Texas Energy Museum

Beaumont, Texas

There's plenty of wind and sun in The Lone Star State, but this museum's five principal exhibit areas -- Formation, Exploration, Drilling, Refining, Spindletop -- make it clear that "Texas Energy" is another way to say "oil." Interactive exhibits and a few face-projected talking dummies enliven the world of petroleum science, and make us love the magic liquid that propels our cars even more than we do already, if such a thing is possible.

Outside of the museum stands a statue of four slightly blobby and misshapen businessmen, green with age (rather than green with sustainable technologies). Titled "Men of Vision," it's dedicated to Vic, Sol, Ben, and Nate Rogers. Oddly, they were not local oil industry barons, but the founders of a Texas optical company and backers of Las Vegas casinos.