May 7, 2023
Amarillo was our choice for the 3rd leg of this adventure. Was a longer distance than the first two days, we decided the few extra miles were not an issue. Left Paris about 8:00 AM, travel today was approximately 410 miles which should have taken approximately six hours but knowing our desire to stop and look, it took longer. No worries we’re not on a schedule, except to be in Durango, Colorado by Tuesday the 9th. of May.
Photos along the way.
Don’t know exactly how many Amazon cars there were on that train, was really a huge amount but betting they would have added more if necessary. 🙂
We saw so many wind turbines in Texas did some research to find out more about them. We literally saw hundreds of these turbines located in several different “wind farms”. If interested you should Google wind power in Texas. Below is only a small paragraph of many pages you will find. This excerpt was posted on Wikipedia.
“Wind power in Texas, a portion of total energy in Texas, consists of over 150 wind farms, which together have a total nameplate capacity of over 30,000 MW (as of 2020).[1][2] If Texas were a country, it would rank fifth in the world:[1] The installed wind capacity in Texas exceeds installed wind capacity in all countries but China, the United States, Germany and India. Texas produces the most wind power of any U.S. state.[1][3] According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), wind power accounted for at least 15.7% of the electricity generated in Texas during 2017, as wind was 17.4% of electricity generated in ERCOT, which manages 90% of Texas’s power.[4][5] ERCOT set a new wind output record of nearly 19.7 GW at 7:19 pm Central Standard Time on Monday, January 21, 2019.[6]“
We stopped at this really colorful (from the road) shop with tons of garden ornaments in Quanah, Texas. All made of metal. Couple of items we really wanted but not at the price they were asking. Very colorful.
Stopped for gas and decided on Subway sandwiches for lunch, stopped at a roadside picnic area to eat, stretch our legs and relax. Drove on to Amarillo and found our hotel.
As usual when arriving at our destination it’s time to see if there are any attractions that might peak our interest. Harder than you might think unless its a place famously known. Doing our research for things around Amarillo we found near by was the second largest canyon in the United States. We also heard there was a downtown district all about the Old Route 66 nostalgia. If there was, we never found it and after reading all the online reviews, its probably a good thing we didn’t. 🙂
We did find Palo Duro Canyon State Park, it was well worth the afternoon. Pay the park ranger at the gate $8 per adult, drive in, take the 16 mile driving tour, stop at pull offs along the way, shop in the visitor center/gift shop or better yet get your souvenirs at the Old Trading Post, you can eat there also. The Trading Post had a much better collection of the type things we were looking for. The drive will take you right to it near the bottom of the canyon. Not sure it really is 16 miles unless they count the return trip. One road down and the same road back to the top, but the interesting thing is you see different scenes on the way up that you didn’t see driving down. Never been to the Grand Canyon (not yet anyway) but if its more majestic that this its worth the trip. It was awesome and these photos do not do it justice.
Getting tired after this adventure so back into the city to find some food. Found Rudy’s BBQ, (which I LOVE) not visited since moving from San Antonio in 2010. Really loved the Rudy’s in Leon Springs, Texas, just north of San Antonio, the original Rudy’s BBQ! Rudy’s BBQ in Amarillo did not disappoint, great food, good service, got to chat with the general manager, Oscar Cavazos for a few minutes, really nice guy. He was kind enough to fill us in on some of the things happening currently with the chain. He reminded me there was a Rudy’s BBQ in Panama City which of course we’ll need to visit after we get home. Highly recommend.
After some tasty food, back to the hotel, really tired and ready for sleep. Not yet, we still needed to determine our next destination.
As fate would have it, next destination will be Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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