The Panhandle

April 1, 2021

Our last day in Lubbock we were able to get in to the ‘Manhattan 9’ speak easy.  It is only open Thursday thru Sunday.  It is located inside of Stella’s Italian Restaurant and is named for the owner’s family as they grew up in Manhattan and there were 9 children.  This is such a fun place.  The bartenders and waitresses are dressed in flapper style dresses and the doorman (who was not in attendance this night) wears pinstriped suits and is apparently very serious about his job.  I noticed on line that there was a password to get in, ‘Monte Carlo,’ so we were prepared, even though we did not need it.  I decided, after a couple of drinks, to start asking everyone who came through the door for the password and I was surprised how many knew it!  They had a solo guitarist hired to play - they have live music every night they are open.  But this guy had a friend show up and accompany him on the trumpet.  What a treat.  This place has a whiskey flights of some very high dollar whiskey.  I almost tried that. Great music, fun staff and I highly recommend you check it out.

 

The menu hidden in old Time Magazines - It was Prohibition era stuff

 

The door you are supposed to whisper the password through and our bartender.

We got there 4 minutes after they opened, so I went in saying, “Sorry we are late!”

We wanted to include Palo Duro State Park before we left Texas.  So we found a pretty awesome RV Park in Amarillo, Texas, Big Texan RV Park.  The RV Park was once a mobile home park, so the slips are really long and they stagger adjacent slips front and back of the drive.  So you never really have anyone up in your space. They offer free limo rides to the Big Texan Steak House, home of the 72oz steak challenge. This challenge was featured on Food Network’s Man vs Food. Three young men were trying it while we were there.  Nobody finished.  Such an incredible restaurant! It is also a brewery, bonus - we get a safe ride home from the bar.

 

These guys are on a raised stage trying to eat a 72oz steak, baked potato, 

dinner salad, 3 shrimp and a dinner roll

Palo Duro Canyon is an amazing place.  Sunday, we took the CCC “Civilian Conservation Corp” Trail and the scenic loop. It was only about 3 miles and not a real challenging hike, but it has some spectacular views.  This trail is primarily above the rim looking down.  We even found some super nice air conditioned tents when we went out onto the Upper Comanche Trail. Next we did the Lighthouse Trail which was simply too crowded on Sunday to even find a parking space. That trail was a very pleasant 6 mile trek. This trail in primarily at the bottom of the canyon until the end when you scale the side of the mountain like a billy goat hanging on for dear life.  We later discovered a much easier path but by then we had already climbed up and back down and I just wasn’t gonna do it again. Dennis and I discussed which park we liked the best, Palo Duro Canyon or Big Bend.  We decided they were just too different to compare.  Both are pretty amazing.

 

 

The pictures above are from the CCC Trail

The glamming tents

I can’t believe this is the river that dug out this canyon

Beautiful rock formations along the trails

Our first sighting of the Lighthouse

We made it up that cliff!

We took a drive down to Groom, Texas to see their huge cross and statues depicting the stages of the cross.  It was only 40 minutes away and I am really glad we went. The cross stands 19 stories tall and is really pretty spectacular. Driving down I-40 in this flat terrain you can see if forever before you get to it.

  

I gotta say, I have seen more of Texas since January this year than I have in my whole life and I am a born and raised Texan.  It is amazing how many climates you go through cris-crossing this state. It truly is the Great State of Texas.