Team Monty's Expedition: Out and About in Beaumont, TX

We had a great time in Beaumont, in part due to our host. Our friend, Kevin is a Beaumont native, so we got the insiders view of the city. He introduced us to Cafe' Del Rio, Boudins, and Zummo party sausage to name of few of the new scrumptious foods we enjoyed. He also told us of all there is to see and do in Beaumont. We barely put a dent in his to-do list! I wish we could have seen and done it all. We actually only had a couple of days left for sightseeing after celebrating Christmas for the first few days of our stay. It was cold and rainy the first few days in Beaumont, but the sun came out and we had beautiful weather for sightseeing.

Our time spent sightseeing was very productive and fun, while our first attempt at geocaching was a bust. We found the location, but never the cache. :( We did find treasures in the places we visited though, so let me share them with you now.

Fire Museum of Texas

firemuseumoftexas.org

The museum is in a fire station!

Yay... we found another kitschy treasure!
The World's Largest Fire Hydrant

Merry Christmas from the Fire Museum of Texas!

This is a GREAT museum! It tells the story of firefighting from when they used horse drawn water wagons to today's very technical mechanical equipment. They have the early equipment on display, as well as old photographs. There are stories of firemen through time, as well as specifically in Beaumont.
The museum is located in a real fire station! Admission price: FREE

Teamwork---Go Team Monty!

The kids were able to run the lights, open and close the side doors, and play with the CB.
As you can see, they also got to don firemen gear!

The second story of the building is a hands-on fire safety learning center for kids.
"Stop", Drop, and Roll

Art Museum of Southeast Texas

http://www.amset.org/

This is a nice museum and the admission is FREE. There was a very nice security guard that followed us through the exhibits. We aren't sure if he was making sure the kids didn't touch anything or if he was really lonely because there was no one else in the place but us! He knew A LOT about each piece and he shared that knowledge with us ;)

Button Ball Art
Hmmmm, in my craft room they are called clutter when left out...

Lego Bird on a Branch Art
Daniel said, "Hey, I can create that! I didn't know that Legos can be art."

A chair made out of bent spoons, with a couple of forks here and there.

Texas Energy Museum

http://www.texasenergymuseum.org

Another great museum! We learned all about how oil is located, how it's harvested, how it's made into gasoline as well as LOTS of other everyday items, and so much more. Admission: Not free

Do you know all the oil can do????

Learning about the molecular structures of various gasses.

Propane: we LOVE this one... 3 Carbons and 8 Hydrogens are what run our RV home :)

Flipping the viscocity window over to see how different oils move. Some are very thin and move quickly, others are thick and move like molasses.

Learning how they get the oil out of the ground. It ain't easy!

Everyday items made with petroleum! Who knew???
Not us!

The creepy mannequin had a screen projector face. He told tales of early prospectors. We learned so much about roughnecks and wildcatters. It was a neat mock-up of a turn of the 20th century mining operation.

I love this advertisement :) I'd love to get one... where do you get them?

Listening to the story of Spindletop from the men with the vision and passion to pursue oil, Patillo Higgins and Anthony Lucas (namesake of the Lucas Gusher at Spindletop.)

Daniel learning about vision from the four visionaries of oil discovery in Beaumont.
Wouldn't it be awesome if we could actually talk to amazing men and women in history????

We now know why there are oil refineries all over this area and what they do. There is a mock-up of a refinery in the museum that tells each production step and in what part of the refinery that it is done in.

Edison Museum

http://www.edisonmuseum.org/

Another great little museum! Admission: FREE

Looking through Thomas Edison's patents: he held 1,093!!!!!!!
Jolie said the funniest thing about this computer that they used to look at the patents.
She said, "Oh, is the type of computer that Thomas Edison used BACK IN THE DAY??" We all had a good LOL!

Jolie pulling the switch mimicking the first time electricity was turned on.
On display are Christmas trees with antique lighting through the decades on them.

This light strand is from 1900-1920s and it was NOT plugged in. I think it's a fire hazard now... and probably then, too!
Interesting fact, Christmas lights were invented by the electric company.

Morse Code machine

When we left the Edison Museum, the Google Earth car passed right by us a few times. I wonder if we made it on the street view for these roads? The kids thought this would be fabulous :)