AT#911 - Lubbock and Amarillo, Texas

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not available in all areas. Amateur Traveler episode 911. Today, the Amateur Traveler talks

about red rocks and big steaks, blue bonnets and wineries,

holly, Cadillac Ranch, and Route 66 as we go to Lubbock and Amarillo in Texas.

This is Chris Christensen from Amateur Traveler. Let's talk about Texas.

I'd like to welcome to the show Jill Robbins, travel writer and also a blogger at

rippedjeansandbifocals.com. And Jill has come to talk to us about two cities in Texas,

Lubbock and Amarillo. Jill, welcome to the show.

Thanks, Chris. I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

And what is your connection with Texas, first of all?

I grew up here. I was not born here, but my father moved us down here when I was about two,

and I lived here until I was about 24 and then moved back again in 2014. So pretty much a lifelong

Texan. I live just outside of San Antonio, Texas in the South Central.

I think it's hard to call yourself a Texas travel expert because it's such a big area of land,

but I think I'm pretty close and I have a good read of what there is to do and see

in the state and especially like telling people about the smaller lesser known places.

Excellent. And why should someone go to Texas and specifically to Amarillo and Lubbock?

Amarillo and Lubbock are my favorite places. And I think that's where I'm most comfortable. So,

and I think that's where I'm most comfortable. So, I'm most comfortable. So, I'm most comfortable.

And I think that's where I'm most comfortable. So, I'm most comfortable. So, I'm most comfortable. So,

are both smaller cities. I don't like the word off the beaten path or hidden gem. And if you

think of another way to say that, let me know. And we could probably both make a lot of money.

But these are just great little slices of Texas. And they both really showcase the unique landscape

of Texas. Lubbock is in the High Plains area. Amarillo is in the Panhandle. They're both

known for different things, but both have some surprises and things you might not expect to see

in a small town. They both have a lot of things to do. Amarillo is more focused on outdoor

adventure and Americana that is the old Route 66. There's still a lot of that there. Really

unique and fun and quirky and strange roadside attractions in the Amarillo area. Lubbock is

known for music history and particularly being the birthplace of Buddy Holly. So that is what

puts that on the map. But both of these are driving trips. You'd have to either fly into

the destinations and drive between them or start somewhere else in the state and do a larger Texas

road trip. But both are fun cities to see. Parts of Texas, the movies might not show you. It's not

the big city, oil city, oil town of Dallas. It's not Houston. It's not Austin with the heavy music

scene. It's just a cool little small town slice and small town people with fun stuff to see. And

also, both of them, especially Lubbock, are pretty low cost destinations.

With some free things to do. So if you're looking to plan a trip that's not expensive,

they're both fairly easy on the wallet. Excellent. When you say small town,

this is the Texas definition of small town, which means the combined population is probably half a

million. That's also the population of the state of Wyoming. So depending on where you're from,

they're big cities or small towns. Yes. I just looked at the Lubbock population

numbers really quick and it's 263,000. I would say,

Amarillo is probably about on par for that. So small cities, definitely. I live in the seventh

largest city of the world. So it's a spread out urban area. So Lubbock is definitely a smaller

town. But yeah, it's all relative just depending on what you compare it with. Excellent. What kind

of itinerary are you going to recommend for us? I would recommend either flying into Lubbock and

then spending three days there and driving to Amarillo or doing it the other way. Flying into

Amarillo.

And then driving to Lubbock. And then I have a cool side trip that I can recommend for both.

Did you have a preference which city we started talking about in more detail?

I think we'll start with Lubbock. Amarillo is probably one of my favorite places on the planet.

So it's a best for last thing. And I would say spend the majority of your time in Amarillo,

just depending on what your interests are. Amarillo is more outdoor focused and Lubbock is

more things to do in the city. But I have a list of

things you should definitely not miss in Lubbock. Lubbock is a collection of smaller,

shorter activities. So it's easy to move them around based on what your schedule is,

what the weather doing, time of day, the way the wind is blowing. So none of these activities

outside from the wine tourism and the wine tasting are things that are going to take like a huge

chunk of time. So you can move them around and build how you'd like to do stuff.

What are you going to recommend we do first?

The first thing that I think you should do,

Lubbock is to explore the Buddy Holly history and to go to the Buddy Holly Center. It is a small

museum that I would say it's a don't miss, even if you're younger, maybe and don't know who Buddy

Holly is, I would definitely go. You can take about an hour to two hours to go through just

depending on how much stuff you want to read. It's a museum that is heavy on written exhibits and

less heavy on the artifacts to look at. But if you read everything, probably two hours. If you're

just looking at stuff, maybe an hour. There is a really great movie at the beginning that should

not be missed, especially if you're less familiar with his life and career. It's got a clip of a very

young Mick Jagger talking about what Buddy Holly's music meant to him and how it influenced the

Rolling Stones. It's just a cool big picture thing. I grew up being aware of who Buddy Holly was

the day the music died and the 1970s song. But the last time I was up there, I talked to the

director of the Rolling Stones. I was like, I'm going to go to the Rolling Stones. I'm going to

director and said the interest was waning a little bit as the millennials were one of their

bigger travel markets and maybe just don't have as big of an awareness of who he was and what

contribution that he made. I thought it was a really cool thing to go and see. It doesn't take

a lot of time. There's good photo ops outside. There's a giant pair of Buddy Holly glasses that

you can stand in and get your picture taken. People like to do that. There's a plaza across

from the property with a larger than life Buddy Holly statue.

He's probably about eight feet tall with his guitar. So really big statue. Find Instagram

opportunity. There's also a free gallery that's attached to the Buddy Holly Center. It doesn't

really have anything to do with Buddy Holly. It's just an art gallery that's there that you don't

have to pay to go into. And then there's another house that is part of the museum that is not

open all the time. It's open, I think only on the weekends. And it's the house where his drummer

grew up, where a lot of their songs were written. So it's a really cool thing to do.

So that's the significance of that.

But if you're not familiar with Buddy Holly, I would suggest you find on streaming the Buddy

Holly story from I think it's 1978 with a young Gary Busey. And you'll get both a dose of his

music as well as some of the history and obviously the history of his tragic death. And that was,

as you said, memorialized in the song, The Day the Music Died.

So I would definitely go.

There's also the Buddy Holly Hall in Lubbock, which is not to be confused with Buddy Holly

Center. The Buddy Holly Hall is a performing arts center. If you're into architecture,

it's a fun place to go and look at. There's a lot of hidden guitar picks and not so hidden guitar

picks in the architecture and the seats and in the little details. But look at the calendar before

you go to see if anything on their events page is piquing your interest. But they do often have

Buddy Holly cover bands or Buddy Holly covers. So if you're interested in that, you can go to

Buddy Holly themed entertainment there in addition to the other things that they have there, just

regular concerts or Broadway style shows, things like that. So that's also a fun Buddy Holly thing

to check out. There's other museums in Lubbock. There is one called Silent Wings, which is a

glider non-motorized aircraft museum that's over by the airport. I have not been in there. My husband

went there the last time we were in Lubbock and I went and did something else. He's an airplane guy

and took him about an hour to go through. There is a reciprocal agreement between the Silent Wings

and the Buddy Holly Center where you can get a discount on the other ticket if you go to one.

So that's a way to save a little bit of change on doing things. Okay. And there's also something I

didn't think I would be too interested in. I ended up really liking. It was the National

Ranching Heritage Center, which is an indoor outdoor gallery museum. And historically,

it's a historical park dedicated to the history of ranching. And I liked it a lot better than I

thought I would. There's three indoor galleries that have photos and sculptures and artwork that

just tell the history of ranching in the Texas Plains area. That was a big point of travel for

westward expansion and still a big cattle ranching industry and tells the story of the people who

settled Lubbock. But the outdoor historical park is what is really cool.

There's about 40 buildings that have been transported from various places around Lubbock

to make a little village. You can wander through a pathway to look at the buildings from the outside.

Some of them you can go in. It includes everything from the very most rudimentary little farmer's

cottage to the big fancy landowner's house. There's a mill, there's a commissary, the mess

hall, the ranch hands barracks. And for anyone who is a fan of ranching, there's a lot of

interesting things that we're going to be talking about. We're going to be talking about the

Yellowstone TV series, the Taylor and Sheridan franchise that we're eagerly waiting for to come

back on. There's going to be a spinoff show called Four Sixes, which is actually a ranch in Texas

that's going to be featured in the show. And they've got a couple of the buildings that were

part of the Four Sixes ranch on display there. So that's a cool television tie-in for anyone who's

interested in those shows. I thought it was cool. Interesting. Okay. But inside there's also some

exhibits related to the oil boom in that area and what happened when they first hit oil, when

they were drilling for water or trying to make wells back when people were initially settling

Lubbock. I would say that, and this is also a free activity, there's no charge to go in and do that.

I spent two hours total inside and out and could have probably spent another one. But it's anybody

that's interested in history will probably find that interesting. And just the outdoor open air

aspect, it's just a nice place to get outside and wander around. It's also accessible. Everything

is paved, so it's easy to walk around out there. But I like the free aspect. It was just a neat way

to get to know Lubbock that I was probably so tickled that I liked it because I didn't expect

to like it. All right. You could probably dedicate a full day to Lubbock's art scene,

which I also found very surprising. That was an art hub on the Texas high plains. So I don't

think I mentioned it, but Lubbock is also a college town. It's home to Texas Tech University,

which is a fairly large campus. Football fans or Kansas City Chiefs fans might recognize it as where

Patrick Mahomes went to school. Still really a Lubbock favorite son, a big deal there. But

Texas Tech has an open campus and they have an outdoor art program that's got about 150 pieces

of public art that anybody can go and look at.

All kinds of really larger than life, creative sculptures that you can go on campus and look at.

There are a few of them that are inside the building, but which is harder to access for

just the average person coming on campus, but probably 90% of them are outside. And the website

is ttupublicart.com. And it gives a little thumbnail listing of all the pieces and maybe

what they mean, as well as a downloadable map that you can get the lay of the land,

and see where these sculptures are located on campus. It's a really good way to get your steps

in. It's a nice, pretty, walkable campus. But if you don't want to walk, you can take an art cart

tour, which is a golf cart with siding built onto it. So you're somewhat protected from the elements

and that's free. They like donations, but you'll have a docent or somebody from the art department

take you around and show you the sculptures. That can take up a couple hours if you're going to go

to all the sculptures.

If you did the tour.

If you did the tour, sit and look at them longer and do it on your own and delve into the meaning

of the sculpture probably a little bit longer. But it's a nice campus with really pretty

architectural details. And I will mention that since it's a college town, when you visit is

really going to...

It's going to be my next question when you were talking about protecting from the elements.

Yeah. When do you recommend visiting?

I recommend doing this trip with the two-day itinerary in the early summertime. When we start

digging into what's in Amarillo more, that really drives the early summertime as being

the desired timeframe to go up there because there's a summer event in Palo Duro Canyon State

Park that is a summertime event. And I think it's an absolute don't miss thing to do and worth

planning your trip around. And also the weather, the weather in this part of Texas and probably

most of Texas is best in the spring and the fall. It's warm. You can be outside and do things.

Right now in San Antonio, it was 107 degrees yesterday. It was absolutely

miserable. Not really safe to be out walking around, looking at art. And most people probably

would find that unpleasant. So I would recommend early summer. Lubbock is a little bit quieter

because most of the students have gone home, but it's a good time to go and do that art tour

because you're not having to swim against the current and fight all the campus traffic in the

campus shuttles. So I think that's probably the best time to go.

And you say right now, and we're

recording this in late August. Yes. I would go, I would say probably

mid June would be the latest. I would want to go for a nice temperate experience. I would say

avoid going to Texas at all in July and August. I've been in July and August for a conference

because they schedule the conferences then because it's cheap because people don't want to go there

at that time. Yes. I live in a big convention city, so there's always people here, but I would

live in Montana during July and August if I could afford to. It's just, it's not the nicest time to

come, but yes, you can get some good travel deals for sure.

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But Lubbock also has a mini artist colony downtown in the area. Their arts district is where the

Performing Arts Center is, the Buddy Collin Mall that I mentioned earlier. And if you can get there

on the first Friday of the month, if you're an art lover, I would, if you're going to Lubbock for the

art, I would go to Lubbock for the art. I would go to Lubbock for the art. I would go to Lubbock for the

art. I would definitely work to plan it so you're there on a first Friday. They have an art walk

that the art district and then the businesses around the art district really get involved in.

There are two full-fledged galleries that you can go down there. Go to Lubbock anytime. Both are

free. You can go and look at the art, sometimes purchase art. There's the Charles Adams Gallery,

which is a smaller gallery featuring local Lubbock and Texas artists. There's all kinds of

stuff in there. It's going to be different at any given time, but there's a lot of Texas blue bonnet

art and a lot of different interpretations of Buddy Collin. Those seem to be. You say Texas

blue bonnet art. So Texas blue bonnet, the state flower, as I recall. Yes, our state flower.

So art that features Texas blue bonnets, or is there a particular style of art called Texas

blue bonnet art that I don't know? Okay. No, it's art that features Texas blue bonnets. We have a

really limited range of blue bonnets. We have a really limited range of blue bonnets. We have a

season, and that is in usually March or April. But we're very proud of our blue bonnets, and it

really shows up in our artwork and in Lubbock. Buddy Collin is a big theme, and it's interesting

to see how different artists portray Buddy Collin. Excellent. Where to next? There's also,

it's called LUCA. It's the Louise Underwood Hopkins Center for the Arts. It's a big

performing arts center. They have two or three galleries you can go in and look at art. I would

look at their calendar before you go. They have different classes where you can learn to make a

project or take ballroom dancing or see a play. And most of their programs are either free or for

a very small fee, a nominal charge for like craft supplies or something like that. But the first

Friday art walk is everybody's out in full force. It's in the evening, it's six to nine, all year

round. And it's food trucks and music and entertainment. It's like a mini street fair

every month. Even some of the, you know, the, you know, the, you know, the, you know, the, you know,

the non-art centered businesses that sort of surround that art district will, they'll have an

artist display or some type of performance art to, to go along with that. So it's a big community

builder, which really surprised me to find that in, that in Lubbock for sure. Got it. And then

wine. This is not the biggest place in Texas for wine tourism, but the High Plains area is one of

the biggest places where grapes are grown in Texas. And a lot of the grapes that are in other

Texas wines from more densely populated wine regions actually do come from Lubbock. So you

can easily do a full day of winery touring in Lubbock. There are six established wineries and

vineyards there right now. You can stretch it out over to just depending on how you like to drink

wine. Someone once told me that three, max four,

wineries in a day was the ideal. If you're going to do all the tasting and not use the bucket

after that, cause it's just day drinking, right? It's not wine tasting. So you can do three on one

day and three on another day. And you mentioned somebody else driving the disadvantage to doing

wine tours, wine tasting, or a dedicated wine day is that there's no established wine shuttles

in the area. So you're going to have to work that out amongst your travel companions and see who's

going to.

Be the driver. If everybody wants to do wine, they do have Uber and Lyft in Lubbock. I have not

used a ride share there and it may be less available during the summertime when most of

the college students aren't there, but I have not tested that or tried to take a ride share.

There are always options for private hires if you want to dig into that so that everyone can

partake, but three wineries in a day. I think that's a lot of wine.

Three is too much for me. Two is usually what I would do.

But that's a personal thing.

It is. I think just me, I stopped losing the nuances of what I'm tasting after two or three,

definitely. But there are six in the area. The most notable or well-known are the Lano Estacado,

which is one of the oldest grape growing production outlets in Texas. And then McPherson,

who's another known name in the wine world. And the McPherson Cellars Tasting Room is in

downtown Lubbock. It's a nice new tasting room with a patio.

A really cool place to go and gather and sit and enjoy with your company and some good wine.

And then the Lano Estacado is a little bit out of town, maybe a five, 10 minute drive from downtown.

Really gorgeous, new open air tasting room with a patio and just a fun place to go.

Both of them have a lot of wines, a lot of different types of wines. No matter where

your tastes run, there is just a ton at both of those. I also really like one that is more of an

estate winery.

Outside of town, maybe 15 minutes. Nothing is too far outside of town, but you need a car.

It's Pheasant Ridge and it's more rustic. You're more like out near the vineyards and they don't

have as large of a selection as the other two that I mentioned do, but they have some really

lovely reds and it's just a fun sort of more pastoral kind of experience to go out there.

But their hours are more limited. So I would definitely look at their website and make sure

that they are...

They're out there. I think they're primarily on weekends, whereas Llano, Estacado, and McPherson

are open pretty much always, whenever you want to go.

Okay.

And I am not a beer person as much, but Lubbock does have four or five craft breweries, tap

rooms that I know of. So you can add that to your list of beer, wine, spirits, center tourism,

if that's something.

And do you travel with a beer drinker who would recommend one of those over the others?

I do not usually travel with a beer drinker.

All the beer recommendations on my blog are my wife's doing.

Oh, cool.

Because she drinks beer and I don't.

Yeah. I'm really picky when it comes to beers. I basically only like IPAs. And it's not an IPA

that tastes like a blueberry or a kiwi or anything except hops and water. The one beer that I had at

the LBK Brewery, which is LBK is the airport code. I'm not sure what the connection is between the

LBK Brewery. I stopped in there for a quick drink with a girl. I was like, I'm not going to drink

and it was a sour beer that I had, which is, that's a definite curated taste or acquired taste

of sour. But there are those types of things happening in LBK. They have a merging food and

beverage scene, which is cool to see in a small town like that.

And you say a food scene as well. Are there any particular restaurants you would recommend?

Yes. I have four that I think are really worth mentioning. I've got two that are bougie and

upscale. And for what I would consider,

a more elevated palate or a serious foodie. And two that are more in line with what people might

associate or expect of Texas food. The first one is the West Table, which is in a historic building

downtown. Really cool architecture. There's the really high ceilings with the really elaborate

molding and the original tiles on the floor. Just a really pretty place to go and eat.

They are only open for dinner and they,

call it New American Cuisine. I would say it's probably medium for me on the scale of

adventurous or not adventurous. There are a couple of meat and potato type things like

a roast chicken with potatoes on the menu. There's a lot of oysters, a lot of raw bar stuff,

a lot of really elevated sauces. I had a shrimp risotto and my friend had a beet and goat cheese

salad and we split those. But they change their menu seasonally or daily.

And both that one and the other one I'm going to talk about in a second, brought their menus out

on just a piece of printed paper and said, this is what we have today. But it was a smaller menu.

The appetizer we had was like a crab hush puppy. But if you're a more choosy eater,

I might really look at the menu and ask some questions before I went there. And the other one,

this is more of a fine dining experience. It's called the Nicolette. It is absolutely a gorgeous

space. It's a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really,

it's a converted home of an architect. So there's a lot of really just interesting

little style details in the atmosphere. It's a really beautiful place to go and look at.

The chef is, I think last year, he was one of the Texas James Beard finalists. And it's

more of an elevated dining experience. They have a regular menu. And they also do the chef's

tasting menu where you can have, I think it's six or seven smaller tasting portions. So they can show

case what they make. I would say that's for someone who is used to more elevated foods and

trying new things with what they're eating. I'm a pretty adventurous eater. I wouldn't say I'm a

hardcore foodie. But the menu, I will say was hard for me to understand. And I had to ask questions.

What is this? That's couscous with squash on top. They use really creative terms in describing

what's on the menu. And they do that intentionally.

But the servers were really well explained it in a way that I don't think would make anybody

uncomfortable or feel silly. It wasn't like a snobby, highbrow experience. But if you're a

hamburger patty, meat and potatoes kind of person, I would probably not go there. I'm sure they would

probably be accommodating. And there were some pastas on the menu. But everything is, it's the

artful presentation, just beautifully plated stuff. I thought it was really fun to find something like

that in Lubbock.

And I enjoyed my experience there. It just all depends on what you like. But as far as other

places to eat, oh, and the Nikla is dinner only also. For other places that may be more approachable

are the Castan Grill, which serves breakfast and lunch. It's very country cooking. And they do

breakfast and lunch. They'll have the biscuits and gravy and the chicken fried steak and the

smothered chopped steak with mushrooms and onions and things like that. They have a lot of Mexican

and Southwest influence.

It's on their menu. There's a lot of stuff with green chilies, if you can handle a little bit of

spice. I think that's really good. But what the Castan skillet is on the map for is pie. They make

every kind of pie you could probably imagine. And they sell out of their pies every day. I went for

breakfast and I was eating my burritos and the people at the tables around me were all having

pie. So pie for breakfast. But it was good pie. That's the place you go for pie in Lubbock. And

the other one I would recommend checking out is E.V. May's Barbecue. Because it's Texas, you got to

eat barbecue. I think all barbecue is good barbecue. I think it's like pizza. And that causes

arguments with certain people in the state. But this is a good barbecue place. But what's interesting

about it is that everything is gluten free. It was started by someone with celiac disease who

was afraid to go out to restaurants because of restrictions and started playing around with

recipes and eventually got a food truck.

And then a brick and mortar store. I am not gluten free. And I did not realize it was gluten free

until I was halfway through eating. You would never know. You would never know, Chris, the sides

and the desserts. And the barbecue is really good too. And they have the smokehouse on site. So I

would definitely recommend checking that out. It's a college town. There's little coffee shops and

restaurants and bars all dotted throughout downtown. I will say some of the bars, if you want

the time to do it. It wasn't something I really honed in on those opportunities. I am not a night

owl, but the downtown area seemed pretty sleepy in the summer. I think some of the restaurants and

the coffee shops down there had more summer hours. Is there anything else you wanted to

talk about in Lubbock? I think we're good. Yes, I think we're good. Okay. Okay. It's less than a

two-hour drive, just depending on traffic and weather and stuff. You're not going to go through

congested major highway systems to get from one place to another. But I'll start by talking about

the things to do in Amarillo. I love this part of Texas. It was my COVID sanctuary, the place that

I went when everything else was closing. But Amarillo is famous for Palo Duro Canyon, which

is the second largest naturally occurring canyon in the United States, behind the Grand Canyon.

So it's this big canyon up there in the Panhandle, and half of it is managed by

Texas. So it's a big canyon up there in the Panhandle, and half of it is managed by Texas.

Texas Parks and Wildlife, so it's Palo Duro Canyon State Park, and the other half of the

canyon is private land. And it is just spectacular. It's got the red rock formations. I think one of

the reasons it's so cool is because it's so surprising. You're up there. It's not the most

scenic part of Texas. You're driving through flat land. And the first time I took my husband up

there, who is not from Texas, he actually asked me, are you sure that we're in the right place?

Are you sure there's a canyon up here? And I was like,

yes, I'm sure. And then you see it, and he's, oh, it's just, it's an incredible sight. I think

it's probably the most beautiful place in Texas. But the state park is a really well-done state

park. You can camp there. You can hike there. Hiking is probably the top activity, with the

Lighthouse Trail being the most popular trail, or the most iconic thing that the park is known for.

If you look up a picture of Palo Duro Canyon, or if you look it up,

on the internet, you're going to see this tall Pudu Tower, which is the Lighthouse. And it's a

six-mile trail out and back. Aside from it being a longish hike, it is an easy hike. The path is

pretty easy, and there's not a ton of elevation gain. And there's, I think, 30 miles of trail

system in the park. So you can pick other things that are shorter or more challenging. There's also

a CCC Trail, Civilian Conservation Corps, who did a lot of work with the parks during the 30s. So

there's a lot of great trails out there. And if you're looking for a trail that's a little bit

shorter, you can go to the Good Night Trail, which is a little bit dicey. It's a beautiful vista,

but it's a very steep, narrow walkout with some steep drop-offs. So maybe that's why they call it

the Good Night Trail. But if you're up for that, beautiful views. There's also equestrian trails

and mountain bike trails that are pretty popular. And there's outfitters in the park, or in the area

where you can rent a bike and bike equipment if you don't bring your own. And there's guided horseback

rides that advertise for all levels. If I was a new horseback rider, then I don't really ride.

But if I were new to the sport or not comfortable, that is probably not where I'd opt to start. Some

of their horse trails might have those drop-offs if you're nervous, but it just might not be the

best place to take a horseback riding. But if you can walk around, if you're fully mobile and

able-bodied, the hiking is really good. And then if you just want to do a scenic drive through the

park, it's also really pretty to see from the windshield.

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And then I want to mention Texas the Musical. And this is why...

I can see you.

Have you heard of this?

I'm surprised to know.

Yeah, it's fairly well known, especially up there. I think it starts,

usually...

Late May, early June, like when school starts getting out and runs through the summer.

The tickets usually go on sale or they'll announce the dates in December, January. So I would watch

for those. The tickets aren't hard to get. They perform it, I think, six nights a week during

their summer season. But it's a reason a lot of people go up there or they'll place it high on

their priority list. And if you decide last minute, I want to go to this show on Wednesday night,

you might be out of luck.

So I would definitely plan around going back.

When I was seeing this year in 2024, their season was June 6th through August 3rd. So it's really

June and July.

Okay. And that kind of corresponds with the nicer part of the year to go up there. It is

farther north in Texas. So it is a little bit cooler than the southern part of the state where

I live and even cooler than Lubbock. Still early June would be good. In July, you're going to be

hot, but it's also outdoors. But it's...

There's an outdoor amphitheater in the park. There's fireworks, there's horses. It's a really

cool show. I recommend that everybody go check it out at least once. But...

I see they're also doing Shakespeare.

Yes. I don't know if that is new. When I was...

No idea.

The last time I looked that up, I saw that. So that would be interesting to see. And I'm curious

to see how good of a response that gets. And if that's maybe just an option for people to go do

something that maybe can't get tickets to the Texas musical.

But definitely look at that. And the acoustics are just gorgeous. It's any kind of musical show.

It's just incredible out there. But I want to talk really quick about the other side of the

canyon because I think that's the thing that the guidebooks and the travel blogs, except mine,

are not going to tell you to go and do is Palo Duro Creek Ranch. I don't know how I've heard of

this place because it does not show up on the list. It's called Palo Duro Creek Ranch. Some of

the local folks will call it the...

The Elkins Ranch. And I think my Airbnb host told me about it. I think that's how I know about it

from way back when. It's a cattle ranch. It's the privately owned part of the canyon. It's the same

canyon. It's the same landscape, but it's private and it's not as crowded. You can see more wildlife,

less people. They offer Jeep tours that go down to the canyon floor. And it is absolutely my

favorite travel memory that I have with my family is going out there in the air.

I'm going to go out there in the afternoon in like April and just riding in the Jeep down to the

canyon floor and seeing coyotes out during the day. It's very cool.

Very cool.

Yes. I would definitely make time to do that. Just depending on whether you're a camper or a hiker,

a biker, I would say definitely at least two days in the canyon or doing canyon things.

Knowledge is going to vary just based on what you like to do and what your timeline is. But I would

definitely pick at least two days to do things there.

And then in Amarillo proper, you've got the area, the Route 66 Historical District,

one time famous iconic highway that connected the Midwest to the California coast. The Route 66

Historical District has a little bit of everything. They have shops and kind of kitschy

things. There is the Devil's Wire Museum or the Devil's something.

Oh, it's a barbed wire. Okay.

Yes. It's a barbed wire museum, but it's Devil's Rope, I think. Devil's Rope Museum. It's a museum

destination. It's a museum destination. It's a museum destination. It's a museum destination. It's a

dedicated to barbed wire. So kitschy things like that. Amarillo and the area around it. Also

very heavy on quirky roadside attractions. The big, large leaning cowboy. The Leaning Tower of

Texas, which is a leaning water tower in a field. There's a pair of painted legs. You can literally

spend at least an entire day driving around the area, taking pictures of these really,

really quirky offbeat roadside attractions. There's definitely a market for people who like

to do that. The one I thought was really cool is called the Floating Mesa. And it's a piece of

plywood. It's an art installation. It's affixed near the top of a mesa and painted like a bluish

white. So when the sky is clear, it blends in with the background and it makes it look like the top

of the mesa is floating in the air. It's just a weird optical illusion. And then there's the Cadillac

Ranch.

Have you heard of the Cadillac Ranch?

I have heard of the Cadillac Ranch.

Yes. The Cadillac Ranch is 10 vintage Cadillacs. The big ones with the really long

fins. Their noses are buried in the dirt, spins up. It's like a car hinge. They're in a little

loose semicircle and you go and you paint the cars. It's in a field outside of town.

They have moved it. They've moved a couple of these roadside attractions around or a couple

of them have fizzled because the highway has moved or they've...

rerouted things as the city has grown. And the Route 66 has changed and the big highways have

taken over. But they moved it in the 90s at some time. But you go and you take your spray paint

and you do whatever you want to do with these cars. And then you take your picture and go.

It's probably an overrated roadside attraction, but I don't know. It's something that's kind of

kind of quirky to do.

And it doesn't have the same astrological alignment that Car Hinge in Nebraska does,

just to be fair.

Yeah.

My understanding is from a current candidate for VP that the Car Hinge was so popular in Nebraska

that they made a version of it with stone in England.

Okay. Yes. I have not been to Car Hinge, but yeah, it's just, it's painted cars in a field

and it consistently shows up as your number one tourist attraction in the Amarillo area for,

for what it's worth. I think it's fun. The only thing I would,

I would say to people who are going to go do that is if you're road tripping,

bring your paint with you or buy it at the Home Depot or the Lowe's in town.

There's a little kiosk slash gift shop sort of catty corner from the field that charges

an astronomical amount for a can of spray paint. So bring your own spray paint and take a picture

and don't expect your creation to be there five minutes after you leave. And I would also try to

get the car on either end for the best pictures because you can have it. It's just a different

view with all the cars laid out behind you. And we should say if your road trip here to Amarillo

eventually ends up at Southern California and you go to California Adventure and you do the

Cars Ride, take a look at the mountains in the background of the Cars Ride, which are the

Cadillac Range. And they are an homage to Cadillac Ranch.

I did not know that.

We are going to Disneyland for spring break. Actually, I have been a long time ago. My kids

have not been. So I'm excited to check that out. So very cool. I'm glad I know that now.

Yeah, it's been a while.

They paint them though.

I will remember that. I will try not to get kicked out of Disneyland. But you can spray

paint at the Cadillac Ranch. Just clean up your spray paint bottles. That was one thing that made

me sad. It's this mountain of empty paint cans just sitting there in a pile.

People not being good visitors and cleaning up their paint cans.

Clean your paint cans up.

The other big thing that people do in Amarillo is attempt to eat a 70-ounce steak. It's one

of those man versus food type things. It's called Big Texas Steakhouse. I think it's

Big Texas Steakhouse and Brewery. But they have a 72-ounce steak with lots of rules for

eating it. You have to sit at a certain table and not have anybody with you so that they

don't doubt the integrity of it.

that you're eating all of it but if you eat it all then you'll pay for it that's one of those

i would i have not attempted it and no one in my family has tried that yet but i have two teenage

boys so that could be in the cards in the future we'll see where to next i want to talk really

quickly about a side trip to take from either location but just to recap amarillo you can spend

four days combined with doing park stuff and route 66 stuff and quirky roadside attractions

there's a lot of things to do in that area that can take up that time side trip from either place

that i recommend is cap rock canyons state park and trailway it's less than a two-hour drive from

lubbock and amarillo it's another canyon operated by texas parks and wildlife the same sort of red

rocks as you'll see in palo duro not as spectacular not as majestic

it's a camping mountain biking hiking location but what's cool about even just doing a drive-through

for the day is the state bison herd lives at cap rock canyon so you do have to be mindful of them

when you're camping and hiking but it's lots and lots of bison out there so it's cool to see

if you have not had a chance to see a bison herd if you haven't been up to

montana or the dakotas or wyoming or someplace it's definitely something worth seeing

we're going to go to the bison herd and we're going to go to the bison herd

we happened on that just by accident we were staying up in palo duro and didn't want to go home

but we couldn't stay in our airbnb so we just looked at stuff near me and decided to just take

a day tour of cap rock canyon and stop somewhere else along the way and just spent the day out there

so we went out there completely blind and not knowing what was there as oh bison it's not

those huge majestic herds that you see in yellowstone but it was still a cool thing to

see in texas and if you're out in that sort of less traveled area it's definitely worth

tacking that one on it's a cool spot excellent i don't know if you've had a chance yet but there's

an interesting site near amarillo that caught my eye which was the and i don't know how to say it

abalates flint quarries i don't know that this is where 13 000 years ago hunters were making flint

stone tools

it's out in the middle of nowhere but it's a flint deposit and then a small museum there

dedicated to this prehistoric time and the flint nappers who were in the region no i am in the early

stages of planning a trip up to amarillo like lubbock they've got this emerging food scene

that i don't really know a lot about that's more of an elevated food scene than that it's not the

only place that i've been to so i'm looking forward to checking that out i don't usually

frequent restaurants when i go up there i usually stay in an airbnb or stay in the parks the food

experience has not yet really been part of my amarillo experience so i'm looking forward to

seeing what else they have up there but it's really one of my favorite places in texas and

i i would i think everybody should go there anything else you would

recommend to people who want to go there i think they should go there i think they should go there

we see while we're in amarillo before we get to our wrap-up questions i don't think so i could

talk individually about the different roadside attractions but the cadillac ranch the big

cowboy statue is is probably the most standout but it's really the gift that keeps on giving

that area and there's such a market for them just weird art installations pop up from time to time

so it's a fun way to spend the day driving around when the weather's nice

good scenery got it it looks like the big cowboy statue is it the big texan cowboy and this was

something like waldrug where they were looking for attracting people to come to the the restaurant

and the 72 on stake yeah and they've moved him around and refurbished him a couple of different

times just as the driving routes change and just you know the pattern of where people are going

has changed they've moved him at least

once to where he can be seen and loved by more people and he was looking pretty sad there about

maybe 1996 in my head is five years ago but somewhere around that time they refurbished him

because his fingers were crumpling and he was looking pretty pretty sad but i think he looks

okay now i haven't been up in that route 66 main street area of amarillo since probably the end of

2020

i think that's the last time i saw him got it excellent as we get to some of our wrap-up

questions i think you may have answered this already but you're standing in the prettiest spot

in this corner of texas where are you standing what are you looking at

i am looking out over the vista that is directly where the lighthouse ends the lighthouse trail

culminates with this big larger than life majestic view and the view of the

state park just in sort of the horseshoe around it is the best thing to look at so we're in

palo duro canyon state park yes there's i think that's the prettiest part i really like the private

side of the canyon just because of the more serene vibe but i think the prettiest rock

formations are probably on the state park side okay which is probably why that's the state park

side one thing that makes you laugh and say only in this corner of texas is the state park side

of texas probably the painted legs the painted the painted legs there's a statue of painted legs

up there in the amarillo area that they look like the oh that movie the the christmas story

the fragili legs they're just like mannequin legs cadillacs buried in the dirt is rather unique what

was i thinking only in texas there was something oh prairie dog town in lubbock only in texas

although i think they're all in texas i think they're all in texas i think they're all in texas

other prairie dog towns i was going to mention that and i got sidetracked on something else

there's a public park in lubbock where people feed prairie dogs all kinds of junk food like

doritos and candy bars um okay that can't be recommended but the first time i took my kids

there they were like eight maybe they're in high school now and i grew up going to parks and

respecting the outdoors and had the don't feed wildlife

i grained in my kids and we show up there to see the prairie dogs and people are feeding them

doritos it doesn't say not to but only in texas maybe you feed a prairie dog doritos i don't know

it's a quirky state for sure but it's a great area and if you had to summarize the region in

just three words what three words are you going to pick majestic okay open i feel like this is

really dramatic but like awe-inspiring

i just i love the canyon it's a gorgeous place but it's just it's out there it's away from the

city it's very peaceful excellent our guest again it's been jill robbins jill if we wanted to send

people to the best example of your writing either on your blog or elsewhere of this region where are

we going to send people probably to the blog and jill robbins writes.com i have a selection of my

travel writing on there as well okay is there a particular article we're going to send them to

i have a couple of articles up on visitamarillo.com if you want to send me those links we can put yes

yes i can definitely do that you can give you some texas center content and i also have an article on

my blog about the elkins ranch i already have a link to that oh okay very good i know it's still

current because i looked at the information last year but i probably need to give that one a desktop

to you which i will do before your show publishes excellent jill thanks so much for coming on

today.

Amateur Traveler, sharing with us your obvious love for Texas and for the region of Amarillo and Lubbock.

Yes, you should come.

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This is my day job now.

And if you're interested in learning more about how you can become a patron of the show, go to patreon.com slash amateurtraveler.

If you want to become a sponsor of the show, send me an email to host at amateurtraveler.com or chris2x at gmail.com.

I understand some of you have had trouble with the amateur traveler email address.

Sorry about that.

I'm working on fixing it.

I heard recently from Justin Barnes, patron of the show and former guest,

who commented on the episode we did on Hungary and Romania.

One important note on pronunciation in Hungary,

palinka is schnapps and pelinka is diaper.

So make sure you emphasize the pa like papa when you ask for a drink.

Also, if you do fly into Budapest during the summer and you can arrange to be there on August 20th,

the celebrations they have in the city are incredible.

From food and drink to music to an air show to the largest fireworks show.

And I had to look that up.

And that's the celebration of the founding of Hungary more than a thousand years ago.

And then I also heard from John about the episode that we did on Northeast Florida.

John said,

I quite enjoyed the podcast and Angie's enthusiasm and passion for her home region was most evident.

I do have two comments.

Was most surprised that golf was never raised as an attraction.

I've been on separate golf trips to both Amelia Island,

and Ponte Verde,

home of TPC Sawgrass,

and they are both world-class golf destinations.

Also was taken back by Angie's and many from the Jacksonville area,

belief that the only rivers in the world that run north are St.

John's and Nile.

Ouch from someone so well-traveled.

Just one example from Canada is the McKenzie River,

which runs north into the Arctic Ocean.

Not only is it one of the longest river systems in the world,

but only the Mississippi has a larger drainage basin in North America.

Thanks so much,

John.

In terms of golf,

the last time I've golfed was in junior high,

so it's been a while.

So yeah,

I probably never bring up golf and you're right.

Sawgrass is even one that I've heard of.

So we did miss that out.

I'm just back from a press trip to Door County in Wisconsin,

which we'll hear about in a little bit on the show.

If you hold up your hand to do that shape of Wisconsin thing,

your pinky is that 70 mile long Door County Peninsula and had a great time there.

You'll hear more about that.

But with that,

we're going to end this episode of Amateur Traveler.

If you have any questions,

send an email to host at amateurtraveler.com.

I'll try and get that fixed or better yet,

leave a comment on this episode at amateurtraveler.com and thanks so much for

listening.

I got to see one more cathedral.

I got to sit in one more cafe.

I know that I should be heading home,

but maybe not,

maybe not today.

.