PALO DURO CANYON STATE PARK

May 14/10

We survived the night in Amarillo and the next day was clear with less wind so we were able to go on a sightseeing trip to Palo Duro Canyon State Park about 25 miles away.  It is the second largest canyon in the US and it was impressive.

We started out at the overlook at the entrance to the canyon and these are some of the views:

The road winds down the cliffs into the canyon bottom and then makes a loop around the sides.  We stopped at different spots to check out the incredible red clay which provided a wonderful contrast to the green vegetation.

We didn’t have time to hike 5.75 miles to the most prominent feature called Lighthouse Rock but we did hike up to a hole in the cliff.  The hole had been created by flowing water at one time but is dry as a bone these days.

On the way back, we saw some Longhorn cattle that are simply amazing:

 And just east of our RV park on Route 66, there is a quirky place called Cadillac Ranch.  A fellow named Stanley Marsh buried 10 Cadillacs in a field by the road and people are encouraged to paint whatever they want on them.

 Check out the Stanley Marsh story at this site:
  http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220

After the day of sightseeing, we decided to go out for supper at the Country Barn Steakhouse and had rib eye steaks served with a large salad, rolls, fried okra, onion rings, sweet potato and ranch style beans all for $26.99.  We were sure full after the meal and glad that we didn’t go to the place that offered a 72 oz. free steak.