The Big Texan

I was updating my bucket list and marking off the completed ones and I noticed that I never wrote one for my food challenge in Amarillo!  #badblogger

Back in December a few friends of mine (and me) took a road trip to Amarillo to see the sights.  Bucket list item #3 for the weekend was attempting a food challenge.  I have always seen shows like Man vs. Food and Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives where they tour the country and try their hand at eating lots of food.    I have always heard of The Big Texan in Amarillo has a steak and potato challenge and thought I should try it.  Now, I like food but eating a ton of food usually doesn’t appeal to me.  BUT, the challenge is always fun.  I enjoy the challenge more than the idea of eating all that food.  The challenge costs $72 but if you finish it, you get it free.  

The challenge:

·         72 oz steak

·         Baked potato

·         Salad

·         Roll

·         Shrimp Cocktail

 You must complete the challenge in 1 hour while sitting at a specific table with a spotlight on you. 

 

Blurry picture!  Sorry

I knew I would never finish this, but it’s fun to accept the challenge. I thought I could just sit with my friends, but nooooo, they make you sit in a special table in the middle of the room with a spotlight on you.  My friends were upstairs watching from their table.  Luckily, I was saved the embarrassment of doing this by myself and two teenagers started about 10 minutes before me.  They were chowing down on their steak and I’m just going slowly.  I gave up when I had 17 minutes left (right after the teenagers left) since I was too full.  One of the guys only had 10 ounces of steak left, but he couldn’t go on.

The record is 4 minutes and it was a girl.  She didn’t have a gag reflex (guys must love her) and was basically shoveling food down her throat.  On top of eating it all in 4 minutes, she ate another one right after! 

My stomach hurt SO BAD after we left the restaurant.  It felt like a rock was sitting in it.  I will not be participating in anymore food challenges any time soon. :)  I literally had leftover steak for 3 days.  So much steak!

I got a free shirt at the end since I didn't finish it.  

Palo Duro Canyon and the American Quarter Horse Museum

After we were done sightseeing at Cadillac Ranch and Route 66, we headed to Palo Duro Canyon to hike the trails.  Palo Duro Canyon is the 2^nd largest canyon in the USA and is nicknamed The Grand Canyon of Texas.  I have never seen the Grand Canyon at all, so driving into this canyon was AMAZING!!!!  I had no idea we had a canyon that big in Texas. 

It was so weird that you were driving and the land was flat, flat, and more flat, and then all the sudden here comes a HUGE canyon in the middle of nowhere.   The cost to get into the park is $5 per person and there is a bathroom right at the entrance gate.  The bathroom had been converted from an old well and still had the water marking gauge inside. 

 We got out and took pictures at a viewing area and I can’t begin to show you how beautiful this place is.  I only brought my phone so my pictures are not the best, but honestly, BEATIFUL!!!  I really wanted to hike the 6 mile round trip Lighthouse trail, but my friends didn’t want to.  I started out on the trail solo, and got about 1.5 miles in, but then turn around so I wouldn’t have to keep my friends waiting.  I felt bad leaving them and I didn’t have cell service to tell them to come back for me.  

The Light House Trail is mostly flat, and I would think kids could go on it (depending on the age), but no strollers because on part you literally have to climb up.  Dogs should be OK.

We went to the Trading Post to look for souvenirs and then the Visitors area for more souvenirs and to view the small museum they had on site.  The museum was pretty cool and had lots of information about how the area was settled and also information about the rock formations.

After Palo Duro Canyon, we went to the American Quarter Horse Museum in Amarillo.  Personally, I am not a fan of horses (they freak me out), so I just walked around for a bit and then went to play on my phone and shop the gift shop.  The museum was interesting and told you about the biology of horses, background on how they were breed, stuff about taking care of horses, etc.  They also had lots of trophies and memorabilia about horse competitions and former chairmen of the AQHM. 

If you like horses or are interested in them, it might be worth going.  I am just not a fan of them and it was boring to me.  However, the building is beautiful!  I would recommend the guided tour because there were times that I saw something interesting, but couldn’t find a sign as to what it was/what it meant.  Like in the Grand Hallway there were names on the walls, but no sign (that I could see) of who they were.  I thought it might be past members or officers of the AQHA, but then there was a random horse name thrown in there, so that couldn’t be it!

There was also this cool stone ancestry floor with all of these names of horses that followed the lineage of this horse, but it didn’t tell you who the horse was.  Then there was a random horse name at the top with an asterisk, but not explanation as to why!   I was so confused!  If someone wants to explain that to me (which it probably was explained on the guided tour), I am all ears.

The gift shop is really cool there too! Check it out. I wanted to buy LOTS of stuff.

Next stop…bucket list item #3!!!!!   The Big Texan 72 oz. Steak Challenge.

Visiting Cadillac Ranch

After we visited Route 66, we traveled to CadillacRanch!  I have wanted to visit Cadillac Ranch for YEARS!!!  YEARS!  I had never been to West Texas but I have heard about Cadillac Ranch and knew I wanted to visit it. 

Apparently, for years some local people have been lobbying to tear down Cadillac Ranch because it’s an eyesore (but a beautiful/cool/unique one, I say!), but the eccentric millionaire owner had always been able to stop them from tearing it down.  However, this past July the owner died and people are unsure if the fate of the famous landmark.  Just in case it is to be torn down soon, I wanted to make sure that I saw it first.  That is another reason why I decided to axe the Marfa, TX lights in favor for Cadillac Ranch.  I figure that unknown natural phenomenon’s (they think) will be there for a lot longer than man-made, spray paint covered ones.

Yes, it is just a bunch (10) of old Cadillac’s stuck in the ground, but I loved it!  I had three cans of spray paint that I had used for various craft projects, so I brought them with me.  I had heard that the local Home Depot sold more cans of spray paint than any other store in the country.  How cool is that?

We arrived at Cadillac Ranch and it was freakin’ freezin’!  I mean cold, man.  I had my new gloves and hat, but I didn’t want to wear the gloves because they might get paint on them (my fingers did, so I know I would have ruined the gloves).  Each of us was armed with a can of spray paint and went to town on painting the Cadillac’s.

There were about 20-30 people there when we arrived, ranging from kids to older adults.  The paint was so thick on the Cadillac’s!  Someone next to me found a paint chip next to me on the ground and it was at least an inch thick!  Crazy!  I can only imagine what the difference will be when they pull the Cadillac’s from the ground and you can see the front end with no paint.

After we had our fill of spray paint and the cold weather, we decided to pack it up and head on out.  We gave our cans of spray paint to other people that were walking through the gate.  I didn’t want to take it back home and some of the people didn’t have any in their hands.  Share the wealth, I say!

Right down the street from Cadillac Ranch is a RV camp that has Cadillac Ranch souvenirs ranging from t-shirts to postcards to magnets to guitar picks.  I got a Cadillac Ranch pin that I am going to make an ornament from with felt and a ribbon (or some other sort of craftiness medium).

Bucket List item #2 for the day is complete!

For more pictures of this trip, go here.

Traveling Down Route 66

We got up the next morning to a cold and chilly morning in Amarillo.  I hadn't realized that Amarillo was part of the famous Route 66 and I realized that I could check off another bucket list item!!!!!!!!!  If all went well, I could get three done in one day!

We got directions from the front desk at the hotel and headed that way.  The famous Route 66 in Amarillo is off of 6^th Street and Georgia.  From I-40 you exit Georgia and take a right (or left depending where you are coming from) and went all the way to 6^th Street and took a left.  There were a ton of antique shops (and tattoo parlors-weird!) on that street.  We got there around 9 am, but the stores didn’t open until 10 am (this was a Saturday-I think they open earlier on the weekdays). 

We took some pictures of the signs but we were so cold that we decided to go get some hats/gloves beforehand and then come back.  *We actually went to Cadillac Ranch next, but for the purpose of this story we will pretend we went straight back to Route 66 after we got some warm clothing items!

After we got our hats and gloves it was after 10 am and we headed back to a cute store that we saw some Route 66 items through the window.  It was an antique store but also a souvenir shop and I found a cute postcard and magnet.  I was really looking for an ornament for my tree, but I couldn't find one.  I decided just to buy a magnet and add a ribbon to it with a hot glue gun.  Simple!

Quick story:  I decided that when I travel from now on, I will buy an ornament at each place I visit or when I complete a bucket list item, I will try and buy one then too.  I don’t want one for souvenirs when other people travel, only when I travel somewhere.  Doesn't that sound like a fun tree?!

Anyway, after we went to Route 66 we visited some other cute antique shops and we almost went to get an ice cream at the place across the street but we were too cold and it wasn’t quite lunchtime yet.

Bucket list item #1 of the day completed!  Route 66 was fun!  For more pictures, go here.

Roadtrip to Amarillo

I was looking over my Bucket List the other day and noticed that I have only completed 1 BL item this year!  I am not sure if I counted “go to a professional basketball game” as last year’s or this years, but since it was NYE, I think it was 2013.

So, only one BL item this is was unacceptable!  I do have some very valid excuses as to why I didn’t do much this year, but I wanted to finish off the year with a bang.  Next, I needed to decide which ones I wanted to accomplish on my limited time and budget resources.  A road trip sounded like a good plan and I had to decide on where to go.

I have always wanted to see the mysterious Marfa, TX lights and also Cadillac Ranch.  I had never been to West Texas and I figured while I am at one of them, I might as well go to both!  I am not sure if you are familiar with Texas, but you can drive for over a day and still not get out of the Lone Star State.  Marfa, TX is about 9 hours from Houston and Amarillo, TX (home of Cadillac Ranch) is about 8 from Houston, and about 8-9 hours in between.  Once I started to do the math and called around to check on hotels, I realized that 24 hours of driving in 3 days is not very fun and we wouldn’t get to see much.

We axed Marfa, TX and decided to only do Amarillo, TX on this road trip.  Why?  Because Marfa, TX doesn’t have much to do around it in the winter and Amarillo, TX had a lot more to offer.  I want to go to Marfa, TX maybe in the summer when I can have a longer trip and head to Big Bend State Park to swim/hike/explore.  Amarillo had two (three, but I only knew of two when we changed our plans) Bucket List items that I wanted to do, so it was an easy choice.

My friend Lili and her sister came with me on the road trip.  Lili is one of my 3 single friends I have left (yes, only three).  I headed to her house early on Friday morning (about 7:30 am) for the start of the trip.  We had reserved a car and had to pick it up; otherwise we would have left a lot earlier.

We had about an 8-9 hour drive ahead of us.  We were driving through Dallas and Wichita Falls, TX.  I was watching the Travel Channel (or one of those type shows) and saw a funny story about the World’s Littlest Skyscraper that was in downtown Wichita Falls.  You can read the full story here, but basically it was a scam that is the equivalent of $2M in today’s money (or $200K back then) that happened during the oil boom of Texas.

We couldn't find it at first but then I looked online and found a picture and was able to find the building quickly.  There is an antique store there today that allows you to go inside the ‘skyscraper’ and walk up the four floors.  It was super tiny!  The stairs took up a ¼ of the room.  It was really neat though!

After the skyscraper we went to visit the Wichita Falls Waterfall that is right off the freeway.  You can go above and below it as it falls into the local river (or canal?) that runs through town.  It is man-made, but still a really pretty waterfall.

We got back on the road and found this super cute pecan shop called Valley Pecans in Chillicothe, TX.  They had excellent fudge and even pecan flavored coffee!!  So good.  They also have cute gifts and books for purchase.

That was day 1 of our road trip to Amarillo!  Stay tuned for the bucket list items!