A Road Trip to New Mexico

August 12-17, 2001

Palo Duro Canyon

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ US 82 Through West Texas ] [ Palo Duro Canyon ] [ In and Around Santa Fe ] [ The Santa Fe Opera ] [ NRAO and the VLA Radio Telescope ] [ Roswell, New Mexico Military Institute, and UFOs ]

(Click on Image for Enlarged View)

Palo Duro Canyon State Park	First View of the Canyon	Overlook at the Visitor Center
The Lone Sentinel: A Sunflower Guards the Way Down	Mesquite Vista of Lighthouse Peak	AeroMotor - Lubbock, Texas
Red Rocks	Spanish Skirts	The Background for the Pioneer Amphitheatre
The Stage of the Pioneer Amphitheatre	Texas Author Gerald McCathern	My Autographed Copy of Devil's Rope

I stopped at Palo Duro Canyon State Park on my way from Hereford to Amarillo. Palo Duro Canyon is located in Armstrong and Randall counties, twelve miles east of Canyon on Texas Hwy 217. In Spanish, "palo duro" means "hard wood." I had first visited this Texas State Park in 1978, and this visit was a welcome return. A highpoint was meeting Gerald McCathern, a local author, who actually lives in Hereford. I bought a copy of his book, Devil's Rope, The Wire that Changed the West. If you are interested in his books, visit his website at Outlaw Books in Hereford.

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, TX

The Entrance to the Museum	In Front of the Museum Entrance	Allosaurus on Display
The Museum Store	"A Cultivated Mind is the Guardian Genius of Democracy, and While Guided and Controlled by Virtue, the Noblest Attribute of Man"

The Panhandle-Plains Museum in Canyon, TX, is the largest history museum in the State of Texas, with sections dedicated to Petroleum, Western Heritage, Paleontology, Transportation and Art.

It was in this museum in 1978 that I first met my friend Thom Hunter, who was working in the gift shop and listening to opera. Thom was then a music student at West Texas State University. He has since move to Dallas. This museum has changed a lot since 1978. So has Thom!