Never in a million years could I have anticipated having the time of my life in the town of Fort Stockton, Texas (population 5700). We just thought it would be a good place to catch some sleep before heading up towards Carlsbad Caverns; but two goofy fun-loving east-coasters were able to discover a fun side to this 4-stoplight town.
Before setting out to explore the town, Rob told me he wanted to take a quick shower.
While just getting the lay of the land and driving down some random roads looking for "historic Fort Stockton" we happened upon this crazy little sign. Karen felt the need for some greens and tried to have some salad. It's true what they say -- everything is bigger in Texas.
No visit to Fort Stockton would be complete without a trip to the local Wal-Mart. We each spent the best $9.88 of our lives on some cowboy hats, which proved to be just the props we needed for some photo ops. Another thing we learned about Texans on this trip -- they sure love their Texas flag, and take every opportunity to hang / display / paint the lone star.
Every town needs a mascot; Fort Stockton is no different. They proudly display their favorite 20-foot road runner in the center of town. Sadly, we did not see a 34-foot statue of Wile E. Coyote.
Karen kindly let Rob her hat, so he too could partake in the photo shoot.
Karen and her "cowboy pose" at the Trading Post.
Texas and oil -- a winning combination.
Since we were in town for Independence Day, we headed down to the field for the fireworks display. I have never seen anything like this before in my life, largely due to the illegal nature of fireworks in New Jersey. Yeah... that town of population 5,700? I'd estimate that about 5,600 showed up for fireworks, and just about all of them also brought their own truckloads of firepower along for the show.
We sat on a rock in a field surrounded by hundreds of people all setting off their own fireworks. This, of course, was in addition to the fireworks display that the town was putting on. I am not kidding when I tell you that there were 5-year-old children shooting off fireworks for the event... kids waving around sparklers... families setting off bottle rockets... husbands and wives uniting behind ground spinners and pinwheels... retired cowboys becoming children again watching their Roman candles go off...
Karen and I tried to get our toys, our digital cameras, to capture the awesomeness of the event so we could share some pictures and try to get those back home to understand the scene we experienced. I don't think anything can quite do it justice, so I'm not even going to try to post the underwhelming shots we were able to get. It was an amazing scene, one I will not forget.
I cringe as I write this, but Texas has Jersey whipped as far as 4th of July fireworks are concerned.
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