Midland/Odessa TX Tour Guide

[Lowerleftcoast]

As a public service this ad hoc rating/review guide will provide you with most of the required, totally biased and arbitrary information necessary when travelling to Midland/Odessa for your next ASA National tournament.

Midland Texas Tour Guide Ratings

Entertainment:

(B+) Movie theaters... as if plentiful, alternative entertainment options were readily available.

(D) Exploring the countryside, marginal. After the first 379 yards you have seen it all.

(C) Drive-in movies. Yes, they exist in Midland.

(B+) Permian Basin Oil Museum, tough to keep a car load of girls attention over an extended period of time but surprisingly good for interested groups of parents

(B+) Red ant farming, an underappreciated activity, sort of; "Got 4,670,000 head out on the back 40".

(A) Midland Rockhounds baseball

(D) GWBush childhood home tour, marginal entertainment regardless of political affiliation

(C-) Commemorative Air Museum, small, a bit of a let down, exhibits are marginal, not many planes actually there.

(F) Things for kids, families, players to do in their off time: almost nothing. Watch TV in an air conditioned hotel room when not playing.



Dining out:

(B+) Fazolis (sp?) Italian food, drive through or sit down, low key, cheap, great for pasta loads. The drive through (yes, they have one) appears to be fairly quick.

(B) Corn on the cob at the field, well received.

(A) Spring Creek Cafe, friendly, lots of locals, order the onion rings for 1 and have at least 3 friends. Decent value. Domino tables in the waiting area (but seldom used as there is seldom a wait).

(B) Mexican food at non-chain fast food locales, good

(D) Sonic; grease, heat, grease, slow service, grease, marginal fast food, grease. What could be better ? (almost anything)

(Unrated) Fried Snickers at the ball field. The mental picture prevents actual consumption by a human.

(F) Buffalo Wild Wings, sports bar wannabe, horrible service, lousy food, a dump.

(B) Wendy's is a Wendy's is a Wendy's. Gets a "B" if you didn't eat at BuffaloWild Wings the day before. If you did eat at Wings the day before, Wendy's gets an "A" as you will appreciate Wendy's a lot more...

(C+) Mr. Gatti's (sp?); kind of a Chucky Cheese type place with a buffet and game room. Other hotel guests said it was a decent short term diversion for their players and was (sort of) air conditioned (so the rumor goes). The alternative is: Chucky Cheese.


At the fields:

(B+) Softball fields, good, decent sun protection, dragged only once a day, no severe crowns, all play at one location, 200 foot fences, mostly covered dugouts, short grass, restriped for most games.

(A) Counter food service by young volunteers was friendly, quick and polite. Well done.

(B+) Bathrooms at the fields, cleanliness good, considering the crowds. Volunteers did well keeping it as clean as practical.

(C) Score posting... sporadic.

(F) Bracket selection process, bizarre, absurd, but not Midlands fault.

(A) Best softball cheering section; Corona Angels, hands down.

(C+) Umps, most good, a few very, very bad. No real surprises.

(A) Weather, field operations, tourney halted/evacuated for lightening when it needed to be for public safety. Done quickly and efficiently.




Miscellaneous:

(B) Auto traffic, roads in good shape, drivers need to get acclimated to intentional head-on, no stopping, cross traffic between highway and frontage roads (lots of skid marks).

(D) Stopping at a red light is optional for the first 5 seconds in Midland. ALWAYS look left/right if you have a green light and are going straight.

(Unrated) Pickup trucks; 70-75% of the vehicles on the road, 80% Ford, 3/4 ton is a minimum. 1 ton is preferred. . Trucks WILL have a large aftermarket front bumper although actual and/or required use is not readily apparent.

(B) Gas, $3.83/gal. Good if you are from the left or right coast.

(B) Snakes beyond the fences, yes, and they are very cute from 10 feet away.

(B) Police on the highway, speed near town and you will be caught. Speed out in the boondocks and no one cares.

(F) Snow skiing.

(C) Weather, 102-107, +10 more on the fields, lightening strikes very festive.

(A) Sheriffs at the fields, Wranglers, cowboy hat, Glock, badge on belt, older, friendly and polite, but no b.s..

(A) Seems like there are more churches in Midland than people. Just about every corner has one. If you can't find one you ARE in hell.

(D) Downtown, strange, almost deserted, no foot traffic, minimal car traffic, boarded up buildings.

(C) Studio 6 stabbing incident of player parent is not surprising but tragically unfortunate. There are some "good" areas of Midland/Odessa and then there are a lot of "other" areas. Many areas are safe in daylight ONLY and the locals will tell you that.

(C+) Arriving Midland

(A) Leaving Midland

[Fasterpitch]

Very Funny...Very well thought out.....................You have just described every rural town in Texas.

The larger cities for example...Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio are just like any other major city in the US........except for LA and NYC....They are in a class of there own and very fun to be in for a tourist.

[DDsNbr1Fan]

Very good desription of the Midland experience. I might add a couple of things....

(C)- Freddie's talk at the manager's meeting, very nice person, but unless you were born and raised in the south, you may have needed a translation due to the accent.

(F)- Purchasing late night dinner for the DD at the corner Denny's, let me just say the "paying street crowd and customers" were having a convention. Scary!

(A)- Midland ASA personnel...were very friendly and accomadating and did their best to make everyone welcomed.

(A)- BBQ brisket (called brisket burritos, but looked like tacos) at the field...excellent!

(F)- Texas burritos...ordered one in two different places, same thing....ground beef wrapped in flour tortilla and smothered in melted velvetta cheese...about 10 inches long and 1 inch thick, no beans, no rice, no sauce....$9.50...priceless!

(C)- Grasshoppers the size of small airplanes...everything is bigger in Texas!

[pixsguy]

and the grasshoppers can hurt if they hit on the way up, and get your attention on the way back down too...

[Lowerleftcoast]

The brisket/burrito... things... at the barbeque... looked to me like an oversized flour taco shell with meat. Tried a couple of the various sauces and it was excellent. You are correct.

The folks at the tournament did a very good job. Pleasant people at the field check-in. No major issues, overall, well run.

I was amazed at the number of people sitting in the parking lot for a l-o-n-g time with their cars idling and the air conditioning at max.

and Midland is.... Midland. Folks there must love it because they are there.

[KT93]

Just a thing or 2 to add...

Dining Out

(A) The Barn Door is Odessa.... One of the best steaks I have ever ate & friendly service.
would have been an A+ but they were a little over whelmed with 40+... thought they would NEVER get the checks right....

(B+) Carinos in Odessa.... Food was ok but the services was GREAT... Free deserts for the girls at our second visit... The manager & our hostess even picked a movie theater & got times for us. They went well out of there way for us...


Hotel

(D-) Best Western Garden Oasis.... should have been an F but no one got stabed.
Was under construction. The manager was a total witch. No AC in the common areas. 1/2" of sawdust on everything. Scaffolding blocking most all doors. Weaking up to air nail guns at 7am on Sunday morning. Not to mention even tho we reserved 15 rooms 6 months in advance & requested one room for a meeting room they didnt have enough sence to put the meeting room(party room for the girls) between 2 team rooms & on the bottom floor. We had to listen to complaints from the other guest about the noise...

UIC

(A) Polite, OnSite & very easy to talk to & willing to explain anything we had a question about.

Umpires

(B) For the most part they knew there stuff & wasnt on a power trip.

Texas Highway Patrol

VERY willing to explain that a 65 Night speed limit meant 65 not 69...

[DDsNbr1Fan]

Clarification on my earlier message...

(F)- Texas burritos...ordered one in two different places, same thing....ground beef wrapped in flour tortilla and smothered in melted velvetta cheese...about 10 inches long and 1 inch thick, no beans, no rice, no sauce....$9.50...priceless! (YUK!, the worst burrito in So Cal was better than this Texas version!)

Add one more....we are back in So Cal and caught myself saying "y'all" to someone! Best to have what goes on in Texas, stay in Texas!

[pixsguy]

i too was fortunate to meet a texas state patrol woman upon arriving in midland at 2am...(i didnt see a a stop sign)...anyway...once she found out i was in town for the big softball, she gladly explained to me how to make a u-turn legally in texas, then how to find the main highway to get back to the hotel...and...with the best spanish pronounciation of my name ive ever heard from a blond hair,blue eyed cop, she let me off with a warning...

A+ for the texas state troopers!!

[just play]

Just a thing or 2 to add...

Dining Out

(A) The Barn Door is Odessa.... One of the best steaks I have ever ate & friendly service.
would have been an A+ but they were a little over whelmed with 40+... thought they would NEVER get the checks right....

(B+) Carinos in Odessa.... Food was ok but the services was GREAT... Free deserts for the girls at our second visit... The manager & our hostess even picked a movie theater & got times for us. They went well out of there way for us...


Hotel

(D-) Best Western Garden Oasis.... should have been an F but no one got stabed.
Was under construction. The manager was a total witch. No AC in the common areas. 1/2" of sawdust on everything. Scaffolding blocking most all doors. Weaking up to air nail guns at 7am on Sunday morning. Not to mention even tho we reserved 15 rooms 6 months in advance & requested one room for a meeting room they didnt have enough sence to put the meeting room(party room for the girls) between 2 team rooms & on the bottom floor. We had to listen to complaints from the other guest about the noise...

DINING OUT (Odessa)
(C) Ajuua's Restaurant... Right next to the Barn Door in Odessa, had better authentic food in California, but you could not beat the Happy Hour prices

(A) McAllister's Deli... Huge baked potato's with lots of fillings. Try the Pot Roast Spud, a full dinner in itself. Also famous for their Sweet Tea (per their cups)

(A) Rockin Q... Advertised as the Best BBQ in the Basin. Reasonably priced and who can complain about All You Can Eat Ribs on Thursday

(C) Cracker Barrel (Midland)... Would have gotten an A, but a local newscast with the headline of a Beetle being found in a Open Faced Roast Beef sandwich does alot to downgrade your score

HOTEL
(D) MCM Elegante... Noted as being "the only full service hotel in Odessa". I guess full service does not really mean much when I have stayed in a HI Express and received more "full service". How'd you like the same 6 items for a week at your breakfast buffet?

MERCHANDISE
(D) Caps sold at the field... None of the caps even mentioned TX or Midland originally, new shipment finally made it with Midland on some. The flex fit mesh cap had the worst color choices for the letters and you can barely make it out.

(B) Permian High School... Go MOJO!!! For you Friday Night Lights fans, there wasn't enough black and white shirts and caps with the Panther or the MOJO logo.

[VictoryFreak]

What's up Valley Stompers?

Victory USA Parent here. Had a good time chilling with you guys in the lobby. Hope you all made it============Wait, wait!!! Hope YA'LL made it home safe. Good luck on the upcoming fall season.