Amarillo

We got out of the KOA campsite in New Mexico about 1030am. It is about a 2 hour process to take down and pack and the car and about an hour to set up tent with all the beds blown up.

We had a pretty boring drive to Amarillo, Texas, the largest city in the Texas Panhandle and the biggest city closest to Palo Duro Canyon. It is also a half way stop between Albuquerque and Norman, OK, where we are off to next.

We stopped for lunch in Santa Rosa, NM. The town seemed pretty run down but there was a kids playground with public bathrooms which fit our needs. It was sandy and lacked grass, and the floor of the playground was pieces of rubber. The park also had coal bbq's which the other family that was there was using and cooking a very delicious bbq meal.

The most exciting part of the drive was that once we got into Texas for about 40 miles, there was wind turbines. It was pretty impressive.

Amarillo operates the meat packing area in the country. It has a population of 279,000 and is very spread out on flat land, and low level ranches, along with cows, cows and more cows.

The KOA was small and the tent site was pretty open to the elements. We were situated right across from bathrooms and playground. The playground is always a helpful babysitter when packing up and unpacking. It was also very warm so we let Inara run around naked and get some sun on her white little body.

That night we decided to be total tourists and had dinner at "The Big Texan Steakhouse and brewery ". The restaurant picked us up at our campsite, car seats and all. We had a to wait for about 20 min to get seated, as they don't take reservations.

The dining area was a big room with tables lined up in rows, holding about 6 at a table. The outskirts of the room had booths that we were sat at. There was a second level that only had one row around the room, also booth style. The decor was many large animal heads and hides hanging up. This is a steak house.

The kids both got served dinner in a cowboy hat, and Elisa and Josh got different cuts of steak. The excitement of the night was when Inara decided to eat a green chili, maybe thinking it was a cucumber? The first 2 bites were fine but then she got into the seeds. Josh was trying to feed her ranch dressing from the mozzarella sticks. Our waiter quickly ran to the kitchen and ran back with milk and bread, even the hostess came over to see if she was ok. She wasn't screaming but she was definetly in pain and tried to drink the milk and get cuddles from Josh.

The restaurant is home to the free 72 ounce steak, only if you can eat it in an hour. Josh ordered a 21 ounce Lone star cut, served a beautiful medium rare and was full after that, along with 2 beers. Elisa ordered a filet, which came in 2 round pieces. It was unfortunately overcooked and did not have the red juicyneas that Josh's steak did. The restaurant is all about having the best steaks, so we were given a 20% discount.

Elisa also enjoyed a tasting flight of all the beers. They were all pretty good, including the raspberry wheat beer. We left the restaurant bringing a growler of the Hefenweizen.

It was a good night and so far Texas isn't as scary as we thought.Read more