Palo Duro Canyon - Day 4 (Canyon, Amarillo, Route 66)

Day 4

Kelly and I set our alarms early at 6:20AM deciding that one hike wasn't enough at all. There were a million clocks everywhere in the house and half weren't updated for daylight's savings so we got confused as to when actual sunrise was. After loading up and expecting the sun to just be coming up, we realized that we were out and about an entire hour before the sun even began to rise! We ventured into the town of Canyon for some coffee and she showed me the Big Tex Randall that I had missed the night before. Such fun early morning memories of finding him again, with Kelly as my navigator.

We arrived at the State Park entrance at the perfect time and were waiting at the first highest outlook when the beautiful orange sun peeked over the rim. We took our time driving down into the canyon stopping to take pictures... it was kind of nice not having to justify unloading 5 kids and 2 husbands out of her car, on the fly, if we decided to! 😉

We drove the entire canyon road throughout the park. We read lots of stories about the trails and their history (this passion is just one thing I love about traveling with Kelly). She constantly had a book out and has well researched everything. We learned that being able to actually drive into the canyon, is something g unique to Palo Duro that you can't do at Grand Canyon. 

We were searching for a specific trail and after not being able to find it's sign based on the map's description, pulling several u-turns and even stalking and finally approaching a young woman that looked "super duper hiking knowledgeable," she agreed that Palo DUro  is one of the least adequately marked parks, for trails! Kelly and I decided we are going to start a Palo Duro Canyon Women's Coalition with the primary goal of better labeling trails. We even took our first Coalition picture for or future website and marketing materials. (Our second focus maybe enforcing the "clean up after your horse," rule on equestrian allowed hiking trials.) Stay tuned for more information and how you can help.

Mid morning we got home and loaded up the rest of the family and headed into Canyon, TX and toured the famous Panhandle Plains Historic Museum. This museum is said to be second only to the Smithsonian for artifacts from settling the frontier around this part of the country.

Then, we were off to the Amarillo area and Route 66! Cadalliac Ranch was our first stop.

 After cleaning up as many spray cans we could carry, we were off to see Route 66. The historic district area didn't seem like anything special, so we stopped for a quick pic, talked about the importance of the road during early settlement and then headed to the RV Museum! Wow that place ended up being super cool and interesting.

We worked up an appetite and had to go check out the famous Big Texan Steak House. It didn't disappoint and proved to be a super fun stop!

When we got back to the house that early evening, we were sad that our trip was coming to an end so we loaded up and took the family to explore the big cave that Kelly and I had found early that morning. It was so nice only being 2 miles away from the state park entrance. This impromptu outing ended up being such a highlight and fun memory of the trip!

Around sunset, as were were heading out of Palo Duro Canyon State Park, one last time. We stopped at the famous amphitheater where they hold the famous TEXAS musical during the Summer nights and just played and played on the big stage with the huge canyon wall behind us. We had the whole theater to ourselves.

We got home and made cookies and had ice cream and worked on the puzzle, a fantastic last evening to a great trip!

Palo Duro Canyon - Day 3

Day 3:

Addison was up during the night sick so we decided that Blake would stay with her and Delaney, while Carter and I joined the Boercekel's on the famous 6 miles Lighthouse hike. It's amazing how overnight, the temperatures would drop to the upper 29's and low 30's but would rapidly warm up to the mid to upper 80's by mid afternoon!

 The hike, over all, was fairly easy with a mostly even and smooth wide, red clay for a trail. There was so much to look at, as the vegetation and sights were so different than what we are accustomed to in South Central Texas.  After the 3 miles to the end of the official trail at the base of the Lighthouse, we started the hard part with a steep and very very uneven, rocky and slippery trail to the next level at the true foot of the Lighthouse. One additional short but steep climb and we arrived on the actual Lighthouse structure. The boys saw some people attempting a very steep trail up the backside of the lower Lighthouse part but we had to draw our line at that. It was getting warm and it had taken us over 2 hours to get the 3 miles plus the additional off-trail rock climbing to the Lighthouse. Carter and I took some time to sit on the very edge. My heart was racing.

The kids all brought their scooters and played on the non-stop. The boys even played frisbee golf and all just explored the area where we even found a beautiful herd of Longhorns on the ranch across the street from our house.

That afternoon, I stayed with Addison while the others ventured into the town of Canyon to see the big Tex Randall and eat the somewhat famous Feldman's. (upload pics of Tex Randall)