EPIC 20 Year Anniversary Trip...September 3...Day 9

(Kim's Perspective)
Knowing we had a lot of  miles ahead of us, we woke at 4am, and said goodbye to one of the greatest camping spots in the lower 48.  We stopped by Panther Junction so I could mail some postcards and we got caught up chatting with a few college kids from Austin who were visiting the park for the first time.  It was still dark outside so we gave them a quick lay of the land and after 30 minutes or so of sharing some of the highlights of our time there, we finally headed out of the park at 5:30.  It was still dark outside when we passed through the Border Patrol checkpoint station.  We drove through the darkness that is the vast Texas desert and finally got a glimpse of the sunrise.

After a few hours of driving, it was obvious we were in the Wild West.

We motored along towards Amarillo and passed quite a few large grainery and milling companies.

 

We were excited when we realized we had found Happy.

We drew closer and closer to Happy...

...and we wondered... what makes it so happy?  And then we saw it.

Yep, that's what makes Happy.  :)

We continued on and arrived at Palo Duro Canyon State Park around 2pm.

We set up in record time (so fast, we neglected to get a picture of the campsite) and drove the road to the canyon floor.

The fact that there is a canyon right outside of Amarillo is kind of cool, but from a "wow factor", it doesn't really rank very high on our list, especially when comparing it to Canyonlands or, uh, I don't know, the Grand Canyon.  We drove through the campgrounds which were nice (albeit somewhat packed) and then stopped by the general store.  Overpriced tourist items and disappointing food options resulted in us leaving without purchasing a thing.  It was blazing hot so we didn't linger anywhere for long and headed back to the camper to change out of our sweaty clothes and into something more presentable before driving into Amarillo to do some shopping and to grab a bite to eat.

We drove around looking for dinner options and set about to find some boot stores.  We went into Cavender's Boot City and were both blown away by the size of the place.  I've never seen so many boots under one roof.  It was almost overwhelming.  Bill was set on buying a proper pair of cowboy boots.  Little did we know that even in Texas, the boot stores mostly carry boots made in China or Mexico.  What?  That's so wrong. After nearly 2 hours in the store, and much to Bill's dismay, we ended up walking out the door with nothing but what we carried into the place.  I was secretly grateful, because he kept eyeing an $800 pair of Lucchese boots and I was getting really nervous that he was going to give me that "It's our 20 year anniversary trip, let's live a little" spiel that would somehow manage to make me feel guilty for talking sense into him and telling him we can't afford an $800 pair of boots - even if they are handmade in the good ole' US of A.  Fortunately, he managed to recognize the lunacy of buying a pair of boots that cost nearly as much as our mortgage payment (there's a shot of perspective for ya') and I never actually had to officially rain on his parade.

We left the store and drove around trying to find a taste of local flavor.  We settled on the Blue Sky restaurant which was really nothing more than a burger joint with a cool mural, obnoxiously loud music, and freezing cold air condition.  Bill loved it.  I was a bit disappointed with my meal - I was in Texas and thinking I was going to have the best burger in my life.  Come to find out, Texas burgers aren't really any better than the burgers you get at Red Robin - and at least I'm able to gorge myself on bottomless fries there.  Mmmmm....bottomless fries.....

After dinner, we headed back to the camper and arrived by 9:15.  We set the alarm for 4:10am with a 5:00am planned departure.  Overall, it was primarily a travel day with a bit of interest sprinkled in.  Not much to write home about.  Is that blogging irony?