Abilene shines as a kid-friendly destination in a new list of 12 family vacation “hidden gems” across the nation.
The travel website familyvacationcritic.com included Abilene as an under-the-radar city for a must-visit long weekend or vacation destination.
After hanging out with the city’s sculptures of Cat in the Hat, Stuart Little and other storybook characters in the downtown area, visitors “keep the story going” at the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, the website stated.
Youngsters also can experience the excitement of the Old West at Frontier Texas!, or tackle the interactive activities at The Grace Museum. The wild adventures continue at the Abilene Zoo, with an array of animals and elevated platform for guests to feed giraffes at eye level.
During the summer, a cool idea for cooling off is the city of Abilene’s Adventure Cove, with its water slide, zero-depth beach entry and lazy river.
The annual Children’s Art & Literacy Festival June 6-8 captures all the enchantment of Abilene’s title as the Storybook Capital of America. Festival activities include parade, instrument petting zoo, music, puppet theater, story time, costume contest and events with featured illustrator Peter Brown.
To view other cities on the travel list, click here.