Kelley & Deborah take the kids on a Grand Adventure, Part 1

In August, with summer vacation quickly waning, Mom & I decided to take a road trip. Originally we were going to take the kids to Mt. Rushmore, but with the escalation of gas prices we set our sights on sites in Texas (hehe, couldn't resist). Now the thing to know about me & Mom is that we travel well together, and we love road trips. We don't really care about the destination, because we can find something to do nearly anywhere, it is more the trip that we look forward to. So with this in mind, we decided to take the kids out West, West Texas that is. Our itinerary was roughly Monaghans, Midland, and then loop back around through Abilene, and then down the back way into San Antonio. Not the most exciting tour, but you would not believe the things we saw!
Firstly in Monaghans we saw sand. Yup, that sums up Monaghans. Oma bought the kids a sled (for our Northern friends, we Texans prefer to sled down sand), but alas the gift store no longer carried wax. This made getting down the dunes a bit difficult, but the kids gave it a good college try before giving up.

Next we headed to Midland. We used to live in Midland in the early 80's, and it was fun to visit our old haunts. It was a nice community, and we had a great dinner downtown! In the morning we took the kids to a park that my parents used to take me & mel when we were little, and it was just as fun as I remembered it being. Unfortunately the park attractions are made out of metal, so you have to get there early! We let the kids burn off some energy at the park before we headed to Odessa.


In Odessa, we visited the American Airpower Heritage Museum dedicated to WWII pilots. The museum housed original plane nose art, WWII artifacts, and lots of restored planes. We spent a lot of time at this museum, and it was well worth the stop.

Next we went on to visit some rather surprising attractions in Odessa. Did you know that there is a Stone Henge replica made out of limestone in Odessa? Or how about that Odessa is home to a replica of the Globe Theater? I didn't know either!!! But it was really neat to visit these spots out in the middle of nowhere. Just goes to show that there is nothing that oil money can't buy! Well now I can check that off of my "Things to See with the Kids", and I didn't even have to take them to England!
I don't want to give all the fun things away on one post, so stay tuned for "Fun in Abilene"!