Striking a balance between work and play is something everyone strives for. And when it’s time to play, lots of things factor into how that time should be spent. I know I’ve repeatedly said how much I like free things to do. We’ve found, if you plan it right, you can get LOTS of fun for free. Our last 3 day trips are great examples of frugal fun!
DAY TRIP #1 – The Salt Palace – Grand Saline, Texas
Grand Saline, Texas is home to one of the largest salt mines in the US. The underground salt dome is 1 1/2 miles wide and over 4 miles deep, yes, I said MILES. In the late 1890’s, there were several salt producing companies. Around 1920 The Grand Saline Salt Company acquired them all and later became known as Morton Salt. By 1930, they were mining over 500 tons of salt daily. The building which houses the salt museum has the distinction of being the only building in the world built entirely of salt blocks…
Inside is a neat collection of Morton Salt memorabilia…
Morton stopped doing mine tours in the 1960’s. but there was a 20 minute movie showing some of the history and the mining operation. The cost to visit – nada! But donations are accepted.
DAY TRIP #2 – Grapefest, Grapevine, Texas
We chose to head over to Grapevine on Thursday because…wait for it…it was free admission day! Score!! There was free parking and a free shuttle. Every year Grapefest highlights different regions. This year it was wines from the Finger Lakes Region of New York and Canadian ice wines. Several years ago, Steve and I did the Seneca Lake wine tour, so we were already familiar with a few of the wineries. Of course that didn’t prevent me from sampling their goods.
Historic downtown Grapevine would have been worth the visit even without Grapefest, from the train depot…
To the arts…
But, it really was about the wine…
DAY TRIP #3 – The Eiffel Tower – Paris, Texas
You don’t have to travel to France to see the Eiffel Tower. You do, however, have to go to Paris. In our case, Paris, Texas. This was another cool Atlas Obscura find.
Right next to the tower is the Red River Valley Veterans Memorial…
The memorial is only partially completed, but it is really well done.
So, what are we gong to do with all the money we saved by finding free day trips? Well, you’ll find out next week!
The Wandering RVer 
The Eiffel tower is so….Texas! Love the cowboy hat. 🙂 The veterans memorial is beautiful–some of my favorite sites we’ve visited are memorials such as this. You travel my style–I love to find the free things (usually geocaching brings me places to I wouldn’t have known about). Great post and ideas for places to explore the next time we are in the area. Dawn
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I love how you are finding all of these free things to do. On our trip to Ireland we found some of these lesser known gems as well. Often talking to locals has been the way we have found the information but I do love Atlas Obscura too. As to the building of salt blocks does it have special protection from rain? I am visualizing a very salty soup in inclement weather. 🙂
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There isn’t any protection for the blocks which is part of why the building has been rebuilt 3 times.
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Well that certainly makes sense.
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