Amarillo sits at the Top of Texas in the middle of The Golden Spread. The once Helium Capital of the World is closer to the capitals of five other states than it is to its own. Check this out...
Distance from Amarillo to:
- Santa Fe, NM- 281 mi.
- Oklahoma City, OK - 260 mi.
- Denver, CO - 421 mi.
- Topeka, KS - 432 mi.
- Cheyenne, WY - 445 mi.
- Austin, TX - 491 mi.
I don't want to say that Amarillo is in the middle of nowhere, but when the closet big town to you is Lubbock, you are Officially In The Middle of Nowhere. Honestly, it's not that bad. Amarillo is a fine town and a nice place to live. I know. I have lived there. Hell, even Oprah has been there. The first European to see what is now Amarillo was
Francisco Coronado in 1541, when the area was home to the Comanches. Coronado also was the first European to set eyes on one of the most stunning vistas in Texas (and that's saying a lot)...
Palo Duro Canyon. Cattle have played a major factor in the history of Amarillo and some of the ranches in the region were bigger than some New England
states. As a matter of fact, the
JA Ranch founded by Charles Goodnight in 1877 is still in operation today. Other nearby attractions include the World Famous
Cadillac Ranch and the magnificent
Lake Meredith, where Fish.Fear.Me.I can't, in good conscience, write about Amarillo and not mention
The Big Texan Steak House, home of the
FREE 72 oz. steak (if eaten within 1 hour). That's over
four pounds of steak! There's lots to do in and around Amarillo and on a long drive it's a great stopping off point to spend the day and see the sights. Palo Duro Canyon and Lake Meredith are
must sees. I have visited every place in town mentioned in this post and I can tell you that Amarillo is a pretty damn good place to be.
Just a few weeks ago, my wife and I made the long trek across north Texas to see Palo Duro Canyon. A wonderful sight. Natural beauty and a site to behold. If you can't get to The Grande Canyon, then, Palo Duro is a stop you need to make. Such vistas of color to see and a history to be learned. Before we got to Palo Duro Canyon we stopped in Amarillo for the night and ate at The Big Texan Steak House. The meal was great. Didn't try the 72 oz.'er, but, a guy was trying it when we got there. Needless to say, he didn't finish......next morning we traveled west to the Cadillac Ranch. We left our name on the scupture. It is a site to stop and gaze apon. It's right there!!!next to the Intestate. The rest of our tour took us to the LBJ Ranch National Park in Johnson City. Made a stop in Fredricksburg to see the Adr, Chester Nimitz Museum. We ended our Texas tour in San Antonio. The River Walk and the Alamo. All in all a fun trip and a surge of Texas Pride, in an old Texan, who had missed the Home ground that made a life so filled with joy and happiness. The BIG cities, the plains, the Hill Country, and the Bayou land of South Texas send a rush of Texas spirit and pride through anyone born and raised in such a beautiful state. We all stand behind that Lone Star as one.....
ReplyDeleteJames...well said, James. I haven't home in almost 6 years, but I have plans to go back in a few months. I'm gonna show my wife and little girls the WHOLE state! I miss it, but Maine is a great, if cold, place.
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