Home
of the Cadillac Ranch and the largest steaks in all of
creation, Amarillo is a Route 66 city which revels in its
historic place along the famous roadway to the West.
There are short stretches of the old route still
available to drive, marked by the city with special Route
66 signs. It's an agricultural town, servicing the
ranches and cattle feedlots on the panhandle plains which
surround the city. There's a good deal of the Old West
here. You have only to drive 15 minutes in any direction
to get completely away from urban sprawl, and to
experience the upper Texas prairie.
This
was buffalo country, dominated by the Commanche tribe,
before the arrival of Francisco de Coronado in 1541.
Sheep farmers and cattlemen followed, establishing large
ranches throughout the region. Cattle drives to Amarillo
were famous events. Charles Goodnight, the inventor of
the chuckwagon, lived here. While the Commanche were
vanquished and banished from the grazing lands, the area
was a quiet agricultural area until the oil boom hit
Texas, and spread across the Panhandle. Amarillo is the
major supply center for helium, and has retained its role
as a modern transportation center, with two interstate
highways&emdash;I-40 which follows the track of Route 66,
and I-27, connecting the city with Lubbock to the south.
The ranches are still here, larger than they used to be,
including several distinctive guest ranches, offering a
glimpse of what cowboy life is like. Nearly 75 percent of
Texas' cattle feedyards are located around
Amarillo.
What
to See & Do
Exploring
the remains of Route 66 is a pleasure for those who
remember the old main highway from Chicago to Los
Angeles, and also for those younger people who recognize
the loss of the historic road. Route 66 fan clubs make
pilgrimages to the city, driving the few remaining miles
that haven't become Interstate 40, and gazing at the
famous Cadillac Ranch, where ten Cadillacs are
buried nose-down in a field, at the same angle as the
pyramids of Cheops. The upended cars are found seven
miles west of the city on I-40.
If
you're planning to be in Amarillo on a Tuesday morning,
you should consider attending the weekly action at the
Amarillo Livestock Auction. This is Texas' largest
cattle auction, with more than 600,000 cattle moving
through the auction pen each year, selling for more than
$130 million. the auction is held on Tuesdays from 9 a.m.
to 7 p.m., at 100 South Manhattan Street, call (806)
373-7464. Other kinds of animals are on display (but not
sold) at the Amarillo Zoo. This is a small zoo
with a playground and a theme which uses children's
stories. The zoo is open daily in Thompson Park, NE 24th
Street at U.S. Highway 287. For information, call (806)
383-6141. And for a historical look at the quarter horse,
visit the American Quarter Horse Heritage Center and
Museum. This is the registry for all quarter horses in
the world, and the adjacent museum offers exhibits,
videos, hands-on displays, and a gift store -- all
devoted to the breed, the quintessential cowboy horse.
The museum is off I-40, at the Nelson Street exit, and is
open daily, starting at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. or noon,
depending on the time of year or the day of the week. For
schedule information, call (806) 376-5181.
The
Amarillo Museum of Art is a work of art in itself.
The striking building was designed by Edward Stone, the
architect of Washington's Kennedy Center. The complex is
devoted to the fine arts, including music, drama, and
visual arts, with the structure containing exhibition,
concert, and teaching areas. Galleries dieplay the
museum's extensive permanent collection of paintings and
sculpture, and concerts are often held. It is located on
the campus of Amarillo College, at 2200 Van Buren Street.
For information, call (806) 371-5050. The building is
open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on
Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m., and on weekends from 1 to 5
p.m.
A
museum of a different nature is the Don Harrington
Discovery Center, located in the center of a 51-acre
park at 1200 Streit Drive. Surrounded by lawns, picnic
areas, with a lake nearby, this science center offers
many hands-on exhibits and displays. Features include an
aquarium, a planetarium giving star shows, an exhibit of
a black hole, a gigantic kaleidoscope, and more. The
center is open daily except Monday, and starting times
vary with the seasons. For schedule information, call
(806) 355-9548.
The
Old Jacinto Area, the city's first downtown area
has become a charming shopping and restaurant district, a
kind of western Greenwich Village. You'll find antique
shops, clothing boutiques, cafes and restaurants,
small-to-tiny theaters, and art and crafts galleries. To
find Old Jacinto, look for 6th Street between Western and
Georgia streets.
A
few miles north of Amarillo, the Canadian River Valley
widens and a dam holds back Lake Meredith. The lake,
covering more than 16,500 acres, is a prime recreation
destination for Amarillo resents and a growing number of
travelers. Lake Meredith National Recreation Area
surrounds the reservoir, containing eight main parks and
several smaller units. Administered by the National Park
Service, these facilities include a marina, boat ramps,
campgrounds, and picnic areas. Anglers regularly take out
walleye, bass, crappie, and catfish. Park headquarters is
located on Texas Highway 136, a mile east of the town of
Fritch. You can get onto Highway 136 from U./S. 60, at
the north end of Amarillo. Fritch is 36 miles from the
city. Other roads will take you on to Borger and
Stinnett, from which the recreation area access points
are found. For information, call the park
headquarters.
Palo
Duro Canyon State Park is set in the scenic canyon
country a half-hour's drive south of Amarillo. Often
called the "Grand Canyon of Texas," the canyon has been
formed over more than 200 million years by the Prairie
Dog Fork of the Red River, as it flows across the middle
of the Texas Panhandle. The park, spread over 16,402
acres, offers camping (developed and primitive),
picnicking, horseback riding, hiking along the canyon and
river, fishing, a miniature train ride, and mountain
biking. The park contains a large amphitheater where the
musical drama "Texas" is staged throughout the summer
months. The park is 25 miles from Amarillo. To get there,
take Interstate 27 south from the city, to Texas Highway
217, and take this road eight miles east to the park
entrance. You'll pass through the town of Canyon, home to
West Texas A&M University and the Panhandle Plains
Historical Museum (on the university campus).
Park
facilities include a campground with more than 100
developed campsites offering water, electricity and dump
station, and some have shade shelters. A primitive
camping area is reached by a three-quarter-mile hike.
Backcountry campsites are located along a trail, at the
half-mile and 2.5-mile points. A horse stable is located
in the park, offering trail rides and horse rentals. An
equestrian campground has pens and water for horses but
no tables or fire rings. The facilities include two
cabins without kitchen. For information and reservations,
call (806) 488-2227
The
park visitor center has exhibits on natural history and
geology, as well as the history of the Panhandle. The
Goodnight Trading Post has camping supplies, snacks and
souvenirs, while offering mountain bike rentals. Horse
owners may bring their trailers to a parking lot in the
park. 22.9 miles of trails are available for riding,
hiking, walking and biking. 9.4 miles are open to
cyclists.
The
musical drama "TEXAS" is a pageant of the history
of Texas, with a focus on settlement of the panhandle
plains. Staged each year from early June to late August,
this epic with magnificent lighting and an equally
fantastic setting has attracted more than 2.5 million
visitors since its debut in 1966. The drama is performed
in and around the large amphitheater in Palo Duro Canyon
State Park, and admission to the park is free after 5:30
p.m. It does cost to see the drama. Seats can be reserved
by calling (806) 655-2181, or (906) 488-2220 on the day
of performance.
"TEXAS"
was written by the late Paul Green, who pioneered a whole
new type of outdoor epic drama, writing more than a dozen
historical dramas which are still performed around the
country. It was the dramas staged in St. Augustine,
Florida, and in the Carolinas that convinced a small
group of local leaders to invite Green to visit Palo Duro
Canyon and take on the task of writing a new epic about
Texas. Money was raised to build the amphitheater, and a
new center stage was added in 1989. The drama has been a
hit since its inception, more than 30 years ago. Crowds
flock to the canyon each summer to see a cast of 80
actors, singers, and dancers sweep across the stage, and
even appearing high above on the canyon rim. Sound and
light are added to complete the spectacle, relating the
history of the land and the Native Americans, settlers,
and cowboys who lived here.
Two
ongoing events offer unusual western experiences to
visitors. Cowboy Morning is an event at the Figure
3 Ranch. A scenic ride across the prairie on mule-drawn
wagons begins the event, coming to a campsite perched on
the rim of Palo Duro Canyon. Then comes a cowboy
breakfast, cooked over an open mesquite fire. The meal is
followed by exhibitions of roping, riding, and branding.
The same experience, but in the evening with steak
dinners is also available. For information and
reservations, call 800-658-2613. Ranch Roundup,
available through the Amarillo Convention and Visitors
Bureau (800-692-1338), is a three-day and three-night
outdoor experience: riding the range, eating food cooked
over open fires, and sleeping under the stars. Activities
include riding, roping, and branding.
