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AMARRILLO |
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AMARILLO may seem cut off from the rest of Texas, up in the northern
Panhandle, but it stands on one of the great American cross-country
routes I-40, once the legendary Route 66 roughly 300 miles east of
Albuquerque and 250 miles west of Oklahoma City. The name comes from the
Spanish for "yellow," the color of the soil characteristic in these
parts. An early promoter of the city was so delighted with its potential
as a site for lucrative buffalo hunting (for those who braved the Apache
and Comanche threat) and as excellent ranching land that he painted all
the buildings bright yellow.
Today, sitting on ninety percent of the world's helium and hosting a
world-class cattle market, Amarillo is a prosperous but surprisingly
uneventful city. The small " old town " consists of a few tree-lined
streets and staid old homes; some of the less twee antique stores along
Sixth Street (the old Route 66, known locally as "Old San Jacinto")
serve equally well as museums of pioneer life. Following I-40 six miles
west to exit 60 (Arnot Road) brings you to Cadillac Ranch (
www.libertysoftware.be/cml/cadillacranch/crmain.htm ). An extraordinary
vision in the middle of nowhere, ten battered roadsters stand upended in
the soil, their tail fins demonstrating the different Cadillac designs
from 1949 to 1963. Since the cars were installed in 1974, they have been
subject to countless makeovers at the hands of graffiti artists,
photographers and members of the public (encouraged by owner and patron,
eccentric helium millionaire Stanley Marsh III, on whose land the cars
are planted); occasionally they're shiny blue or red after having been
painted for a photo shoot. In 1997 the whole installation was moved two
miles west to this present site as the city had begun to encroach and
spoil the horizon.
Amarillo is also host to the world's stompingest, snortingest livestock
auction (tel 806/373-7464), in the stockyards at S Manhattan and Third
avenues, on the east side of town. The auction proper, held on Tuesday
morning, is open to the public, as is the adjacent Stockyard Caf (tel
806/374-6024).
If you enjoy playing cowboys, it's fun to visit one of the many grand
old Panhandle ranches to have diversified into tourism. Some just open
for the day; others provide (usually expensive) accommodation (call
Amarillo's CVB for particulars). The ranchers who entertain you are
often natural showmen and women, whose welcome is utterly genuine,
though they'd rather be working the animals for real than running a
theme park.
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Vacation Rentals in Amarillo |
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from $46.00
USD