Amarillo Route 66 Historic District and the Goldenlight Cafe

Wichita Falls TX to Albuquerque NM

We were on the road by 8 am Central Time, making good progress toward our lunch stop in the Amarillo historic district.REPORT THIS AD

Passing through Wichita Falls brought back memories for Stephen of his training time there with the Air Force.

One of the interesting things along the road is the wind turbines built in swaths outside of towns in the middle of nowhere.

The giant blades slice through the air with deceptively lazy speeds. They look cool from a distance but up close it feels like they dominate the landscape and are very intrusive.

Around noon we reached Amarillo got to drive on the historic Route 66.

The stop was not planned before today so we didn’t really know where to go. Even worse, the exit we were supposed to use was closed, so we wound our way through neighbors, scraping the bottomed the car every time we went over a tall bump.

When we reached the historic district we parked the car and tried to decide where to eat. By sheer chance we ended up at what was billed as the oldest restaurant in Amarillo: The Goldenlight Cafe, established 1946.

The food was excellent!

After lunch we strolled through several antique shops. One of the antique shops was a building called the Natatorium. It started out as an aquatic center, then became a dance hall which hosted prominent performers of the time.

Behind the smaller entry is a massive dance floor, stage, and balcony area.

Numerous historic register buildings line the road nearby.

On the road again, we passed the New Mexico border and started climbing progressively higher hills. The car does NOT like hills! It needs a running start, but we made it.

Tonight’s camp is at a KOA. The grounds are nice but we are set up on gravel and the highway is only about a hundred yards from our sight. Tonight will most certainly be an earplug night!

We enjoyed dinner and a soak in the hot tub, now to get some sleep!