Guide to Amarillo: how to get there and where to stay, what to see and where to go in the evening. The most interesting in Amarillo: fresh reviews and photos, places to see, branded entertainment and shops.
According to toppharmacyschools, Amarillo is located in the center of the territory, which is called by the Americans in an everyday way “Texas pan handle”. In this case, the “frying pan” itself is the Great Plains, which begin almost immediately outside the city. But what makes the city famous is not so much this as the location on the most famous cross-continental route No. 66.
How to get to Amarillo
Amarillo Rick Husband International Airport is located about 11 km from the city center and receives flights from Dallas, Houston, Albuquerque, Denver and Las Vegas. Route 66, passing through the city, becomes Amarillo Parkway: it is laid north of the airport, through the city center and the hospital, connecting with I-40 to the west and US-60 to the east.
A bit of history
The city was founded in 1887, and acquired city status in 1913. Today Amarillo is inhabited by approximately 185 thousand people. Amarillo is a true heritage of the American West in landscapes characteristic of this region. Continuous plains around, breathtaking sunsets and sunrises. In addition, Amarillo is also the gateway to Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest in America. The climate of the city is relatively mild, and the air here is recognized as one of the cleanest in the country. Indians, conquistadors, buffalo hunters, pioneers, adventurers, outlaws, marksmen and railroad workers were the original backbone of the local population. And this is still felt in Amarillo, where “cowboy” is still a profession, and quite an honorable one at that.
Attractions and attractions in Amarillo
The Cadillac Ranch was originally a kind of eccentric landmark placed along the road by the Ant Farm art collective. Then it was removed from Route 66, and now the ranch can be found on I-40, just outside the city limits. It is clearly visible from the road. This, of course, is not a ranch at all, but a dozen old Cadillacs, which are up to half dug into the ground with “noses” in a cow pasture. These cars get spray-painted all over the place on a regular basis, and a huge amount of spent spray cans litter the pit behind the last Cadillac.
3 things to do in Amarillo:
- Go to the Silver Mesa Ranch to ride horses or wagons, eat cowboy breakfast or dinner, take part in Wild West shooting competitions, and so on.
- Fighting the “King of Texas” is not for the sake of profit, but at least for the sake of show.
- Create your own collection of photographs of “dynamite” road signs.
Speaking of art, the City Museum of Art, located on the Amarillo College campus, boasts a permanent exhibition of Asian art, as well as a number of rotating temporary exhibits. Every third Thursday of the month, a special event is held here with live music, cinema, free coffee and workshops for those who wish. Entrance to the museum is free.
The Museum of American Riding Horses boasts really beautiful exhibits. Among them are superbly executed bronze statues on an enlarged scale. Visitors can explore the Hall of Fame, and in the Hegel Stables Department, see a variety of interactive exhibitions. Particularly curious is the exhibition of images in the style of x-rays. And the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum, a few miles south of the city, in Canyon, is considered the largest history museum in Texas.
In addition, the Don Harrington interactive science center with a planetarium is located in the area of the city hospital. In front of the main entrance is the Helium Centennial monument, dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the discovery of helium as a chemical element. The Column of Time is a six-story stainless steel monument that contains 4 time capsules: 3 at the “legs” of the monument, and one at the very top, in a vertical “beam”. The capsules are supposed to be opened 25, 50, 100 and 1000 years after the creation of the monument in 1968 (that is, the first one has already been opened). In 1982, the monument was lifted by helicopter and moved from I-40 to downtown Don Harrington.
Amarillo is the helium capital of the world; at least that’s what he calls himself. Other nicknames for the city are the “Yellow Rose of Texas” and “Bomb City”, the latter because of the country’s only atomic weapons assembly and disassembly facility, Pantex, which is also Amarillo’s main employer.
Other noteworthy museums in the Amarillo area are the Kwahadi Kiva Indian Museum and the Texas Aerospace Museum. The first contains a collection of Indian art and hosts dance evenings. The second, the former English Field Museum, was converted in 2007, and today you can see the exposition of civil and military aircraft and many related artifacts. In 2011, the museum received a NASA training apparatus for the Gulfstream II shuttles. It was used by Amarillo native Rick Husband, commander of the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107), which broke apart in 2003, killing all crew members, on 49 training flights.
The Dynamite Museum is also not so much a museum as an art project. It consists of thousands of pseudo-road signs that are scattered among the business and residential areas of the city. The most sacred statements and images from the series “the road never ends” are placed on the signs.
The Route 66 Historic District is located in the 6th Avenue area, between Western Street and Georgia Street. Street fairs and exhibitions, theatrical performances and musical events are held here; there are many shops and shops, and all this in the style of the Old West. And those who are looking for evening-night entertainment can be directed to the South Polk Street area in the city center, between 7th and 8th avenues.
Well known outside of Amarillo, the Big Texas Steak Ranch is a motel combined with a steakhouse. It opened on Route 66 in 1960, but moved to I-40 a decade later and is now located not far from the Cadillac Ranch. In 1976, a fire destroyed the west wing of the restaurant, and many valuable exhibits perished, but a year later the super-popular bright yellow Big Texan Steak reopened. One of the “chips” of the establishment is a huge statue of a cow in front of the entrance: the cow advertises the famous 72-ounce (that is, two-kilogram) Texas King steak.
You won’t pay a dime for the King of Texas if you can eat it in an hour – along with a side dish of baked potatoes, bread and butter, beans, shrimp cocktail and salad. According to restaurant statistics, no more than 20% of those who wish can cope with this task. The speed record was set by “professional” competitive eater Molly Schewer, who destroyed the dish in less than 5 minutes, and mastered the second portion in 10 more.
Ozymandias in the Plains is a very unusual sculpture, placed right on the freeway south of the city. It depicts two legs up to the knee, standing on a flat slab. The idea for the sculpture came from a poem by Percy Shelley, and vandal pranksters occasionally put socks on the King of Kings’ ankles.
Amarillo Events
The Tri-State Fair and Rodeo has been held in the city since 1921 in mid-September. This is the largest annual event on the “handle of the Texas pan”, within which a variety of horse shows, competitions, games, exhibitions and so on. The main part of the participants comes from three states: Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.
The annual international championship “Chakwagon Roundup” takes place in the city on the first weekend of June. Teams compete to make beef burgers, mashed potatoes, baked beans and biscuits in an attempt to replicate the dishes eaten by cattle drives in the 1860s.
Neighborhood Amarillo
Palo Duro Canyon stretches for 190 km with an average width of 10 km (in the widest places – up to 33 km). Its maximum depth is 240 m. According to archaeological data, people inhabited the canyon 12 thousand years ago, and later Apaches and Comanches lived here for a long time. The canyon is famous for its many “hoodoos” – thin and tall irregularly shaped columns of layered soil, “growing” from the bottom. The most famous of them is the so-called Lighthouse, which has become the hallmark of the state.
If you like Cadillac Ranch, you should also visit Conway, a tiny community a few miles east of Amarillo. Here you can see something similar, only from five Volkswagen Beetles. In addition, dilapidated ancient gas stations and cafes offer interesting opportunities for photography lovers in Conway. And if that’s not enough for you, then a similar installation of 12 agricultural combines is located near Canyon.
