When we arrived in Amarillo, Richard had to go see the Helium monument and sculpture. Amarillo was the world capital of helium until the US government decided that we did not need a strategic reserve of helium.
Then we headed over to West Texas A&M, to the Panhandle Plains Museum, in Canyon. They threw us out at the 5 PM closing time; our two hour visit did not let us see all the interesting things. One of my favorite exhibits was the one comparing flint arrowheads and a semi-automatic pistol. Another interesting exhibit was the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun; Marianne remembers seeing Red Ryder and his sidekick, Little Beaver, ride in the parades in Durango. The AK47 rifle was captured during the first gulf war. Marianne enjoyed the indian clothing. There was also a large Western art exhibit, but unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos of the art. Other exhibits included a pioneer village, an oil rig, cars, you name it. A great Museum.
We then headed to Palo Canyon State Park, the biggest canyon in Texas. Very pretty and quiet. We stood outside after dark and admired the almost full moon, pleasant temperature and a beautiful night.
Wednesday was a rest day, we slept in and later took an afternoon nap in the heat of the day. We had a nice chat with an older lady in the visitor center, who explained that the "llano estacado" is the "staked plain"; the story is that the area was so flat, with few identifying features, that people placed stakes in the ground to help them find their way around. I later found a different story, in which Coronado named the staked plain referring to the escarpment where the plains dropped off into canyons. We went up to see the feeding of the official Texas Herd of Longhorn cattle. One of the cattle was 29 years old! Pretty impressive horns. We saw a flock of wild turkeys, a cardinal, and a red bellied woodpecker, kind of like a ladderback woodpecker with more red on the head. Overall, not too many birds, however.
We reread part of the "Empire of the summer moon", in which the author described Colonel MacKenzie's search for the Comanches, which culminated in an Army attack on the indian's secret hideout in Palo Duro Canyon. While this attack did not kill many indians, the Army did destroy their camp and take 1500 horses, helping to force the indians back on the reservations. It meant that the indians had no place to hide, that the soldiers would pursue them wherever they went. This was one of the last major battles of the indian wars.
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