Palo Duro Canyon 36 years later

 

Entering Palo Duro Canyon State Park

We were up early early this morning. We had gone to bed early last night so we woke up early this morning. It was 5:30 and both of us were drinking coffee in the living room. It was cold...yes cold this morning. We had to crank the heat up to knock the chill out.

We are headed to Palo Duro this morning. The last time we were there was 36 years ago. The kids were babies then and Jason...our oldest got a staff infection that showed up the first night at the park. It was after 10:00 pm so when we got to the gate on top it was locked. We had to make a phone call to the police to contact the gate attendant to let us out. The man came and opened the gate and we took Jason to the hospital where they gave him a shot and meds. We had to leave that next morning so we did not get to see any of the canyon.

This time we arrived about 9:00 am. It was all new to us because we had not remembered the first thing about the park. I did recall the gate going out that was locked! In the picture below you can see the building and the gate post. Years ago that post was wooden and there was a pay phone to the left of it. I was on that phone and there was an owl on the post about 3 ft from me. I thought it was a statue but when it took off flying I took off the other direction. That coupled with my son being sick and the gate being locked just about did me in.

 

We had decided not to camp in the park due to the 10% grade going down and the same going out. I did not want to put that kind of a strain on the truck so we opted to stay at the Oasis RV Park in Amarillo. Nice park if you ever pass through there.

The drive through the park was drop dead gorgeous. We drove the entire 16 miles of road and enjoyed every mile. We did not get to hike any but then that will give me a reason to return. We did find our old campsite from 36 years ago. As I stood there looking at it I could almost see the kids playing in the sand next to the RV. That was so long ago and yet I remember it like it was yesterday.

No that is not John Wayne                  Two good looking people at the overlook

Rock formations galore                        Campsite 36 years ago

Found me a house in the canyon      Sherri and I on the overlook

Sherri in the Informative Center       Informative Center behind Sherri

Outcrops on the canyon walls           One beautiful Ridge shot from the road

We ended up at the Trading Post and Sherri bought one of the Grandkids a necklace and I bought me one too...a manly one....OK. Then we started to get a hamburger there but decided to go back to Amarillo to eat a good lunch.

We arrived at Furrs Buffet and had a real good meal. I ate just enough and left there comfortable. Then it was time to go shopping...which I had told Sherri we would do. I went to the $ store and Sherri went to....Kolh's...where else! Then it was off to Penny's and last but not least we ended up at...where else...Wally World! If you guess all those stops you must know Sherri pretty good.

We bought just enough grub to get us to Sunday when we will drop the RV off at Explore USA in Denton Texas. No need to haul too much on the last leg of our adventure.

Tomorrow is a long travel day. We will leave here and go all the way to Hickory Creek COE park on lake Lewisville. There we will spend the last 3 days of our adventure with heavy hearts and memories of Colorado for ever etched in our minds...

Somewhere in Time