Amarillo by Morning...

"Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's on my mind."

 -George Strait

It was time again to pack our bags, don our finest dresses, and clip on our badges for the convention.  In years past I was assigned to Ogden, Utah, but this year my cross-country move had adjusted our assignment to Amarillo, TX; another first. (Click on title for musical accompaniment in another window, skip ad)

Growing up, going to Ogden, Utah each summer was a treat.  We would go a day early to avail ourselves of the many offerings in the area:  water-slides at Cherry Hill, Lagoon amusement park, and the Salt Lake Zoo.  The convention site, the Dee Events Center, is large and accommodating to the massive five to seven thousand in attendance with well cushioned seating.  Women's restrooms were always in high demand (Honestly what are you ladies doing in there that takes so long!) , parking although adequate was a pain to negotiate out of, the massive center tended to get a bit warm, and the hotels were at times quite a distance away.  There are positives and negatives and I loved the place.  So this year I was a bit saddened, although curious to be going to Amarillo this year.

Karlie and I had asked around as to what to expect, and the area was given low reviews:

"We call it Cowtown because it smells like cows."

"It's just like Midland."

"We'd rather go anywhere else."

Therefore,  our expectations were low, which I think always helps you enjoy a place.  Low expectations lead to little surprises.

It was a four hour drive from Midland, but the terrain and scenery changed little on the drive over.  We found our way to the Amarillo Zoo  which had a low, $4 adult entrance fee.  They had Lions, Tigers and Bears oh-my; lemurs, foxes, parrots, and snakes; even a Long-horn cow, horses, goats, and sheep...not exactly your normal zoo residents.  It was small, odd, a little sad and certainly a $4 zoo.  Afterwards we strolled by a stinky (there's that cow smell we were told of) duck pond, then found our way just out of town on I-40 to the Cadillac Ranch.

Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation with tailfin Cadillacs ages 1949 through 1963 planted nose first in a field west of Amarillo.   Having seen it on the Travel Channel, I had planned on this visit as soon as I found we were headed that way.  

After a brief visit by what I'm sure is the top-selling-in-spray-paint Home Depot in the nation, we met up with our friend Reuben and wandered through  the fence bordering the property.  Graffiti nuts had started their tagging well before the actual exhibit, decorating the dumpster, fence posts, even the barbed wire around the field.  A careful circle was plowed around the path and the cars to discourage people from wandering into the arid field.  Spray-paint cans and lids littered the area, noisily rolling about in the wind.  Graffiti is encouraged and embraced.  After a few hesitant sprays to test our colors, we went to work making our temporary art.

We labored for the better part of an hour, I think, under the Amarillo (yellow in Spanish) sun.  Our art was great, but short lived.  Many of our pieces were already covered by other enthusiastic tourists before we had finished.  Years of this practice left the cars drippy, looking like they were melting in the hot sun.  With Silver, Blue and Purple finger tips and satisfied with our experience, I gathered as many paint cans as I could carry in my little bag and we left the place a little cleaner than when we arrived.

Zoey's personalized graffiti.

Reuben and I.

Karlie climbing for art.

Melissa hanging out a windshield.

Lastly that day we ventured to the Big Texan Opry,  an outlandish display of all things Texan:  big steaks, big hats, big chairs, big boots and creepy hologram pictures on the wall (not sure how that's Texan, but amusing nonetheless).   Dinner there was a bit overpriced so after out self-guided tour,  we ventured out and enjoyed our meals elsewhere.

Oh and big Cows!

 The next day we arrived at the convention site, parked across the the street from the site and made the short walk into the Cal Farley Civic Center.  To our surprise, the majority of the seating was already taken as the stadium seating only holds 4,987.  Additional seating was on the floor, but we still ended up behind the stage staring at a curtain for the first half; but the second half, we had front row seats to the drama as they took down the curtain for the presentation.

Zoey in her princess dress!

The average attendance was between 3,500 and 4,000 making it a much smaller crowd than the conventions in Ogden.  The site had the opposite positive and negatives of the Dee Events Center:  hard seats, tight seating, and too much A/C, were offset by great parking that is easy to get out of, close hotels, and adequate restrooms. We arrived much earlier the next two days to ensure better seating, although we slipped behind the stage at noon on Sunday to position ourselves in front of the drama once again.  Zoey declared the Sunday drama to be the best play she had ever seen.

Our afternoons were short, but we managed to see the premier of Man of Steel (not the best, in my opinion), and experience a few local eateries.  Our favorite dinner was at Sava!, an Italian restaurant which made their own cheese!!!  The three of us split three dishes and desert and loved every bite.

Overall, I'd have to say my experience of Amarillo was good.  Not exactly a vacation destination, but if ya'll find you'self in Amarillo by Morning, Ah believe y'all 'll have a giddy-up time.