10/15/07 (Monday): Today was the best day yet! You're not going to believe how much we fit into one day.
We left Elk City, Oklahoma, this morning. Our first stop was the Route 66 museum. It was surprisingly interesting! There was a transportation museum, a farm museum, and a little town made up of turn-of-the-century buildings moved from other locations or recreated.
This little RV consisted of a mattress and a lift-up tail gate sheltering a stove and sink. Bet the folks who camped in it weren't as comfy as Wiley and me!
Route 66 was the first interstate. It ran between Chicago and Los Angeles, and was responsible for opening up the country to automobiles and trucks. All sorts of businesses sprang up along its route.
When we passed from Oklahoma into the Panhandle of Texas, the land flattened out, the vegetation grew even more sparse, and we lost the red soil and rocks. There were even fewer farms--instead there were extremely large ranches. You couldn't even see houses or barns--just barren fields stretching to the horizon with the occasional small herd of cattle. The towns were few and far between, as well. But the rest area was fantastic! It had a visitor information center like none I've ever seen. We learned that the second largest canyon in the U.S. was near Amarillo, so we decided that's where we'd camp tonight so that we could visit it.
We camped on the west edge of Amarillo so that we wouldn't have to contend with rush hour traffic tomorrow morning, set up quickly, and then headed about 25 miles to Palo Duro Canyon.
The name is Spanish for "hard wood." The palo duro trees (a kind of juniper) that grow in the canyon were used for arrows and spear handles because it's so hard. A small creek cut the canyon almost 1 million years ago. It's about 120 miles long and 600-800 feet deep. It's the second largest canyon in the U.S. (after the Grand Canyon). The rocks at the bottom are 250 million years old, and has been inhabited for approximately 12,000 years.
The Civilian Conservation Corps built a road down into the canyon in 1933, as well as a visitor center and some charming cabins. We drove the 15-mile road. It was utterly spectacular! I took so many photos, all of which seem special to me, that I'm not even going to talk about each one. I'll let them speak for themselves.
On the way back out of the canyon, we saw this flock of turkeys.
We hadn't gone more than another 200 yards when we saw this mule deer. (Both the turkey and the mule deer picture were shot hurriedly through the windshield.) And just past that, we saw a coyote (didn't get a picture of the coyote). What a fantastic day!
We'll be in New Mexico by this time tomorrow. What fun to travel all day and then be home every night in our own beds!
We left Elk City, Oklahoma, this morning. Our first stop was the Route 66 museum. It was surprisingly interesting! There was a transportation museum, a farm museum, and a little town made up of turn-of-the-century buildings moved from other locations or recreated.
This little RV consisted of a mattress and a lift-up tail gate sheltering a stove and sink. Bet the folks who camped in it weren't as comfy as Wiley and me!
Route 66 was the first interstate. It ran between Chicago and Los Angeles, and was responsible for opening up the country to automobiles and trucks. All sorts of businesses sprang up along its route.
When we passed from Oklahoma into the Panhandle of Texas, the land flattened out, the vegetation grew even more sparse, and we lost the red soil and rocks. There were even fewer farms--instead there were extremely large ranches. You couldn't even see houses or barns--just barren fields stretching to the horizon with the occasional small herd of cattle. The towns were few and far between, as well. But the rest area was fantastic! It had a visitor information center like none I've ever seen. We learned that the second largest canyon in the U.S. was near Amarillo, so we decided that's where we'd camp tonight so that we could visit it.
We camped on the west edge of Amarillo so that we wouldn't have to contend with rush hour traffic tomorrow morning, set up quickly, and then headed about 25 miles to Palo Duro Canyon.
The name is Spanish for "hard wood." The palo duro trees (a kind of juniper) that grow in the canyon were used for arrows and spear handles because it's so hard. A small creek cut the canyon almost 1 million years ago. It's about 120 miles long and 600-800 feet deep. It's the second largest canyon in the U.S. (after the Grand Canyon). The rocks at the bottom are 250 million years old, and has been inhabited for approximately 12,000 years.
The Civilian Conservation Corps built a road down into the canyon in 1933, as well as a visitor center and some charming cabins. We drove the 15-mile road. It was utterly spectacular! I took so many photos, all of which seem special to me, that I'm not even going to talk about each one. I'll let them speak for themselves.
On the way back out of the canyon, we saw this flock of turkeys.
We hadn't gone more than another 200 yards when we saw this mule deer. (Both the turkey and the mule deer picture were shot hurriedly through the windshield.) And just past that, we saw a coyote (didn't get a picture of the coyote). What a fantastic day!
We'll be in New Mexico by this time tomorrow. What fun to travel all day and then be home every night in our own beds!
7 comments:
Great pics, what do you think JULIE?
That's a dangerous question - what do I think? I think we're all enjoying Joyce's blog. See my comments in the previous blog.
Joyce, what a find with that canyon outside of Amarillo. Were you able to get out of your vehicle and walk around the canyon? I'd be afraid of snakes. I am thinking of that rock perched on top of that tall sandstone?? pedestal.
You mentioned the visitor center -- what was so different about it?
I had to laugh at that little RV -- I doubt I could have fit through that door. It looks more like the size of a large window. I saw the stove but you said it had a sink? It looks like two large plastic containers to me.
Many of your photos have such beautiful blue, cloudless skies. Is it really that blue? That cloudless?
When I saw the Route 66 Museum store with that Burma-Shave sign in the front, I had to try to remember those signs. Remember them? They used to be along the highways, all in a row? One I remember (each line on a different sign):
Proper
Distance
To him was bunk
They pulled him out
Of some guy's trunk.
Burma-Shave
Another one (I'm remembering):
His cheek
Was rough
His chick vamoosed
And now she won't
Come home to roost.
Burma-Shave
They were fun to read while traveling.
That canyon was the highlight of our trip so far. I didn't even post half the pictures I took. In fact, I think I'll do another blog with more pictures.
We got out and walked a little. There were a number of trails, but mostly we just pulled off the road and looked around near the truck.
We didn't see any snakes, but we did see a 1" tarantula (at least I think it was a tarantula)!
The visitor center was an earth sheltered building. It had museum quality exhibits inside. The bathrooms had granite floors and walls. It was just gorgeous!
And yes, the skies are very blue and mostly cloudless. The combination of the red earth and rocks and green skies is just breathtaking.
We never traveled much when I was a kid, so I didn't see many Burma Shave signs.
We're in Albuquerque, NM, tonight. We came across some pretty high mountains (some were 9,000+ feet). The truck was no problem, but the scenery is so gorgeous that it was distracting. We'll be here 3 nights. Tomorrow is a museum and tour of Old Town. The next day we're going to see some petroglyphs. Should be an interesting blog!
Guess I'll have to look up "petroglyphs"! Sounds like a Wiley term, if you ask me.
Petroglyphs are the ancient paintings on rocks.
I want to say I genuinely appreciate the map you are doing definitely helps me. The canyon pictures are cool, I loved the Grand canyon as a kid and never even knew there was something like this too. I thought the visitor center looked cool and very Texas like.
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