Burkifornia ’16 – Day 5
Today started out slower and later than usual as we decided to hang out in Amarillo and see the town. That, and all the driving catches up and we just wanted some extra sleep. Our adventures took us first to a familiar haunt that offered us a new twist. That would be Starbucks for breakfast. Nothing special there – just tasty and reliable. For many of you the new twist may not be so new, but it was to us. They offered us a free “Puppicino” for our dog. It’s basically a shot glass sized plastic cup with whipped cream. I’m sure that can’t be good for him, but are any of their drinks good for us? He’s been very patient with all the driving and I knew he’d be walking a lot today, so why not?
After breakfast we headed out to the Cadillac Ranch, one of the most famous attractions in Amarillo. It’s a strange site, but very Route 66 appropriate. If you’ve never been there, I’ll tell you the cars will look different every day as tourists each add a touch of spray paint – some more than others. We went to the gift shop around the corner afterwards and were headed to our next stop when we saw hand painted signs for the Bates Motel inclusive of working showers, knife sharpening and taxidermy. Of course, this got our attention and we went exploring only to find a nice little residential neighborhood, but no motel.
Then, for our final Texas destination, we headed up Georgia Avenue to SW 6th Street, the heart of Route 66 in Amarillo. We parked the car and walked up and down the block for about two hours. An antique store owner told us the street was hopping on weekends. Today, however, it was mellow and we just walked around looking in windows, taking photos, and, of course, sampling the fare. We tried an itty biti red velvet whoopee pie from Biti Pies, a baker we found off the main drag. We found it by smell – imagine that. Then we went to Smokey Joe’s for a light lunch. We were going to have some Cowboy Gelato for dessert, but were disappointed to get there and find they’d moved – bummer.
At about 3:30 PM, we decided it was time to get on the road to our next stop… Albuquerque, NM. We crossed the TX/NM border in under and hour and found the road in NM to be looonnng, and much of Route 66 is now I-40. We were surprised to see billboards advertising the Blue Hole. Now that is something the divers in us couldn’t pass up. So, we veered off the road in Santa Rosa, NM to spend a little time looking around and chatting with divers. That is definitely a place I’d like to dive one day. Then back to the car we went, finally arriving at our hotel at about 8:30 PM local time.
Even the dog was relieved to spend so much time walking around today! We plan to see a little of Albuquerque tomorrow, and then head out for Flagstaff, AZ. Tomorrow’s drive will be a little longer than today, but we plan to stay there for two days and see the Grand Canyon!
So far we’ve covered about 2,000 miles, sampled excellent food, seen miles of nothing, old towns, awesome sites, and met some very quirky and cool people. One thing we both noticed today, is that everyone we’ve met has been very kind. That says a lot about the places we’ve been to!