Amarillo road trip - Everyone should visit!

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Last Tuesday through Friday, we took a road trip up to Amarillo. I had never been there before.

From Lake Dallas to central Amarillo it was 329 miles and we made it in about 5 hours.

Our 2 main stops were seen, plus we saw a bunch more. I'll summarize the places we visited.

It was kind of funny because the first day I wore my Springfield Armory shirt, and the second day
I wore my Ruger shirt. When I wear them at home (Lewisville/Plano/Lake Dallas) no one says a word.
Well in Amarillo 4 different strangers struck up a conversation with me about guns. Big 2A fans.

PALO DURO CANYON.
This is the 2nd largest canyon in the US, after the Grand Canyon. It is 21 miles south of Amarillo.
Approaching the canyon, you wouldn't even know it's there as you cruise down the FM roads through
the high plains (very flat). All of a sudden there's the giant canyon. You can easily drive through the
state park in about an hour since the loop road is a smidge under 16 miles.

"TEXAS" PLAY.
The play "Texas" starts about 830 PM most nights and covers the populating of the Panhandle by
the settlers. It is a high quality musical with about 50 dancers doing very intricate dance routines,
it's very patriotic about Texas and the USA, and military veterans are honored.

It was ironic that the actors were commenting about how hard it is to farm in the Panhandle due
to the dearth of rainfall, yet the show was only 32 minutes in when we had a one hour pause for
a passing thunderstorm.

AQHA - American Quarter Horse Association.
Their HQ is in one building on the I-40 service road, and right next door is the American Quarter
Horse Museum and Hall of Fame. Quarter horses got their name since in early colonial Virginia
and North Carolina, there were not many straight roads, so they used to just race 1/4 of a mile.
I'm not a horse person, but I was quite impressed with this museum.

By the way, according to AAA Texas magazine, my county (Denton) has the largest horse population
of all 254 Texas counties.

Anyone who IS a horse person should definitely visit this museum.

BILL'S BACKYARD CLASSICS.
The gentleman who owns this large collection of classic American automobiles (almost 200!) made
his fortune in his business, which was related to cattle feeding. He has 88 patents.
His collection of classic autos is stunning. The only car that was known to be formerly owned by
a famous person was the rocker Bob Seger's 1961 Pontiac Catalina convertible, color black.

THE BIG TEXAN.
This restaurant is bright yellow and is on the I-40 service. Those with a death wish may wish to
try downing a 72 ounce (that's 4.5 pounds!) in under 60 minutes. Believe it or not, the record holder
is a 125 pound woman!

CADILLAC RANCH.
This is the place where 10 Cadillacs are planted in the ground, about 100 yards off the I-40 service
road. You may spray paint them to your heart's content. Some literature asked that you dispose of
your spray paint cans in the "dumpster provided." Well there were 2 dumpsters on the service road
and they were overflowing, so everyone just threw their empty cans and caps on the ground near
the cars.

AMARILLO ART MUSEUM.
This is on the grounds of Amarillo College. If you have a coupon from the coupon book provided
in most hotels, you can get a FREE Georgia O'Keefe poster. The poster is of a painting of a train
in Canyon, Texas, which is the town closest to Palo Duro Canyon.

***********************************************************************************************************************
Everyone we met in Amarillo seemed real friendly, so it was quite an enjoyable visit.

What we found funny is that one of the largest banks in Amarillo, with many branches is
the "Happy State Bank"....no lie!

Over and out.

SIA

[Pawpaw]

Didn't you cruise Route 66 while you were there?

[surprise_i'm_armed]

No, we stayed busy with the sites I mentioned above.

We wanted to see the Plains Museum, but ran out of time.

SIA

[G.A. Heath]

I have dealt with Happy State Bank customers in a business matter relating to some criminal acts before bring local LE into the loop. While I can not disclose details I will say they are a stand up bunch and I would recommend them based on what I know about them.

While there you could have visited a Cadilac Ranch pardoy called bug ranch just east of Amarillo, or the giant cross in Groom east of Amarillo. I would also recommend dropping in on Long Hunters in Amarillo on Sixth street (part of historic route 66). There are other gun stores there too but LH is the only one I know anyone at personally.

[rmr24]

We also have a great city owned shooting range about 5 minutes from Cadillac ranch:
http://police.amarillo.gov/?page_id=33

And about 1 mile east of Cadillac ranch is The 2nd Amendment Cowboy:
https://goo.gl/maps/7GNLQQ3xpSw

[bblhd672]

The Amarillo area is on my list of place to visit in Texas. Palo Duro caught my eye perusing the Texas State Parks guide.

Thanks for the info, looks like fun!

[Rpenn57]

My daughter was at Tech in Lubbock for 4 years but we never made it up to Amarillo. Prob wont ever make it backup that way now. Last time we were in Lubbock, saw a pickup with a gun rack in the window with two bolt action rifles. Good times.

[J.R.@A&M]

In my experience, Amarillo has a lot of gun stores. More than Lubbock.