Anything worth visiting in West Texas? Or is there really nothing out there? (Dallas: hotel, house)

[Westerntraveler]

I agree my friend doctorjef.....i think that el paso is a very unique city too

[doctorjef]

Driving north from Lubbock to Amarillo is pretty amazing -- best done early in the morning IMO. There is one town on the road where it looks like you are going to drive right into some big grain elevators that you can see for several miles in the distance, gradually getting bigger and bigger as you approach. At what seems like the last minute you see that the road skirts to the left of these elevators. It's one of my most memorable sights in the Panhandle and strangely, eerily cool.

I like the ascending drive between Fort Worth and Lubbock as you go through remote ranching country, climbing the caprock up to the little ranch town and art colony of Post before getting up on the South Plains and heading into Lubbock.

[juggler]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Driving north from Lubbock to Amarillo is pretty amazing -- best done early in the morning IMO.

I've driven this stretch of I27 quite a few times and I heartily disagree. I27 is one of the least scenic stretches of highway anywhere, unless you like wide-open expanses of complete nothingness, punctuated by a wide spot in the road every now and then.

[Cowboybootnut]

I could spend a year travelling and stopping West Texas. But not all will agree. If you like mountains, desert, canyons and neat small towns, you probably would like it.

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by juggler

I've driven this stretch of I27 quite a few times and I heartily disagree. I27 is one of the least scenic stretches of highway anywhere, unless you like wide-open expanses of complete nothingness, punctuated by a wide spot in the road every now and then.

It depends on your perspective. Being native Lubbockites, we share the same opinion, but for those unfamiliar with this part of the country, it may be beautiful.

I remember once when I was on vacation in the PNW, I talked to a couple from Victoria, BC. When I mentioned where I was from, they talked about how they drove through the Panhandle and were in awe of the beauty of the vast flatness, to my obvious incredulity. My grandparents live in a small town in the Panhandle, and they host foreign travelers occasionally. Apparently many of them have expressed similar sentiments.

[shoe01]

If you just want to get away and visit someplace you haven't before, it could be a good experience. The heat index is almost always noticeably lower than in the eastern half of the state, and there are attractions that you wouldn't necessarily expect.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by juggler

I've driven this stretch of I27 quite a few times and I heartily disagree. I27 is one of the least scenic stretches of highway anywhere, unless you like wide-open expanses of complete nothingness, punctuated by a wide spot in the road every now and then.

It's not scenic or picturesque in what might be called the traditional sense. In my opinion it gets better the farther north you go. For instance it's pretty boring around Plainview (literally, a plain view), but there's something about it. As a teenager and young adult it really stirred my imagination. My own background is that we moved to Lubbock when I was a few months shy of 16 and I continued to variously live or frequently visit there until I was in my very early 30's. So the look of the South Plains wasn't unfamiliar to me, but I'd lived other places that provided a contrast to that area. North of Amarillo I think the High Plains are actually more striking, but there's something about the South Plains too.

[catman]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

I like the ascending drive between Fort Worth and Lubbock as you go through remote ranching country, climbing the caprock up to the little ranch town and art colony of Post before getting up on the South Plains and heading into Lubbock.

I've always liked Post, but I had no idea it is an art colony! I'm due for another visit.

I did get the best chicken-fried steak I've ever eaten at George's Cafe there. I hope it's still in business.

[doctorjef]

Well, Post isn't an art colony in the same way as Taos, but it at least used to have a few resident painters and a couple of galleries -- kinda surprising given its size. I used to have a couple of western landscape paintings inherited from my parents, who had purchased them at galleries in Post during the years they lived in Lubbock.

[rr2005]

Originally Posted by catman

I've always liked Post, but I had no idea it is an art colony! I'm due for another visit.

I did get the best chicken-fried steak I've ever eaten at George's Cafe there. I hope it's still in business.

I was in Post a couple days ago and George's is still open. Would have eaten there, but it was packed. There is also a George's in Tahoka, 25 miles to the west, so I stopped there. Delicious!