Meow Wolf in Grapevine, One of the Trippiest Experiences in Texas

Texas can be full of unique experiences both for visitors and for natives. That experience can be had in your hometown or could be just a road trip away. Over the weekend, me and the family took a road trip to Grapevine to visit a place called Meow Wolf. It's an attraction that is attached to the Grapevine Mills Mall. I had never heard of it but my fiancé's daughter wanted to check it out for her birthday weekend. I have never been more confused and fascinated at the same time as I was exploring Meow Wolf.

What I Thought it Was

So when the conversation came up that she (fiancé's daughter) wanted to tour Meow Wolf, I had to look it up just to find out what it was since I had never heard of it. The description I came away with was an interactive art museum. Not a big deal, I've done these before and they can be really cool like the Van Gough Experience we did a couple of years ago. So when we arrived on Saturday (August 3), that's I was expecting to walk into.

Oh boy...was I wrong.

We got a brief introduction before entering then it was time to check it out. The first thing we walk into is a front yard of a two story house with a garden on the left. You can see inside both stories of the house and a ton of people just milling around looking at stuff. Okay, cool. We check out the garden first and over hear some people saying we need to find these clues.

Then we need to solve a mystery.

Then we need to investigate the house to help solve the mystery.

What in the world did I get myself into?

I'll be honest, I was a bit overwhelmed. I tracked down one of the guides and said "I thought this was just an interactive art museum. What exactly are we doing here?" She was very nice and explained that, yes, you could walk through it like it was nothing more than an interactive art museum. But you could also search for clues, or "Brain Beans," that would help you solve the mystery of a missing boy.

When you find one of those Brain Beans, you would text the hashtag to a phone number then get a clue back with an odd picture attached. We were told that there is 16 Brain Beans to find. We only found seven or eight of them.

Organized Chaos

There is no linear path to follow inside the house. You just go from room to room to try and find whatever it is you think you're looking for. There were hidden passageways in a fireplace or in a living room closet that lead into literal crawl spaces. Those would come out in a room that can best be described as another dimension. You would follow that pathway to another oddity of a room followed by another oddity of a room.

One room that really tripped me out is referred to as The Watermelon Room. The walls are painted a bright red with black dots to represent the seeds. At one end is what looks like a hallway but is nothing more than an illusion that becomes a dead end. That's me at the dead end below:

Watermelon Room Dead End - Amber Haynes

Don't Get Separated

We ventured into another room that was a dead end, at least I thought it was a dead end, so I exited, because it was getting a little crowded, and went back down the hallway to wait on my fiancé and her daughter to come back out. After a while, I didn't see them so I went back in the dead end room and they weren't there. That's when I discovered the hidden back door. I went through but didn't find them. After calling and trying to figure out their location, we reconnected after about 10 minutes or so.

Moral of that story is don't separate from your group because you will lose each other.

After about two hours of exploring, we decided our time in Meow Wolf was done. We didn't solve the mystery but I don't think anyone did. It seemed the fun of that house was just exploring and seeing all the weird stuff there was to check out.

My Overall Thoughts

I have never been more confused and more fascinated at the same time as I was inside Meow Wolf. We passed another couple and talked with them for a minute. The man was just as overwhelmed as I was. The best description I had for him was: "Someone was on some serious drugs when they designed this place. I need to know what those drugs are and avoid them at all costs." Having said that, if you want a trippy, and very unique experience to do during a weekend, head to Grapevine and check out Meow Wolf. You'll have to get tickets ahead of time at meowwolf.com.