It had been six long years since I’ve been on vacation. I have taken day trips to several places through work, but staying overnight at a destination has eluded me. Upon deciding where to go, several places came to mind. The hard part was narrowing it to a few and making a final choice.
Being a summer vacation and knowing that travel would be by car, the chore was finding somewhere close enough to travel in a few days. But I also wanted to get out of the heat.
A few of the final considerations were Wyoming for Yellowstone or Northern California to see the Redwoods. Distance crossed them off the list. Traveling across Colorado about 35 years ago, I figured the state had changed enough that it warranted another visit, especially when taking in different areas and sites. The hope was that high altitude would equal what we East Texans consider spring or fall weather.
Before really getting started, we stopped for lunch in Huntsville at the Cafe Texan, which always puts out a good meal. Both of us had salads, figuring our diets were about to soon turn south as we traveled north.
Voyaging up Interstate 45 is a comfortable drive, though there’s not a lot of sightseeing until reaching Fort Worth. The views are still nothing too exciting after Cowtown, but it was at least something new to me. We reached Amarillo late at night.
July 4 started with a trip to The Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. Many places weren’t open on the holiday, yet Big Texan serves meals every day of the year.
The ads for the restaurant start way before you get into Amarillo and continue throughout the town. In the past, overcommercialized places have let me down, so I wasn’t sure about our choice for the day.
However, the restaurant was fun, as advertised. It is decorated with big game heads, wagon wheel chandeliers and every over-the-top stereotypical “Texan” thing you can imagine. Many of the patrons are tourists, and the restaurant caters to that.
A few guys tried the 72-ounce steak challenge while we were there, but neither succeeded. There is a list of things to eat along with the steak; it’s an incredibly large meal.
Other than the big slab of meat, the competitors dare to finish a roll, baked potato, shrimp cocktail, and side salad. I think it’s nice they include the salad; everyone needs vegetables.
Those who cannot clean their plates still get a good deal. The entire meal is $72. Not bad for something you could eat on all week.
I finished off steak of a much smaller portion. After taking the first bite, I knew my lunch would be good.
The complex also has a motel next door and places for RVs or trailers to park. There is a gift shop for purchasing food or souvenirs.
Following lunch, we traveled to Palo Duro to see America’s second largest canyon. Spanish explorers gave the canyon its name after discovering it; Palo Duro is Spanish for hard wood. Information we found said people have inhabited the canyon for 12,000 years, but I don’t remember seeing them.
A battle from the Red River War between the United States Army and Plains Indians was also fought in the canyon.
Once the state purchased the 15,000 acres for the purpose of creating a park, members of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a program developed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, lived in the area for five years to perform the work.
The state park actually opened on July 4, so we were there for a birthday celebration of just 91 years ago.
That may have been the reason for our entrance fee of $5 per person, when we were expecting double that. They got no argument from us or questions why.
If you are adventurous, there are more than 30 miles of trails to keep busy. The park guides mentioned hiking, biking and horseback riding, but there weren’t many doing all of that.
While the weather wasn’t terribly hot (plenty of breezes), we did not hike many trails — it was still the middle of summer in Texas, after all. We climbed to a cave and later bumped into a few wild turkeys (we weren’t drinking).
It is, however, convenient to see the great majority of the park from the comfort of your vehicle. Traffic getting around the trail isn’t bad, and we pulled off to the side many times in order to go slower than others desired. I wanted to see everything and make use of all five of my dollars.
Trying to describe it or taking in a few pictures from a magazine doesn’t really do it justice. It’s something worth seeing in person.
There is a show in the park that runs periodically called “Texas” and there’s a lot of singing and dancing from what I have seen online. It may not be my thing, but I did stop by to see the theater, which, as you can imagine, has surroundings that make it unique.
We stopped by the Cadillac Ranch quickly to take it in and spray paint a bit. If you’ve never seen it, imagine 10 cars dug into the ground and covered in hundreds of layers of spray paint.
And that’s not an exaggeration — you can press in at certain areas and feel coats of paint under your fingers. There are some points where the paint has fallen off and a sprayed-on rainbow is visible.
You park on what looks like a feeder road, where amateur artists didn’t get enough from painting Cadillacs. They took their creativity on the road – literally. The asphalt and barrier wall is a long stretch of graffiti.
More than 1.4 million people stop here each year. Starting as an art project, the vehicles have been in the ground for over 50 years, moving just once in that span.
There is a walk of a couple of hundred yards to reach the vehicles. A trailer sits near the entrance selling paint and beverages, but many half-full cans of spray can be found along the path.
A couple of tips would include taking a picture of what you paint, because the next time you visit, it will be a few inches under the last artist. Also, it’s West Texas in an open field. Stand upwind of both your spray can and others who are decorating.
Afterward, our stay was in the beautiful and luxurious Barfield Hotel. The building sat vacant for years before renovations transformed the facility into a destination for West Texas. It is located on the busy Polk Street, which looks to have undergone a revitalization itself, creating a hub for entertainment.
There were several bars and restaurants to pick from, but the Barfield also had a bar and restaurant that we chose to stay and enjoy instead.
Caesar salad deviled eggs topped with caviar were the best I’ve ever had, and a pasta dish with lobster and vodka sauce was also fantastic. I didn’t know Caesar salad deviled eggs were a thing, but it should be the only way it’s made. Others are now going to seem boring in comparison.
The next day we prepared to head out of state. We will continue the journey in our winter edition of the East Texan. The temperatures drop a little as our elevation rises.
