Sunday Travel Post

We have stayed in one place for several months in our Motor Home for various reasons...the ill-fated Triumph cruise in early February, Gerry's business travel plans as well as his annual golf trip, and finally our daughter buying a house (which we stayed to help where we could).  We also got a new puppy, Newman, a Lhasa Apso who was 12 weeks old when we got him.  Now we are traveling again and enjoying every minute of it and Newman has adjusted perfectly.  

Our home base when we are near the kids is in Aubrey, Texas.  On Friday we drove from Aubrey to Amarillo, Texas.  We set up the motor home once we got there and just settled in for the night.

Saturday morning we got up and explored the Palo Duro Canyon by driving through it.  The Palo Duro Canyon is nicknamed the Grand Canyon of Texas and is often claimed the second largest canyon in the USA (the Grand Canyon is the biggest).  We did get out periodically to snap some pictures and let our puppy out.  There is a 5-mile drive (give or take) down into the canyon and back out with numerous spots for photos.  Since the land around Amarillo is so flat, it is absolutely amazing to drive to this area of canyon.  It was quite warm (the car thermometer registered 103 degrees at the lowest point of the canyon) so we were glad we did the tour in the morning.  Since I broke my foot 2 weeks ago, we knew a hike was out of the question, so I was very grateful for the scenic drive.

We grabbed a quick lunch in the park and ate at an outdoor picnic table in the shade so we could all be in the shade and then drove to check out Cadillac Ranch.  Cadillac Ranch was created in 1974 by some members of the art group Ant Farm and consists of older Cadillac automobiles with tailfins, half buried nose-first in the ground.  They were buried at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.  They are now completely spray painted and covered in graffiti with cans of spray paint littering the ground all around it.  It was a very bizarre experience.

We finished our day with dinner out at The Big Texan Steak House, home of the 72 ounce free steak dinner (as featured on Man vs. Food).  We did enjoy a steak (certainly not the 72 ounce steak challenge) and the atmosphere at this restaurant.  There were 4 people who took on the challenge of the 72 ounce steak while we were having dinner and we were able to follow the first one who did not successfully complete the challenge.  We left before we knew the fate of the other 3 participants.

We had a wonderful day and a great night's sleep so we could pack up and head to Santa Fe, New Mexico today.  We got settled in at our new site in the early afternoon and after a quick lunch went downtown to explore Santa Fe.  We both loved the architecture and feel of the city and after walking  the square downtown (slowly with my walking boot), found a wonderful upstairs balcony in a restaurant to enjoy a margarita and people watch for a while.

We are both looking forward to spending a lot more time in downtown Santa Fe this week.