" The answer to that is probably, NO! Unless someone is coming to visit family or it's a big holiday, I think people go to other places for a vacation. Or, they don't have a desire to watch pump jacks and play in the dirt!  I personally like living in an area that is not a huge vacation draw to travelers. This provides us a chance to get away and see new places.

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Here are five reasons why Midland/Odessa is not a prime vacation spot:

1. Water! We have no water, meaning no lakes, no beaches, or rivers. The closest watering hole is two or more hours away.

2. We have dirt! I don't mean beautiful sandy beaches, I mean dirt! Brown or red dirt that gets everywhere. Since it doesn't rain much and the wind blows like crazy, everything is constantly dusty.

3. It's hot! You all know what I mean when I say it's hot. In the summer we are pushing temps of around 100 or more. Then when the wind blows and it's 100 or more, it feels like you are standing in front of an open oven door.

4. No major attractions. We have little things to do here but no major attractions. We don't have an amusement park, water park, or even a state park.

5. Lack of Scenery! Unless you enjoy looking at mesquite bushes and pump jacks, we definitely lack scenery. We have hardly any trees and a whole lot of dirt. On a positive note, we do have beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

We may don't be the most aesthetically provocative attraction, but we do live in a place that we can get away from for a little while.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli

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