Texas Has the Best Dinos

Who would have thought to look in North Texas for dinosaurs?! Apparently, lots of people! We were up in Glen Rose, Texas for a Darling Family Reunion. Lots of fun! One of the outings was to explore the Creation Museum, which, actually was quite a disappointment. How funny is it to be driving down a rural road in Texas, to come upon Rexy here? Of course the little Darlings l-o-v-e-d it. But just down the road was DINOSAUR WORLD - a fabulous example of secular natural history marketing. We paid just over $50 for the three older darlings to get to dig in a sand box for fossils that were probably bought in bulk from China. There was also a "museum," and I use that term very loosely - I think all of the "fossils" were castings of real fossils. Dinosaur World's gift shop was double the size of the "museum." Still, it was a kitschy blast!

It was hot...very hot. The little cabin we stayed in was not a log cabin, much to the Darlings' dismay. It was actually a modified mobile home which was converted into small little efficiency rooms. Tres chic! The rooms did have window unit air conditioners, which I was very thankful to have - or so I thought. The way those units just shoot cold air straight out is so lovely. In an 8x8 foot room, it takes about ten minutes to become super cold. Of course in the pre-travel frenzy, our blankets were left behind. I slept with a towel over my face the whole night because it was so cold that it hurt to breathe. We were in that vacation hell where if we turned the a/c down, we'd swelter but if we kept it set where it was, we froze. We also got to experience the fascinating feel of both freezing and sweating at the same time. Is that even possible? Somehow, in the humidity of Texas, it is. Nothing like that fresh, sticky feeling to wake up with in the morning.

These vacations are good because they give us time to be a family together, and it also makes us really appreciate central air.