Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun am.
The Best Western serves breakfast so we munched before gathering our stuff and going to the park. We were given a site in Hackberry, there is more shade there. The road down into the canyon is steep and I put the truck on low to save the wear on the brakes. I was stunned at how huge and beautiful it was. What a view, from everywhere.
We scoped out Hackberry and found 2 more suitable spots but drove on to see what else we could find. When we got down to Mesquite, I knew we would need to stay down there. There is almost no shade down there, but we got a site with 2 large Mesquites. #79. It was so pretty I just wanted to sit there and stare. We made camp and drove the 15 minutes back through the park and up the hill to the HQ to tell him of the site swap.
We did some laundry, got gas, ice, some snacks, and went to the Panhandle Plains Museum. It is a really nice museum. The exhibits flow well and you never have to go back through something you've already seen, just to get somewhere new. There were a variety of exhibits to show the changes of the Panhandle. Geology, Oil and Gas, ranching, the railroad, the automobile, The native Americans, the cowboys, ....We were busy for a few hours.
Kokopelli's is a store right across from the museum which has Native American jewelry, pottery and artwork. The owner grew up on a Navajo reservation and was a painter. His paintings were on the walls. Most of the subjects are friends and their children. I really loved his work. He was a nice guy so go visit his store if you get up there. (He also has a website).
Wednesday we took a jeep tour of the canyon. The Elkins ranch runs a few different tourist trap activities. Cowboy morning is where you drive to the "campsite", eat chuckwagon food which is supposed to be really good, and then have some live entertainment. Jeep tours are different lengths, depending on what you want to see and how much you can spend. We took a longer one, since we won't ever go do it again, so, it was pretty neat. Twice as long as the horseback ride, covered much more ground, and the guide told us all about the family that owns the ranch, and the history of the canyon. We got to see a collared lizard ( I hadn't ever seen one before.
We went to the community pool for a few hours and then came back to see "Texas". The play was neat. Lots of singing and dancing, apparently more so than in previous years. I guess they had more fighting and shooting in the previous versions of the play. The special effects were impressive, the lightening in the tree, and the grass fire, good stuff. Did I mention how good the food was before the show? When you get your ticket, you can also get the meal before hand. Very reasonable and great service. It was catered by the Big Texan Steak ranch. Their steak wranglers were very friendly and were the best wait staff I've ever seen.
Thursday we drove to Alibates National Monument north of Amarillo. We took a tour and was amazed at how much of this highly prized rock is just laying around. The colors are so diverse. Hill Country limestone chert/flint is brownish yellow. This stuff was red, black, gray, white, yellow, orange, brown, and all in the same stone. The guide told us that she frequently sees a Horned Lizard on the hill top and had us looking for it. We found 4 juveniles up there. Another Texan animal I had never seen in person.
We were going to go swim in what is left of the lake but the sky was overcast. We stopped at the wildlife museum in Fritch. Not much to see, but $3 was cheaper than our Dairy Queen lunch afterward. We drove back to Amarillo and stopped at the Kwahadi Kiva.
The Kiva is a Native American museum, and BSA youth hostel. A venture crew and local girl scout troop do performances at the Kiva and abroad. We had reservations for the Saturday night show, but we stopped anyways. After seeing everything in their museum and gift shop, we started for the door when their A/C tech came running in to say the sirens were going off and he saw a wall cloud behind the building. We came back in. I asked if they thought I could get to the canyon before the storm and they said no. We all stayed until it blew over. The tv showed the storm going toward the canyon so we took our time driving back. There was a tornado sighted at the truck stop on the corner of 1-40 and the airport ( 1 block from where we were on 1-40. The hail was marble sized.
When we arrived at the canyon, the host met us as we drove into our loop. He and his wife collected up our kitchen gear that had all blown across the parking lot. That wind blew my Coleman stove, with propane still attached across the parking lot, into the grass 2 sites away. He said our rain fly caught a lot of air and was sure everything inside was wet. Sure enough, it was. We loaded the truck, went back tot he Best Western, and did laundry in the morning.
While unloading the laundry, the woman in the truck we parked next to asked if we were camping. Then she said, oh, ya'll are in Mesquite #79 right? How did she figure that? She said she is a ranger and was on duty during the storm. Our host had called her and asked what they should do to try to save our stuff. She was real nice and so was her 3 legged dog.
We chilled out all day. Saturday we went to the Harrington Discovery center. It's a really nice science museum for kids of all ages. Loads of hands on stuff. Then to the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame. I liked it, but the son was bored. Then to the Big Texan for dinner. What a place and the food was yummy! 4 people tried to eat the "Free" 72 oz steak while were were there. After that, on to the Kiva for the performance.
Sunday am. I was truly sad to leave the park. I could have cried if my son weren't there. I pulled over a few more times to take pictures and we even did one more short hike on the CCC trail, just to prolong departure.
So many people we met camping there were just stopping through. Why weren't they making this a destination? We enjoyed it even with the rain/storms. Sure Colorado is neat, but stay more than a night people. I think we'll go back there someday, maybe on the way to Colorado!
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