We picked a park just off the interstate. We have learnt to be careful with parks close to the interstate, the noise of trucks roaring past at all hours of the night is not good. We pulled up, listened for the road noise, not too bad, so booked 3 nights. The extra bonus was free coffee and doughnuts in the morning. Always a good opportunity to talk to the locals and other travellers.
We checked out the local attractions, and as usual there was a museum. This one had been recommended to us as a 'must see' so even though we were a little hesitant we headed off to check it out. We also heard that there was a local ice hockey match on, the Amarillo Bulls against Corpus Christi so we penciled that in.
On the way to the museum we saw the signs for the Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It is hailed as being the Grand Canyon of Texas and as we were considering to make this our next stop we ditched the museum idea and headed for the canyon. Pulling such a big 5th wheeler sometimes makes it difficult to get to some places and we had read that the entrance to the park included a very steep gradient down to the camping grounds so this gave us the opportunity of checking it out.
The famous Texas Longhorn at the Park entrance
There is an entry fee payable at all Texas State Parks. Thanks to the good advice of our friends Chuck and Ceil, we purchased an annual pass in Galveston (seems so long ago) . We have well and truly recovered the initial outlay of $70. The drive into the canyon begins on a high plain and then descends quite quickly - once again just beautiful country! There are a number of camping grounds within the canyon, some primitive and some with full hook ups. We checked out all of the campgrounds, spoke to Shirley (the campground host) and picked out 'our site' which had great views down into the canyon. We checked with the rangers office and said we would be back tomorrow.
We headed back to Amarillo , (too late for the museum now!!) , via the Big Texan Steak Ranch, another Route 66 icon, which advertises "free steak" . Nothing in this world is free, we all know that - the catch was that you had to eat a 72 ounce (2 kilograms to our Aussie and Canadian friends!) within an hour! Bit too much of a challenge for us but there were quite a number of names on the 'honour board'. The restaurant was fitted out just like an old time saloon including a massive gift store filled to capacity with Route 66 souvenirs.
Another Route 66 Icon
Not the 2kg steak but the smaller 500g one for us
Dinner done, off to the hockey - a mere 10 minutes drive away. Unlike our Dallas ice hockey experience there was free parking right out front of the stadium. When purchasing our tickets we were, as is quite normal and usual here in the USA, welcomed and thanked for coming to America. The cashier then proceeded to tell us that there was a big storm coming (now known as Rocky) and that there would be a snow dump of about 8 inches in the Amarillo region. Oh no, here we go again!
Ring side seats at the hockey
We have never really been ice hockey fans until now - what a great game! Before this game started they rolled out the red carpet and swore in a group of local people who had enlisted into the USA Airforce. The whole stadium stood and cheered. As always we are amazed at the patriotism the Americans have.
As we have learned, it is really important to keep your eye on the game - and in particular the puck. It flew into the crowd no less than 10 times, once hitting one of the game commentators in the side of the head. There was no shortage of ice around to put on the place of impact!
It was a great game with quite a number of altercations between the opposing team players. Tempers were hot! Corpus Christi won the game by one goal. Victory had, the team skated off the rink, except for one player who was left to collect the teams equipment from the ice. The Bulls players took this opportunity to revenge their loss and set upon this lone opponent. If it was not for the umpires this lone guy would have been history.
Game done it was now time to get home, get serious and check out the weather channel. The cashier was right - big storm expected to hit Amarillo on Sunday afternoon. Decision time - do we ride it out or do we head south? Local chat over donuts the next morning confirmed our thinking, to stay could mean being stranded here for quite a number of days. This also meant that our plans to visit Palo Duro Canyon would be voided until another time. A quick check of the map and we decided on a place called Roswell, we might even find out if the truth is out there!
Before we hit the road we had just one more quick tourist thing to do - a visit to the Cadillac Ranch.
Not like in the brochures, empty spray cans lay everywhere at Cadillac ranch
That done! Roswell here we come!
- Posted by RnR on their IPad
Location:Amarillo Texas
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