From Oklahoma we crossed into Texas near Wellington. After a full day of driving through the flats we rounded a corner that overlooks the 800ft-deep Palo Duro Canyon, the deepest canyon in Texas.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park
The Palo Duro Canyon State Park is located about 80 miles outside of Amarillo and has several campgrounds available.
Map in hand, we decided to hike its most popular trail the next morning – The Lighthouse Trail. Unfortunately, high winds in the area created thick clouds of dust that forced us to turn back before reaching the end of the trail.
Amarillo
Our reservations for that evening were in Amarillo proper at the Route 66 Visitor Center, a Harvest Host site. We grabbed a greasy burger and fries that oldest restaurant in Amarillo called The Golden Light Café, which ironically had some of the worst lighting I’ve ever seen in a restaurant and no shakes, but the burgers were pretty good.
With calmer winds the next day we headed back to Palo Duro Canyon to continue the hike from the day before and we were so glad we did. It ends on top of a cathedral like rock structure overlooking the canyon. Well worth the return trip!
Route 66
Back through Amarillo along Route 66 we took a short detour to stop at the 47-ft-tall, seven-ton, steel and cement Tex Randall Cowboy. Back on Route 66 we stopped to spray paint cars at Cadillac Ranch before reaching the New Mexico border.
The town of Tucumcari has several throwback motel, restaurant, and curio signs that are fun.
We only veered off of Route 66 to jog north towards Santa Fe, New Mexico, where we’d spend the next 3 days.
