This place is apparently a “hard-nosed cattle town,” but it seemed like a trucker stop to us. It’s home to the largest canyon in the state of Texas, the Palo Duro Canyon, which is 2nd in size only to the Grand Canyon. We’re glad we stopped here, but we were happy to keep on going.
Big Texan Steak Ranch
Adam found this spot on Yelp and the dinner selection process was immediately over. As he described it, “We had to go here.” So we did. This place is a stereotype on steroids. As soon as you open the restaurant’s door, there is a sign forbidding “open carry” of guns, which Annie said begs the question, “So you’re just allowed to hide your guns?” There are probably more than 60 animal heads hanging on the walls. One of every 4 people are wearing cowboy boots and hats. A lot of people in the restaurant are seriously overweight. We’ve never seen such large containers of beer before and they have this incredible 72-ounce steak challenge. If you eat a 72-ounce steak in an hour or less along with a bread roll with butter, a baked potato, shrimp cocktail, and a salad, then it’s FREE! Otherwise, the meal costs $72. We didn’t even consider it. We ordered the chicken sandwich, to split, which was plenty for the two of us.
Cadillac Ranch
Throughout our road trip across the country, we were always on the lookout for weird stuff. The Cadillac Ranch qualified. At some point, someone had the idea of half-burying more than 10 old Cadillacs nose-first in the dirt. These rusting cars have been spray painted many times over. We stopped to take pictures. Even after we’d left, Annie liked it so much that she wanted to turn around so that we could get a few more shots.
Jesus Billboards Galore
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Jesus billboards lined up in a row. Miles and miles of billboards promoting the word of Jesus, accident lawyers, and all other types of nonsense.