I have an uncle who is now in Texas. He is in a place called Midland which is
1.30 hours from Houston by air. Roy uncle and his wife Laura had come to receive
me at the airport. His son David greeted me at home. Midland has a specialty.
Pres. Bush and his dad both come from this small oil rich city. The whole city
is just like the regular Texas landscape ie plain flat. There are oil wells and
refineries on either side of the road.
Almost
all the photos were taken inside and near my uncles house. The one above and
this one shows the view from the balcony of his house.Together with its nearby
neighbor Odessa, Midland is at the very heart of west Texas oil country,
the Permian Basin. Oil wealth paid for a number of the finer attractions in both
cities. In Midland, the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, a highly
successful interpretation of the geology and history of oil and oil exploration.
The most complete collection of flyable World War II combat aircraft is on display at Midland International Airport. The vintage aircraft belong to the Texas-based Confederate Air Force, which was started by a group of World War II pilots who have been collecting and restoring vintage aircraft since 1957. The attached American Airpower Heritage Museum focuses on various aspects of aerial combat during the war, including an interesting exhibit of the artwork that decorated the nosecones of the planes.
While you're in Odessa (named by Ukrainian immigrants for the Black Sea city), be sure to see the Globe of the Great Southwest at Odessa College, an exact replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (catch a performance if you can). The Presidential Museum documents the history of the tenants at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A stately mansion from the 1930s houses the Museum of the Southwest, featuring Southwestern art and archaeological artifacts.
Odessa's Meteor Crater, the second-largest in the U.S., which is about 500 ft/150 m in diameter was created about 20,000 years ago by a falling meteorite. Since then, it has been filled almost to the top by wind-deposited dirt. There's a nature trail around the site. Another interesting geological sight is Monahans Sand hills State Park, about 35 mi/50 km southwest of Odessa, an eerily beautiful 4,000-acre/1,620-hectare area of sand dunes.