Iraan, Texas: Alley Oop Land

Alley Oop "Fantasy Land" is such a cool blast from the past! We stopped there during a day trip for a couple of hours and really enjoyed it. The museum is only open a few hours a week (it's free!), but if you can go inside, it has a lot of really neat exhibits. Outside, there's the dinosaur to climb on for pics; and several other Alley Oop attractions; a huge actual windmill blade; and a place to have a picnic.

Go check it out, especially with family who remembers the comic strip.

Kind of a cool stop -- museum wasn't open when we got there, but the gates were open. A good 15 minute stop.

Dinny the Dinosaur lives on! The park is reasonably clean, but other than climbing on the giant dinosaur for a picture, there isn't much to do. The museum was closed when I was there (on a Monday). The wind turbine prop can be seen next to the park. There are a few memorial plaques scattered throughout the park and a small monument to the Gates family.

Iraan has recently repaired, repainted and generally cleaned up the Alley Oop Museum & Fantasy Land Park and it is once again an enjoyable, clean, fun place. It's just 20 minutes off Interstate 10.

Be sure to visit the museum for some interesting history of West Texas and Iraan, ranging from prehistoric to modern times. Of note are the Native American artifacts, the V.T. Hamlin (Alley Oop's creator) information, and the petroleum industry information. This area of West Texas has recently become host to a very large wind turbine operation (converting wind energy to electricity.) Alley Oop Park exhibits a very large, impressive single blade from one of the local windmills.

We stopped by Alley Oop land and spent the night twice (coming and going!) in April of 2004. The Alley Oop part looked a little worn, but it was clean and very cool. The city park behind it was immaculate. We camped at the RV park, which was reasonably priced, clean and quiet. It was among our favorite pit stops.