We passed through Amarillo and ate lunch and thought we might see some of the sights there but later decided to go on to Palo Duro because the kids were getting cranky and we had to set up camp. Amarillo has several free things to see there like the zoo, art museum, the famous Cadillacs half buried in the dirt and then there were a couple of other museums. I had all these plans to go back one day and at least do the free things but once we got to the canyon it just did not happen. Maybe we will go back one day.
We then drove about 30 miles south of Amarillo to get to Palo Duro Canyon State Park which is near the town of Canyon. Canyon is a cute little college town home to the West Texas A & M University. But the most remarkable thing about Canyon is the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum which is located on the college campus. It is the biggest museum of its kind in Texas. Oh my goodness...I mean big. We went through it one day and we must have spent 4 hours and I still don't feel like I saw everything like I wanted. It was hard chasing Joshey around and he was getting very cranky there toward the end. I could have spent an entire day there really studying everything. James and Callie were awestruck!
Their collection of prehistoric fossils and dinosaur bones was just incredible. Did you know we had giant prehistoric sloths and camels living in Texas?! They had rooms of beautiful art, a huge gun collection, a wonderful native American collection as well as tons of local history. It just went on and on I think we may have even missed one of the floors. The basement was a recreation of an entire old west town with the buildings all decorated with period furniture and artifacts. They even had a couple of real authentic cabins moved into the building with all the contents. I think one is the oldest standing cabin in Texas. Simply wonderful..I can't say enough.
Here are some of the pictures we took there:
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