Food, Food And Cadillacs

Our Motor Home In Amarillo, TX

Between Gallup, NM and Amarillo, TX on I-40 you hit the geographical mid point of the historic Route 66.

The Midpoint Cafe has been a long time establishment celebrating this fact. Sad to say that it happened to be closed (for the day, not forever) when we got there. That did not stop us from taking some pictures any way.

The Mid Point Marker On Route 66

Midpoint Cafe In Adrian, TX On Route 66

Inside The Midpoint Cafe In Adrian, TX On Route 66

As it was closed that day, David took this picture through the window. The Midpoint Cafe is not only known for being at the geographical midpoint of Route 66, but it is also home to the infamous Ugly Crust Pies. We were so looking forward to a slice of pie. Oh well.

Also at the Midpoint Cafe they have an old Ford F100 in the lot that, in typical route 66 fashion, you can write on. We’re assuming that the cafe gives you a paint pen to do this, as this was not your typical sharpie pen.

Old Ford F100 Outside The Midpoint Cafe

Again, bummer that they were closed. We would have loved to make our mark on the Ford.

Making our way to Amarillo, TX their are a few other, shall I call them ghost towns, along the way. Not much to see but land and cows.

When we’re in a new place we like to seek out the local places to eat. We try to stay away from the chain restaurants. One of our favorites that we found was Pei Wei Asian Diner. We didn’t realize it was actually a chain restaurant until it was too late. We were hooked. So much so that we ate their twice in the 6 days we were in Amarillo.

Pei Wei Asian Diner In Amarillo, TX

We like sitting at the counter where all the action is.

You can watch the cooks in the open kitchen. They are certainly masters at what they do. When we were their at 3 o’clock in the afternoon having a late lunch/early dinner. The place had quite a few people in their still.

Sitting At The Counter Watching All The Action

Inside Pei Wei Asian Diner In Amarillo, TX

Getting to talking with the manager, Brian, he mentioned that at peak times the line goes out the door. What a business! Do yourself a favor, if you find yourself in a town with a Pei Wei, you must check it out. It has excellent Asian food, fresh and fast. Oh, I forgot to mention, Pei Wei is an off shoot of PF Chang’s. So if you know PF Chang’s and the quality of their food, you’ll find Pei Wei has the same standards. Just a better price and a more casual atmosphere. Oh…I’m so sad we don’t have one back home.

We also had to try one of the most famous steak houses around, The Big Texan Steak Ranch.

The Big Texan Steak Ranch In Amarillo, TX

One of America’s iconic steak houses in Amarillo. Home of the famous Free 72 oz. Steak. How crazy is that. And no…we did not try the 72 oz’er. The idea being, if you can finish the 72 oz steak, along with baked potato, shrimp, salad and dinner roll, in one hour, it’s free. If not, it’ll cost you $72 bucks! That’s one expensive steak. People have done this though. The current record is, believe it or not, 8 minutes and 52 seconds! I’ll say it again…crazy! The steaks that David and I did had were average at best. Nothing special and nothing we’d go back there for. Sadly this seems to be a steakhouse for the tourists and not the locals. Oh well.

Amarillo is also home to the famous Cadillac Ranch. An eccentric millionaire, Stanley Marsh 3, made Cadillac Ranch as a public piece of art. His purpose was to baffle the locals and pay tribute to the evolution of the Cadillac tail fin. It has been a tradition to spray paint something on these Cadillacs. We, of course, had to partake in this tradition. After all, who are we to buck tradition?

One thing you have to remember while visiting this artwork is to watch where you step. Cadillac Ranch is “planted” in an active and very populated cow pasture. Good thing the cows are used to people traipsing over to the sculptures. So if you can stand the crazy looks from the cows, follow the well worn dirt path to Cadillac Ranch and make your mark.