Things to Do in Stephenville

Since 1952, the family-operated lot at The Brazos Drive-in Theatre has invited carloads of movie-lovers to kill their engines, tune their radios to 89.1 FM, and recline as far as their seats allow for the evening’s double features. The historic theatre is the last of its kind in North Texas, and was almost obliterated near to its 50th anniversary when a tornado rampaged through the lot, ripping half of the screen apart and saving the audience from a Rob Schneider film. Refurbished to its former glory, the screen now lights up against the darkening sky to show recently run blockbusters.

Total Driving Experience's skilled instructors teach teenagers essential accident-avoidance techniques through simulated real-life driving scenarios. During Day 1 of the Skills Teen Driving School, novice drivers with a valid learner's permit and up spend six hours behind the wheel, practicing challenging maneuvers on a dry obstacle course, skid pad, and rush-hour-themed bouncy castle. Instructors ride with students to offer tips on dealing with tailgaters, handling skidding, and harnessing the stopping power of cars' ABS systems. Each 20- to 30-student session includes a scrumptious lunch and awards participants a certificate of completion that may be used toward discounts with some car-insurance providers or as a makeshift screensaver for a computer monitor.

Since age 3, Dana Bailey has been twirling to her own beat, progressing from childhood cha-chas to appearances in promotions for Pepsi and JC Penney. After studying under instructors in California and New York City, Dana now offers pintsize patrons the same opportunity to get a head start in the performing arts with child and teen dance classes. She enlists working industry pros to wrangle kids as young as 2.5 in tap, ballet, and tumbling classes atop pliable wood and marley floors.

The boys' tap, jazz, and hip-hop classes accommodate a demographic often overlooked by the dance industry and prepare a studio team for local and national performances. Instructors regularly glean pointers from top national choreographers to craft classes such as Teen Hip Hop, which equips students with basic moves and combos that, much like the prom held outside the Grammys, are set to a soundtrack of current hits.

Set to scratch through to a new era as part of the North American Baseball League, the Cats slug and pitch their way into the 2012 season when it opens with an eight-game home stand on May 23. The perennial playoff-contending ball club joins the Southern Division of the NAL after a successful run through the American Association, where they hoisted back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007. This season, former TCU Horned Frog Shelby Ford dons Cats' colors for the first time. A third-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2006, Ford is expected to anchor the middle of the lineup while scooping up any grounders and tumbleweeds that roll his way at shortstop.

The National Cowgirl Museum honors the tough-as-nails cow-lasses of the American West with a comprehensive collection of more than 6,000 photographs and 5,000 artifacts, as well as both traveling and permanent exhibits. A Hall of Fame gallery shares the stories of 200 honorees, including Annie Oakley, Patsy Cline, and Sandra Day O'Connor, while artifacts such as costumes, boots, saddles, letters, and jackalope lassos span 150 years of cowgirl history. Exhibits are organized to display different aspects of the lives of women in the West. Into the Arena honors women riders with rodeo memorabilia and a life-sized bronco model, allowing mounters to simulate the thrill of the rodeo. Claiming the Spotlight takes a look at the entertainers, actors, and country-western musicians whose tales of rootin' and shootin' injected the American consciousness with nostalgia for the open prairie and dangerously full tobacco spittoons.

Fly-A-Sim gives humans wings and shows them how to use them. But these wings aren't covered with feathers or drenched with barbecue sauce—they're virtual and perfect for soaring across an imaginary stratosphere. A certified flight instructor begins each simulated journey with a lesson on how aircraft fly. Afterward, participants board a comfy jet simulator that trains real pilots for a solo flight in the captain's seat. Realistic sounds and visuals conjure a rush of excitement as virtual pilots execute basic maneuvers such as takeoffs and landings. For most simulations, the pilot-in-training can bring along a friend to test-drive the plane or point out clouds that look like Nietzsche's mustache.