There is a Holiday Inn Express not far away from VP and it's on the Loop. They have hot bkfst and microwave/frig in room.

http://www.hiexpress.com/hotels/us/en/midland/mafta/hoteldetail

There is also a La Quinta and Hampton Inn in area.

As for food by Holiday Inn Express you are close to the following:

Dickey BBQ, Texas Burger, Jack in Box, Schlotzkys (my fav), Cracker Barrell (full hot meals that you could heat up in your room), Freebirds Burritos, Double Daves Pizza, Baskin Robbins Ice Cream and my daughters fav Burgers, Fries and Cherry Pies. Her dad lives in M. and she ate there and said it was great!

Denise,

If you haven't already booked a room in Midland, you might be in for a terrible surprise. Midland is booming and has a critical housing shortage and people are living in hotels. Hotel prices for either one of the La Quintas, for example, runs $185 - $225 a night. A new Marriott opened last week and within two days they were booked solid, and one oil company has booked 40% of the rooms for the remainder of the year. The rates there are $236 a night. Crazy.

Frankly, some of the less expensive hotels are very undesireable now due to being at constant full capacity and occupancy by transient workers and associated alcohol and drug issues.

The sign in front of Value Place lists their rates at $449 a week. Its fairly new and not in a high crime area.

Anway, now that I hopefully haven't scared you off...

(btw, there is a forum for Midland)

... There are taxi's in Midland, but I'd say its rather limited. Midland/Odessa does have a bus service that's pretty good - EZRIDER. I've never ridden on it, but I know there is a route that goes around Loop 250. Midland is not pedestrian friendly. Loop 250 is a freeway with overpasses over the cross streets. There generally aren't sidewalks between the various commercial zones on the Loop and you do not want to walk across the Loop except at the cross walks.

If you rent a car, Enterprise is the best value as long as you don't start adding on upgrades. Midland is definitely not a difficult city in which to find your way around.

As far as eating, that's pretty much what people in Midland do. The list that Georgetowngal provided is very good. "Burgers, Fries and Cherry Pies" is listed in Texas Monthly as one of the best burger spots in the state, and I can well believe it (although a meal will cost around $15).

Value Place isn't really close to any restaurants. The closest place to eat would be Texas Roadhouse and its probably just under 1/4 mile from the hotel.

I hope that gets you started!

Oh, man thank you for the insight. My son in law is working there, so I am well aware of the housing shortage. For that reason, I have booked Value Place some time ago, $450 dollars for 7 nights. Then I started reading how it is primarily oil workers, and wanted to make sure it would be a safe place for a middle age woman traveling alone, with no car. All other lodging is $900 plus for the week. That is tough for me to come up with, when I will only be sleeping there at night, spending the days with my daughter. I looked at the Midland forum, but there is not much going in over there. So far I have gathered that Value Place will be primarily oil workers, fairly clean, not fancy,cannot access food by foot, has taxi service which may be sporadic, but a good transit system that will go right by my place. There is a mall fairly close, and it sounds like burgers, fries and cherry pies better be my dinner one night! Thank you all for your help, it is very much appreciated.

I'm glad I could help.

I suggest renting a car. Enterprise has the only rental that's not at the airport and they'll "pick you up" as they say.

Value Place isn't one of the local hotels that always seems to be showing up on the local news for some disturbance or other. Hopefully, most people staying at hotels know to behave themselves because if they get thrown out, they will be living out of their car.