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Amarillo

Amarillo [1], which means "yellow" in Spanish, is the center of the Texas Panhandle, located at the edge of the Great Plains.

Culture and History

Amarillo offers a true Western heritage, a unique geographical area with wide open spaces and breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. Amarillo is also gateway to Palo Duro Canyon, America's second largest canyon. With its relatively mild climate, the city is rated as having some of the cleanest air in the country. Indians, conquistadors, buffalo hunters, settlers, cowboys, adventurers, lawmen, gunfighters, and the railroad all contributed in many ways to the development and growth of the area. That heritage is still felt here, where "cowboy" is still an honorable profession. Here you can enjoy the very best of the Old and New West! Founded in 1887, the city charter was adopted in 1913. Amarillo is one of the first cities in the nation to use the City Commissioner-City Manager form of government. Now home to approximately 185,000 residents, the city features excellent accommodations, a spacious convention/civic center, symphony, ballet, little theater, opera, and is the home of Amarillo College.

Though technically located on the very northern tip of the Llano Estacado Plateau, Amarillo has closer ties with the High Plains region, serving as the economic, industrial, transportation, and cultural hub of the region.

Travel to Amarillo & Visa Requirements

By air

  • Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport (IATA: AMA) [2] 10801 Airport Boulevard. Approximately 2 miles north of I-40 East, and approximately 7 miles east of downtown Amarillo. Served by American Eagle, Continental Express, and Southwest Airlines with nonstop flights to Dallas, Houston, Albuquerque, Denver, and Las Vegas.
  • Tradewinds Airport, 4105 Tradewind Rd. FAA code TDW. General aviation airport approximately 3 miles south of downtown.

By car

Amarillo is located on:

Tours & Getting around Amarillo

The N-S avenues in central Amarillo are named for the presidents of the United States in order of when they served, from Washington just west of downtown through Cleveland to the east. Most of the E-W avenues are numbered, from N 24th through S 58th.

Old Route 66 crosses east to west through Amarillo, named Amarillo Boulevard. It passes just to the north of the airport, downtown, and the medical center, connecting US-60 on the east side with I-40 on the west side.

Loop 335 has been designated, but has not yet been developed into a limited access loop as in other cities. It comprises Soncy Road on the west (near Westgate Mall), St. Francis Avenue on the north, Hollywood Road on the south, and Lakeside Drive on the east (near the airport).

Amarillo attractions and sightseeing

  • Amarillo Museum of Art, 2200 S. Van Buren (on the Amarillo College Washington Street Campus). Gallery of Asian art plus a rotating selection of exhibits. On the third Thursday of each month is a special event with live music, hands-on art activities, film and free coffee. Admission is free anytime.
  • Cadillac Ranch, originally an eccentric roadside attraction placed by the art collective Ant Farm on the now decommissioned Route 66 it was moved and can now be found via a frontage road for I-40 just outside of Amarillo. You can see it from I-40; it will be on the southern side of the road. Park along the side of the road and walk about 100 yards to see ten old Cadillacs upended and half-buried in a cow pasture. Visitors are encouraged to spray-paint the cars; there are spray paint cans in a hole at the end of the formation. Surprisingly compelling. If you have GPS you can try using 35°11′14″N, 101°59′13.4″W to find it.
  • Dynamite Museum, another art project. This one consists of psuedo-road signs, scattered among commercial and residential parts of Amarillo. They feature sayings and pictures that are seeming non-sequiturs.
  • Ozymandias on the Plains, located just off the freeway south of town, this sculpture of two legs and the accompanying plaque is a takeoff on a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley.