Think big in Amarillo

Some people maintain that the Texas Panhandle around Amarillo is so flat that
during sunrise and sunset, you can see the curvature of the earth. Although he is not sure about that, Eric Miller said people’s concept of the expansiveness of the Great Plains is correct.

Thus, said Miller, the director of communications for the Amarillo Convention and Visitors Council, visitors are surprised when he drives them to see the sharp bluffs and canyons that traverse the area, known as the Crown of Texas.
“When you drive over the flat plains, I have had people question whether I am really taking them to a canyon,” said Miller. “Palo Duro Canyon would be our great example of those canyon lands. It always surprises people when I take them there. It is one of our biggest attractions.”

Called the Grand Canyon of Texas, the 120-mile-long Palo Duro Canyon, 25 miles southeast of Amarillo, has multihued walls that rise 800 to 1,000 feet above the
canyon floor. Unlike at the Grand Canyon, motorists can drive to the bottom of
the canyon. The rustic stone visitors center on the canyon rim, constructed
by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934, features a museum and a gift shop.
Groups can take 15-minute Jeep tours of the canyon after a cowboy breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, country-style potatoes, buttermilk biscuits and cream gravy at Elkins Ranch.

Another way to experience the canyon from June through mid-August is at the outdoor drama Texas. “It uses the walls of the canyon as a backdrop. No outdoor drama approaches the setting of this one,” said Miller. The play tells the story of the Texas Panhandle in the 1800s with song and dance, horses, fireworks and special effects — including a lightning strike.

Because this is Texas, you can expect other things to be done in a big way, too. Take the Big Texan Steak Ranch, for example. Polish off its 72-ounce steak dinner — that includes the trimmings — in one hour, and the meal is free.
“Thousands have succeeded, tens of thousands have tried it,” said Miller. “They [the restaurant staff] can handle groups very well; it is one of the things they do best.”

If groups want to continue the “big” theme and learn about the history of the area, they can stop at the Panhandle Plains Historic Museum in nearby Canyon.
“We are the largest history museum in Texas,” said Linda Moreland, the museum’s marketing director. “We have more than 3 million artifacts in almost 300,000 square feet.” Because of the museum’s size, Moreland said, staff will greet groups; give them a brief history of the museum, which was started in
1932; and provide directions to the various exhibit areas, which cover
paleontology, geology, Native American history, ranching, towns, and the oil and gas industry.

The new interactive exhibit People of the Plains covers 14,000 years of history on the Southern Plains. “It is done topically instead of chronologically,” said Moreland. “In the food area, for example, we have a chuck wagon with a life-size model cook. You can smell the coffee cooking on the campfire.”

By Herb Sparrow

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Couretsy of grouptravelleader.com