When I was younger, I had my fair share of family vacations– snow skiing trips, Disney Land, World, New Mexico. Some were closer to home with other families like the Bishops like Six Flags or Wet N’ Wild (Hurricane Harbor). In retrospect, some of my favorite trips were the ones we took within Texas. In the summer of 1989, when I was eight years old, my family, brother, mother, and father (my sister wasn’t born yet), loaded up in our Astro Mini Van and headed to Canyon, Texas, 25 miles outside of Amarillo. The point of the trip was to watch one of “the world’s most popular outdoor musical dramas” TEXAS, and to take the Palo Duro Canyon tour.
The Canyon Tour
Palo Duro Canyon State Park , located outside the main city of Canyon, Texas, and considered to be “the Grand Canyon of Texas” opened to the public in July 1934. It contains 26,275 acres is 120 miles long and is as much as 20 miles wide. With a maximum depth of 800 feet, its elevation at the highest point is 3,500 feet above sea level. Some say Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States. The largest, the Grand Canyon, is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 6,000 ft. deep.
The actual tour was breath taking. We surmounted the rocky terrain rode in one of those 30 - 50 tourist mobiles driven and narrated by our guide. He pointed out some memorable scenes and rock formations, but I was more excited about the roadrunners and lizards I saw for the first time. After the tour, and while awaiting the performance we spent time in the gift shop where my father let me buy my first pocket knife. I still have it. Read the rest of the post on Palo Duro Canyon State Park here.