Gary called it the scenic route to Lake Hideaway. It took twenty minutes longer than going on the interstate, but it was so well worth it. You can since the struggles of the small towns that pepper the side roads. But at the same time you cheer their courage and determination.
On the way home from Hideaway, we decided to stop in Grand Saline. Many, many, many years ago we had visited Grand Saline with our boys. I remembered something about a Salt Palace.
Well, it wasn’t the Salt Palace I remembered. I found out that there had been two previous Salt Palaces. The other Salt Palaces had been made entirely of salt – donated by the Morton Salt mines in Grand Saline.
“Why did they have to replace the Salt Palaces,” you ask?
“What does salt do when it rains?”
“Dissolves,” says you.
“Correct” (ding, ding, ding and applause)
These are the salt “stones” that cover the present day Salt Palace. Some people actually lick these stones – not me. These salt “stones” have also suffered from rain damage, but the people of Grand Saline are working to protect them with awnings. I’m here to tell you life is a classroom. You can not imagine all I learned in little Grand Saline.
The historical marker in front of the Salt Palace remembers native son of Grand Saline and world famous aviator, Wiley Post.
Inside the Salt Palace is a small museum displaying mining artifacts and pictures.
I enjoyed looking at the vintage Morton Salt collectibles. 
Look at this. This is one giant piece of salt.
In some of the literature we were given, it was mentioned that the “salt that could be mined from this mine (with modifications) going to a depth of 4,000 feet could amount to approximately 3,791,508,184,000 tons.” Oh, my! That is almost 4 BILLION (sorry to scream, but…) tons of salt in Grand Saline (lives up to its name). “Considering that 24,239,750 tons of salt was produced in the United States during 1978, the Grand Saline mine could supply the entire country for thousands of years.”
But wait, there is more to see or rather taste in Grand Saline.
As we were leaving the Salt Palace, the museum lady suggested we cross the highway to visit Nutty’s.
On the front door was this cute wreath decorated with their peanut butter jars
Inside Nutty’s there was this poster on the wall, and it caught my attention. The peanut butter lady mentioned that Rachel Ray’s magazine had tested and tasted a bazillion jars of peanut butter (Okay, it was just 600 different types of peanut butters, but who’s counting?), and only six peanut butters were chosen to be featured in the magazine. Nutty’s won for the Best Honey Peanut Butter. Flavored peanut butters are big, and you can find at least twelve different flavors at Nutty’s. White chocolate chip is their best seller. I would like to try the Extreme Crunch. I think it has trail mix in it.
It is interesting that in a little town about an hour’s drive from Dallas, Texas, there is this huge salt mining operation run by Morton Salt, and the world famous Nutty’s Peanut Butter. If you are in the neighborhood, I highly recommend visiting Grand Saline.
Blessings to you and yours,
FYI: This Saturday, November 10, 2012 Nutty’s is attempting to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records by making the World’s Largest Peanut Butter Cookie. Should be fun.