Think of this is as cheap children's museum in your backyard. It's an old school building, and…read moreevery classroom has a ton of activities for elementary and under. It's not super clean, or super new, as it runs mostly on volunteers and donations, but if you're looking for an indoor place to take your kid(s) for some imaginative playtime with role playing, art, building, and a little bit of being active, then this is a great option. $5 per kid and $2 per adult (cheaper for grandparents and under-twos).

My kids love the Imagination Station! Originally it was in Joshua but has moved to an old school…read morebuilding in Cleburne. It still very much looks like a school inside but all of the classrooms have been changed into themed playrooms. They have a room with a big sand pit, an arts & crafts room, a music room, a black light room with lots of fun glow in the dark play, a Lowes construction room, a stuffed animal hospital, and a party room. It's a little small and a bit dated but it's extremely affordable and my kids have a ton of fun. They have picnic tables outside so you could easily pack a lunch and spend a whole day there. Check out their Facebook page for upcoming events. Prices $2.00 Adults 18+ $5.00 Children 2-17 $3.00 Children 12 months-23 months $1.00 Grandparents

What a cool Dino stop nearby to the state park and full of exhibits and fun touristy exhibits and…read moresouvenirs and gifts of all kinds for kids and adults of all ages. What a cool and kitschy spot!

What a neat place to visit for dinosaur fans! We spent a little over 3 hours here with my almost 2…read moreyear old. She had a blast looking at all the dinosaurs. I was shocked how few I recognized. Many dinosaur books do not talk about some of the ones here. I wish they had a book about all of the books you saw during the visit. I would definitely buy it! Most of the books at the gift shop were cartoons or with just a few pictures and a lot of facts. Some fun little things: feeding koi fish on the path, some benches in the shade to eat a snack while walking, two large playgrounds with many picnic tables and a museum to look more facts about dinosaurs. I do wish they would tell us more about the dinosaur prints found in dinosaur state valley park. Many dinosaurs here were found in Canada, Asia, Europe, or Africa. Only a few were around here. I did love to learn about the only one found in a cow farm in Kansas! Overall, it was a great trip, and I would recommend to any dinosaur fans! If you come on a day, 80+ degrees, it will be hot, so bring lots of water, hats, sunscreen, fans, and cool clothes. There is some shade on the trail to get some relief. There is a changing table in the bathrooms with 4 stalls, so it's not too long of a wait when lines form.

I have been to dozens of rural towns museums throughout Texas. This one though is the Diamond in…read morethe group. On our recent trip to Gatesville we found this gem. Its claim to fame is that it has over 6,000 different spurs, which is the Worlds largest and part of a 10,000 spur collection. You will see spurs that date back to the early 1800, along with Jackie Kennedy's spurs and those worn by Poncho Villa. This place has two floors, housing thousands of rare antiques and artifacts. It is huge, covering a City block with unique artifacts, to include Native arrowheads, millstones and clothing. It is very tastefully laid out with an antique soda shop, a historic school classroom, a transportation section displaying Ford Model T, a full scale log cabin/jail and numerous antique farm equipment, including a huge old case tractor and other early farm artifacts on displays. You will see a full scale doctor's office, a dentist office and partial hospital, displaying artifacts dating back to the early 1800. This is the single most impressive place I've visited in years. We spent two hours in it and didn't see it all. This is a must see museum. It has a gift shop loaded with very interesting merchandise for sale.

My daughter & I visited this lovely place while driving to Gatesville on an errand. It was such a…read moreneat hidden gem. I say hidden because it does not look that big from the outside, but has a lot inside. It was so nice to have visited on their first day of reopening due to getting a new elevator (it has two stories). The volunteers were so sweet and offered up their knowledge on the displays, which was truly appreciated. There is so much history here including the Lloyd and Madge Mitchell world's largest spur collection and stories behind these extraordinary people. I appreciated the diverse history in the museum. There were so many displays and narratives posted, that it would take all day to read through it all. If you appreciate Texas History, it's definitely worth experiencing this museum. I'd like to pop in again if I get the chance to read all of the narratives that I didn't have a chance to get to last time. The hours were: Wednesday - Saturday 10 am to 4 pm.

Most authentic creation evidence I've ever seen. Man walked with dinosaurs pre-noadic flood and…read morethey can prove it. Many exhibits and science as well as biblical evidence.

A very interesting experience filled with fossils, old scrolls, memories and even scientists doing…read moreresearch on fossils as we observed! One of the most fascinating things about this museum is the fossilized foot prints of what would have been considered the earliest known humans. They were massive and are said to have stood over 8.5 feet tall. I've always wanted to know what made beings grow so large and tall back then? Anywho, see that along with the bones of some of the largest amphibious and land based beings were a sight to be see in fairytale books.

A little spicier than Dr Salt, and a little better paid than Nurse Pepper…read more This is a lovely little treat, soda shop, nice place for kids to come and visit. Not to be confused with the actual product which I don't love. It's also a museum believe it or not! Dr. Pepper is a weird drink, and one which never really appealed to me for various reasons. It's not bad but it's not great. Like I said just weird. So when I first used to drink it, it tasted like medicine and chemicals, and honestly if I'm being straight up with you it still does. It's a bit like root beer but fresh homemade root beer has something special about it, a bottle of Dr P doesn't. They also make Snapple. Oh snap. Ple. Snapple used to be one of my favourite drinks in the world. I still like it quite a lot. The Lemon Tea was the first one I tried, age 16 in Washington DC wandering around at 7am in a bad part of town, but the Lemonade Tea took its place for awhile... I love both still but I guess I'm back on the lemon now though I used to drink this weekly and now it's less than annually. A lot of the flavours that I used to enjoy are now just bad, like Kool Aid, they probably always were but I was young and didn't know better, but I do think they have some good things going on, especially with the tea flavors. They're little on the sweet side, but you can still taste that tea and I do appreciate that. I have to give them a high rating for introducing me to lemon tea and being very symbolic of my love affair with America from the 1990s that never ended. They'd score 4 if not for that nostalgia factor.

the flavor is great however the soda seemed a bit like it had weak carbonation. the glass bottles…read moreare nice.

I We were at the museum on Sunday July 31 2023 and really enjoyed our tour. Our tour guide was…read moreAndrew and he knew a thorough history of all the buildings on site and also about the families associated with them. This is a very under appreciated museum.

We recently visited this museum during the hours it was to be open. Unfortunately the office and…read moreall buildings were locked and no one was there. We enjoyed walking the grounds and taking pictures. Not sure why no one was there.

We were thoroughly surprised by the Mayborn Museum. It looks small but it offers so much for kids…read more The first floor is the museum and the second floor is interactive and mainly for kids. We spent the whole day here except going out for lunch as they offer re-entry. Check out the Design Lab and Lights and Sounds areas. We had the most fun there. Also, there are scavenger hunts all over the museum so keep your eyes open for those.

This is my second visit to the Mayborn Museum. It is an excellent museum for children of all ages…read more My earlier visit was about 4 years ago. Many of the interactive exhibits that would interest younger folks has been updated. Interactive exhibits is a big part of the museum exhibits. Very educational and fun. There is a room for Space X rocket technology and the relationship of Baylor University and Space X. Well worth a visit for all!

This car museum was very small, but really well done very professional displays dioramas and…read moreexhibits. They had some interesting cars a lot of Ford products some obscure Ford products from the 60s, as well as the ubiquitous muscle cars and 59 Cadillac convertible. The museum also had a second floor with baseball cards and memorabilia, however they have an unhealthy obsession with the Texas Rangers. Did I mention it was 45 minutes outside of Abilene, which is already outside of many cities. My only complaint is the overboard proselytizing.

It's amazing what you can find in a small town. Woody's dear wife built this gorgeous car museum in…read morehonor of her beloved husband. Saturday was their first annual car show. It was a HUGE success! So many beautiful cars showed up, they had to expand to the lot across the street. Yes, I saw plenty of cars I would love to have, and plenty I couldn't afford! The new addition to the museum is finished, and it's beautiful. If you're ever in Cross Plains, Texas you need to stop here. You'll love it, and entrance is free!

We are a great experience at Mayborn Science Theater. We brought our 3 young boys. The ticket…read moreprices are very reasonable. We loved learned about space. It isn't traditional, as you have to buy tickets in person. There are no food or drinks aloud in the theater. And you want to sit near the top, or in the last three rows for the best views. The 360 degree theater was a fun, educational, and memorable outing.

We did the Queen laser light show! It was fun! We really enjoy the show! I plan on returning…read moreagain.

We went to the Mammoth National Monument for the 4th of July. What initially attracted us to the…read moresite was that it was a free activity to do for part of the day. Upon arriving to the site, you find a small gift shop and a booth set up to collect admission fees. I quickly double checked that the activity was free for the day since that what we all had seen advertised on their website. When I addressed this with the ranger, who was attending the station, he brushed us off saying that it was a separate ammenity fee and that the park was always free to enter... Interesting. I asked what the separate amenities were and couldn't get a straight answer, we were led to believe this was for some sort of tour in the park, but that was okay because we planned to walk around ourselves and didn't need a tour guide or anything. Come to find out, you can't see the main attraction without paying this "amenity fee," which normally would not be a big deal, but the advertising on the website coupled with the inadequate explination by the ranger led our group to believe the whole park and attraction would be free on that day. Fast forward, we decided to pay the fee to see the mammoths and dig site. In and of itself, the site was neat. We heard speeches from two different rangers about the history and what had been found in the area and what they were currently working on. The only other downside was that the speeches were very biased and rehearsed, drawing conclusions without definite evidence to back it up - such as exactly how and when the mammoths died. The presentation would have been so much better if only the facts were presented themselves and the conclusions were stated more clearly as hypothesis since there is no real way to know 100% the conclusions which were drawn.

As a National Park enthusiast, I was really excited to learn this site wasn't too far from my…read morefriend's house and so I was ecstatic to visit Waco Mammoth National Monument while in Texas. I'm also glad I happened to bring my National Park passport (you just never know!) Anyway, Waco Mammoth is definitely one of the more unusual units of the National Park System I've visited but also worth the visit!!! The history behind the site is fascinating. After two men discovered bones in 1978, researchers from Baylor University and other institutions began excavating the area and quickly realized they had uncovered something incredible! More and more fossils were found and in 2015 my guy President Obama established the site as an official unit of the National Park System. Though, one thing visitors should know ahead of time is that even though this is a National Park Service site, our America the Beautiful passes do NOT work here. General entry to the park grounds is free, but there is a separate fee to enter the dig shelter because it is operated in partnership with the City of Waco to help support preservation efforts. The actual dig shelter is absolutely the highlight of the experience, though you'll need to join a guided tour led by a docent. Hopefully you end up with one who is especially knowledgeable and enthusiastic because that really makes the experience come alive. I loved seeing the nation's first and only recorded evidence of a nursery herd of Colombian Mammoths from the Ice Age! So neat. At least 19 mammoths were discovered and the jury (err, scientists) are still out on how exactly these mammoths came to be trapped at this site/the reasoning for their passing. Anyway, this is a fascinating stop and absolutely worth visiting if you're in the Waco area, especially if you enjoy history, science, paleontology, or just visiting National Park units. It's not a full-day destination by any means, but it's definitely educational, memorable, and offers something very different from the typical national park experience!