Category Route 66

Santa Monica

Well, this is it, guys, the end of Route 66. Ignore that we only picked it up in Oklahoma City and missed everything to the north east. Ignore that we never attempted to spend more than the token amount of time driving the original route, rather than I-40. Ignore our frequent deviations from the route for one stop or another. Instead, bask with us in the sun of the clear crisp day that we walked down Santa Monica Pier to the Pacific Ocean and arbitrarily decided that this meant we had completed our journey.

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El Morro

Hike past petroglyphs, historic route markings, and graffiti around the iconic cliffs of this box canyon at El Morro National Monument in New Mexico.

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Palo Duro Canyon

Palo Duro Canyon is the Grand Canyon of Texas. While, in this rare case, Texas size isn't the biggest, it certainly is still impressive. Back in the day, the steep walls of the canyon also made for effective fencing, as ranchers kept their steer in the canyon. Today, it is a park where visitors can camp, hike, and come for the occasional activity set in the park. We came for the hiking, but didn't say "no" to the opportunity of snapping a picture of a rare longhorn.

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Texas Big

The Big Texan Steakhouse is not an eatery to be found. It is an eatery that proclaims its presence with ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and multiple exclamation marks and offers up every reason to make your next meal there. As soon as we crossed into Texas, we knew that there was a massive tourist trap outside of Amarillo that offered a 72 oz. steak to anyone who could eat the whole thing in the course of an hour. We knew this because every other bill board from the Oklahoma-Texas border to Amarillo said so. Given that we were on a quest to experience the delights and uniqueness of each region, it only made sense to eat a massive steak in Texas. Granted, even between the two of us, there is no way we could have eaten a 72 ounce steak. So we decided to keep it simple by just ordering the 40 oz. "Dallas" cut.

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