Escapees September-October 2023

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W hen I pull up in front, the café looks small. When I open the door, I am greeted by a waitress, the only waitress, who tells me to sit anywhere. I take a seat at a booth by the front door. I watch as the waitress clears tables, takes orders and serves customers the establishment’s famous hamburgers and French fries. Several men laugh and joke while seated at the bar enjoying an afternoon brew. The Golden Light Café is the oldest restaurant in Amarillo and perhaps the oldest restaurant contin uously operating in the exact location anywhere on Old Route 66. The waitress, Tamara Tabor, tells me she has worked at the café for 24 years. She says the men seated at the bar are regulars and have been for decades; a retired attorney, a retired doctor and a business owner. I am beginning to understand why my friend suggested I have lunch here, and I haven’t even eaten yet. When my ham and cheese sandwich and French fries arrive, it is like icing on the cake. I am sorry to leave when I fi nish my meal. If I lived in Amarillo, I am sure I would be a regular like the guys at the bar, but it’s time for me to explore this friendly city. Amarillo is known for so many things, including the fact that Route 66 runs through its middle. And then there’s Cadillac Ranch. This offbeat roadside attraction features 10 graf fi ti-covered Cadillacs standing upright in a row, buried nose- fi rst in the ground. You can spray paint your designs or messages on this iconic piece of art. A must when traveling along Interstate-40 just west of the city. History Amarillo, the county seat of Potter County, is situated near the geographic center of the Texas Panhandle and has a fascinating history. The fi rst European to reach the area was Coronado, in 1541. The Spanish explorer accomplished little and is remembered here for his ruthless attack on Native Americans. There wasn’t much European settlement here until after the Civil War. In the 1870s, buffalo hunters killed most of the buffalo for their hides, driving the animal to near extinction. Ragtown was the name given to the place when the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad came through in 1887. The name Amarillo was adopted, in 1892, when the city was incorporated. It means “yellow” in Spanish and refers to the yellow banks of nearby Amarillo Lake. With the railroad’s arrival, it took little time for Amarillo to become one of the nation’s most important cattle shipping points. The Texas Rangers were respon sible for keeping law and order until 1899. Eventually, farmers began moving in, and Amarillo started a new phase of cotton ginning.

Still later, the discovery of natural gas in the Panhan dle Field, in 1918, led to greater industrialization. To better understand this history, I visit the Panhan dle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in Texas, just south of Amarillo in the city of Canyon. More than 100 years since its inception, the museum preserves the history, both human and natural, of the region. It showcases more than three million arti facts, covering the exhibit areas of Native Americans, early settlers, western heritage, paleontology, textiles, decorative art, transportation and fi neart. Palo Duro Canyon From Canyon, I head east a few miles to Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the United States after the Grand Canyon. I stop at the visitor’s center, learn about the canyon, do a little shopping, and head out on a driving tour. The state park has 30 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails. It is roughly 120 miles long and has an average width of six miles but reaches a width of 20 miles in places. Its depth is around 820 feet, but it increases to 1,000 feet in some locations. The park takes up only a portion of the canyon. I travel the roads along switchbacks and drive further into the canyon. Rock formations rise above me as I move along in the valley with its mesquite and cotton wood trees. I stop for lunch at the Trading Post and do a little more shopping. I enjoy my visit in the canyon, stopping to take photos and appreciating the solitude. It isn’t until I take a jeep tour that I really get to know the canyon though. Palo Duro Creek Ranch, located just outside the state park, offers a more intimate view of the canyon, espe cially if you are not a hiker or biker. And, it’s fun! The guide and owner of this stretch of canyon took us (myself and a couple from Florida) along ridges to scenic overlooks. He offered exciting antidotes about the area and the canyon. We bump along rough roadways through narrow passes to spectacular overlooks. Dramatic outcrops, tree-speckled horizons and a slate blue sky surround us—a perfect way to get to know the canyon. If YouGo There is much to see and do in this welcoming Texas Panhandle city of just over 200,000. From the friendly Golden Light Café and iconic Cadillac Ranch to the amazing Palo Duro Creek Ranch Jeep Tour, any traveler looking for a wide variety of attractions, activities, culture and art will not be disappointed. Go, have fun, be a Texan for a day or two, and make many beautiful memories. Marilyn Jones, Guest Contributor

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September/October 2023 ESCAPEES Magazine