t even really like fishing, and after an hour here I was dying to go fishing. Good work Bass Pro Shops. We all enjoyed Memphis and would definitely want to come back for a longer visit in the future.

We made the short drive to Little Rock, Arkansas, and stopped for the night. The next morning, we visited the Little Rock Central High School Visitor Center and Museum, which I highly recommend. It’s a small museum, but we really enjoyed watching the videos about this historic site and all the people involved. We watched videos of interviews of the Little Rock Nine and other students at the high school. There was film footage of all the major events surrounding the integration of the school, from the students being turned away by the Arkansas State Guard and then weeks later being escorted into the school under the armed guard of Army soldiers.

We drove around downtown and the Capitol area and then stopped at the Tunnels playground and River Market. We even found the alleged “Little Rock” for which the city is named. We only spent about half a day here. Nothing really grabbed us. Had it been just Mer and me, we would have visited the Clinton Presidential Library but, since that would have been of zero interest to Graham, we skipped it.

It was only about an hour’s drive to the Garvan Woodland Gardens at the University of Arkansas in Hot Springs. I was surprised that the kids wanted to go to this and I am so glad we visited. The chapel was the primary thing I wanted to see and it was even more amazing than I expected. It is such a stunning work of art; the pictures definitely don’t do it justice. If ever in the area, this is a must-see. The gardens also had the most unique modern treehouse, a fairy garden, and unique bridges and water features throughout.

Tomorrow’s forecast calls for heavy rain all day so we will be visiting museums around Hot Springs and then driving on towards Texas to pick up where we last left off. Thank you for reading!

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