Palo Duro Canyon, Part 2, Amarillo Botanical Gardens, Rock Garden Trail and RV Museum Oct 26 - 30th

Wednesday, we had a later start as I made us a big breakfast. We were also graced with a herd of Desert Bighorn Sheep that came to graze right in front of our motorhome. Cool!

At 10:15 we finally headed out the door  driving south to the other end of the Palo Dura Canyon outside of the park. Down the I-27 to Tulia and then east towards Silverton, taking the 207 all the way up to the I-40 into Amarillo. Quite the circle route. Most of the drive is flat and straight for miles. Unbelievably all these back roads have speed limits of 75mph.

Unexpectedly we came across this other canyon first, Tule Canyon.

Pretty fitting name for this ranch "Rock Bottom".

Further down the road is McKenzie Lake Reservoir. It's water level looks to be low too.

Back along the 207 we finally came to the other end of Palo Dura Canyon. Quite a bit wider here than at the other end at the State Park. Still no longhorn sightings. Ray took a majority of the pictures at the picnic site on the top of the hill before the road takes you down into the canyon.

The highway followed the canyon for a bit before taking you up onto the other side to more flat grasslands. Looking back it is like the canyon isn't even there.

Once we reached the I-40, we headed into Amarillo for a quick lunch and then to our next destination the Amarillo Botanical Gardens located in Medical Centre Park. What a beautiful place to walk around. Lots of areas to sit a spell and just enjoy. There are still a lot of plants with flowers, in spite of it being Fall. They also have an atrium with exotic plants.

Lots of big fat fish in the Japanese Garden. They all came swimming over thinking we were going to feed them. :)

The rose garden has mostly finished blooming for the season. I imagine it would have been spectacular. 

I did manage to get some pictures of some blooms though.

The butterfly garden is still doing well with hundreds of butterflies flitting around.

Interesting glass sculpture made of old dishes and flower vases.

Next we went into the Atrium. A good time as the wind just picked up substantially outside.

Mango Tree

They have about 1/2 dozen ducks resting near the waterfall.

Once back outside we took a short walk along the path in the Medical Centre Park.

A great day. Did not get home until 4 pm. Good thing it's leftovers for dinner lol We sat outside talking with our neighbours, Gary, Jan and pooch Reily from Ontario, for an hour before it got too cool.

Thursday morning is clear and somewhat warmer at 44F. It does not start to get light until 7:30 am so it is hard to get moving. lol Rain is supposed to start again this evening for 24 hours, so we plan on doing a short hike in the park on the Rock Garden Trail.

After dishes and morning chores we headed out at 10 back into the park. It's a bit cloudy but a few clear patches. The trail winds itself up from the valley floor and we went up about 300 feet until we hit the  0.4 mile marker before turning around. This trail is classified as moderate and totals 5 miles up and back if we kept going. A wonderful slow hike up for us, as Ray stopped for many pictures.  :) You could sure see why they closed all the trails during the last rain as it would have been incredibly muddy and too many feet would have messed up the trail with ruts. It took us an hour for almost a mile. 

We met some people on the trail on our way down that believe the parks trail markers are posted with less mileage than there actually is. Yesterday they did a trail that showed 2.5 miles in and 2.5 miles back and the guys Fitbit said they had done 7 miles. So maybe we did more than a mile. lol

This building is the park entrance. Pretty cool with all of the stacked stone.

Another hiker.

The higher up we went, the better the views. Even on a cloudy day the colours are spectacular.

There is prickly pear cactus everywhere. Even growing on top of rocks. Hardy little things.

Once back from the hike we ate a quick lunch and headed to the Old RV Museum. It seemed to be anything with wheels museum. lol What great fun to see the old ones from the early 50's to 70's. There is even the bus (picture below) that starred in the movie RV with Robin Williams.

This museum sure shows you styles definitely come back. Here is an original tear drop model.

The guy lived in this one after the 2nd World War.

The old Star Craft Tent Trailer. We owned one 37 years ago and it's pretty much the same design. 

One of the first Airstreams. This one from 1935. Amazing they now make small ones with this same shape that people buy currently.

The first Winnebago Itasco. This has serial #1

Notice the orange grill

Lovely upholstery

The museum is full of old Harleys'

Also in an another building there is a bit of a car and motorcycle museum.

We spent about 1/2 hour wandering around. The thing I noticed the most is the RV's haven't really changed all that much in function, just more bells and whistles with technology.

Back at camp we had happy hour sitting outside with our neighbours, Gary and Jan again. Jan noticed a huge tarantula spider wandering it's way down our road. It's the size of an orange. More wildlife lol. It will definitely rain tonight as when rain is coming they get out of their dens in the dirt to find a better spot. We visited until 7 and everyone headed in as it was getting cold and starting to spit with rain. At bedtime the sky to the east of us lit up with lightning. 

Friday morning cloudy but no rain. It did not appear to rain much last night as there are no puddles outside. Looking at the radar it appears the rain is circling around us but not hitting us. :) Bonus! Found out that the storm yesterday at home in Lake Cowichan, BC (an atmospheric river) was pretty brutal with the winds and took off a roof panel of our gazebo on our dock and another panel is bent. This happened 3 years ago as well. I think we need to get a more sturdy roof on that thing! Things were blowing around off of other docks, thankfully we had removed almost everything from the dock for winter.

I spent the day cleaning, laundry and making bread while Ray did the dusting and played around with his camera settings. :) Tonight we went to the Big Texan Steakhouse and Brewery for dinner. Quite the venue. The steak was delicious as was their inhouse brew. We arrived shortly after 5 pm and it was already very busy. Jim and Barb of http://jimandbarbsrvadventure.blogspot.com/ also mentioned we should go to this place.

A little history:

Route 66, also known as “The Mother Road,” was opened November 11, 1926. The road runs through Chicago, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and ends in California. Route 66 is known for its many stops along the way, but it might be most well known for the stop at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo Texas.
March 1960 – Founder R. J. Lee opens Big Texan in the old Underwood’s Bar-B-Q location on Route 66. The steakhouse featured a western atmosphere, horseback mounted cowboy greeting guest and a towering 60 foot neon cowboy sign.

June 1964 – The Big Texan business and notoriety continues to grow. R.J. Lee expands his offerings by purchasing 7 acre tract of land on the old Dallas highway. The land was several miles east of the city limits and would be used for a weekend beer tavern he named the Outpost. Amarillo liquor laws prohibited sales inside city limits on the weekends. Little did Lee know that this land purchase would save the Big Texan.

September 1969 – With the help of his wife Mary Ann and sons Bobby and Danny he begs/borrows and uses his last dollar to move and rebuild his Big Texan on the newly purchased land.

April 1971 – The new facility included the nostalgic Route 66 charm, early Panhandle memorabilia items, strolling musicians, gift shop, old west saloon and the famed 72oz challenge. The outside facade featured a rustic western storefront, RJ Lee soon added a 300 seat banquet hall to meet the demand for private events and overflow seating.

July 1976 – A devastating early morning fire destroyed the Big Texan. Lost in the inferno was the main dining room, gift shop, antiques, artifacts, furniture and fixtures from original Route 66 location. Fortunately the disaster spared the 300 seat banquet hall, that served as a temporary Big Texan until Lee was able to rebuild the main dining hall.

January 1978 – RJ Lee rebuilt his new Big Texan in a fashion that can only be described as a Texas masterpiece. It featured two story seating for 480 guest, huge gift shop, arcade and many special elements from all his past Big Texans. He incorporated the 300 banquet hall as the main entrance. 72 oz challengers were now seated on a center stage, so that all patrons could watch the contestants take on the GREAT STEAK OF TEXAS.

November 1983 – RJ Lee opens Big Texan Motel across parking lot from steakhouse. Naturally, it featured “Disney-Style” old west facades, western themed rooms and a Texas shaped swimming pool.

February 1990 – The Big Texan founder R.J. Lee passes away, his sons Bobby and Danny take over operations. Their pledge is 100% commitment to keeping the Big Texan true to its unique Texas mystique, original recipes, quality in food-service, traditions and the addition of more entertainment.

January 1993 – The Big Texan expands its entertainment offerings with the debut of the Big Texan Opry, strolling musicians and dinner-shows. Successful publicity campaigns attract coverage from worldwide networks and several Hollywood movies are filmed at the Big Texan.

2008 – The Travel Channel premieres a new show that would become an instant worldwide sensation called Man vs Food. Its debut Show features the show host taking on the Big Texans 72oz Steak Challenge. The world wide success of the show established the 72oz Steak challenge as the top eating contest in the world.

2010 – The Lee Brothers and brewmaster Tom Money began brewing and serving craft beer onsite. The beer experience was an instant hit and was recognized by Draft Magazine as one of the worlds Top Ten.

2016 – After much negotiation, the Big Texan acquires the Amarillo RV Ranch, now known as the Big Texan RV Ranch. The RV park has features an indoor heated pool and free wifi.

March 21st, 2020 the Coronavirus forced the restaurant into its longest shut-down since 60 years of business.On May 9th, the state of Texas allowed the reopening at 50% occupancy and soon 100%. The crowds packed back in and business went back to usual.

2021 – With the changing times in the hospitality industry, the Lee brothers decided it was time to update their fathers motel. The pair sought out the best AIRBNB Superhost in the country and agreed to partnership to update and convert the rooms into an AIRBNB.

Inside attached to the restaurant, they have a saloon, gift shop and an shooting arcade for kids.

A great Friday Date Night! Once back home we were treated to a lovely sunset.

Saturday afternoon Ray decided to take a short hike in the park on the CCC trail by the Visitor's Centre. I will let him take over now.

Ahhh.... how do you work this thing????

After eating so much steak last night, it's time to work some of it off. Deciding on the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) trail built in in early 30's. Apparently there is a series of four bridges on the way down 500' of elevation. It's a great trail full of view points..... hold on, that's the other trail. Let me explain. The pics below show the start of the trail.

There's no signage (other than mileposts) on the two trails we've walked. About a third of the way to the bridges, the CCC Trail heads downhill but no sign. I carry on along the trail straight ahead which fallows along the ridge in the pic below.

This trail contains some amazing views and I follow it to where it intersects with the road..... but no bridges. Here's some pics along the way.

Branching off the CCC Trail is the Goodnight Peak Scenic Loop Trail (there are some weenie people in the pic)

Once reaching the road, I'm thinking no bridges, they must be way further ahead and it's time to turn back to the car.  When half way back I hear a bunch of voices below me.   Ahh F^&* the bridge trail is below me. Two thirds of the way back I find where the actual CCC trail heads downhill.  So off to the bridges...

Dragging my tail back to the car by then, I turn around to take a picture of my hike.

See those teenie people in the top left, that was me.  See how the land heads downhill on the bottom left... two hundred feet below is where the bridges are and it's still 1/4 mile back to the car.  Anyway, mission accomplished, last nights steak gone and plenty of room for leftover steak tonight.

Sunday another cold but sunny morning. Today we will get ready for leaving tomorrow, filling water tank etc. as we will be dry camping in the next State Park. We have been going through a ton of propane for the furnace overnight as it is only 37C when we wake up. Ray and I are still being probably too cautious not having electric heat on overnight and taking the chance that the power could go off and toast our new batteries as it has been quite windy. The past few days the wind has been minimal so I think we should be fine now.

Ray decided he wanted to go for a short e-bike ride in the park, so I drove him there to get the day permit and he dropped me off back home. My job today is finish up any laundry and bake some cookies and prep our dinner for tonight. We will be dry camping for the next 6 days so I need to have everything done.

Ok, now I figured this thing out, here's a riff on my bike ride.  Knowing Deb's cookies, my need for burning calories became urgent before I started my gorging! So I parked the car at the Soapberry lot and off I went on the short Paseo del Rio Trail which follows the Red River.

The trail comes onto the road and a short distance away I joined the Rojo Grande Trail. The first part of this trail is awesome. It follows a creek and runs by the base of the Painted Rock, seams of white gypsum through the canyon's red rock.

The trail crosses a paved road and becomes moderate rather than the easy part I just traversed. Note to self.... no more moderate trails in the desert. 

Once across the road the trail rises 20' to provide a great view of the Fortress Cliff Campsite and the surrounding area.

Ok so far so good. However, what goes up must come down. Down I went after taking the two pics above and I mean down.... hit a clump of grass jutting out on the trail and over I went onto a prickly pear cactus. My left hand, stomach and both legs had groups of those fine spines. I spent 15 minutes picking out the worst of it, headed back to the car and continued the picking at home.  Those fine things will break off just above the skin and hold with their miniscule barbs. Closing or extending my hand hurts and yet there's no more I can do. Now back over to Deb.

Silly boy! He did have fun though before his big fall. Fortunately it made him forget how sore his back was. lol

We have enjoyed our stay here in the Amarillo area except for all the damn flies. Seems we are killing 25 plus daily in the coach. Don't know how they are getting in. A few when you open the door but the rest???? Our neighbours are complaining as well. The park host says this is the worst he has ever seen them!

A last happy hour with our neighbours before saying our goodbyes. We may see them in Quartzsite. Tomorrow off to Capstone Canyon State Park, 2 hours south from here.