The Big Road Trip, Part 13: Santa Fe and the Big Texan

I awoke much earlier than daughter Melody, so I got ready and began exploring the beautiful old El Rancho Hotel, located in Gallup, New Mexico, a sleepy town in western New Mexico with a large American Indian population.  It is supposedly known as the ceremonial capital of Native America, with large numbers of Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi Tribes.

The El Rancho Hotel became to "Hotel of the Stars" because so many Hollywood movie stars stayed here while filming movies in the American Southwest.  Pictures of many celebrities from the early to mid 1900s adorn the walls in the gorgeous lobby, and each of the hotel rooms is named for a celebrity, including Gregory Peck, James Stewart, Lucille Ball, Doris Day, John Wayne, Jack Benny, Kirk Douglas, Jane Wyman, Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Ronald Reagan ("The Presidential Suite"), and the Marx Brothers.  Melody and I stayed in the W.C. Fields room.  When I stayed here back in 1997 during my solo cross-country trip, I stayed in the Joel McCrea room.

I took lots of pictures around the hotel, then checked back in to find Melody was ready to go.  We checked out, then grabbed a nice breakfast at a nearby Cracker Barrel.  Then we returned to the downtown area and did some window shopping, admiring the Native American-crafted jewelry, blankets, and furniture.

Today was a catch-up day, since we didn't make very good progress the day before.  My goal was to have dinner in Amarillo, TX, by evening.  So we hit the road and did a lot of driving, basically bypassing most of the towns in New Mexico and pushing ahead to Santa Fe.  When my wife, Teresa, and I passed through Santa Fe in 2000, we were unable to make the visit to the Loretto Chapel, home of the Miraculous Staircase.  I wanted to rectify that by going with Melody.

We arrived in Santa Fe right at lunch time.  The downtown historic area was very busy, and on-street parking was difficult to find.  We finally found a spot several blocks from the Chapel, right on old historic Route 66.  This gave us a chance to walk around a bit and take in the ambience of Santa Fe, with its adobe architecture and Native American culture.  It is such a gorgeous city.

We found the Loretto Chapel, right at the end of the old Santa Fe Trail.  The Chapel is part of the Academy of Our Lady of Light, founded by Catholics in 1853.  The Chapel was completed in 1878, and features the St. Joseph's Staircase, referred to as miraculous because it makes two complete 360-degree turns, stands 20 feet tall, and has no center support, resting solely on its base and against the choir loft above, and constructed with only square wooden pegs with no glue or nails.  The Chapel is gorgeous inside, with features such as a Gothic altar and the Stations of the Cross.

After taking lots of pictures and getting souvenirs, we headed out, looking for a place to eat lunch.  Everything was so crowded, and knowing we needed to get on the road, we trekked back to our Jeep and headed back out of town, looking for something quick to eat.  We ended up getting some really bad gas station pizza, since there seemed to be no chain restaurants in the immediate area.

We headed south on US 285 towards Clines Corners along a beautiful landscape, watching as a thunderstorm brewed in the distance.  We finally ran right into it as we reached I-40, and it rained like cats and dogs for the next several miles, until we were able to get ahead of it.  We kept up our pace and raced through the rest of New Mexico, somewhat regretting that we were going to miss a few sites, but anxious to make up for lost time.

We jumped off the interstate just west of the border between New Mexico and Texas, and drove through the ghost town of Glenrio.  Putting down our windows, all we could hear were the wild dogs that roam the once-busy town on Old Route 66, which began it's slow decline after being bypassed by the interstate.  We took a bunch of pictures of the practically abandoned town (I've read that there is one occupant still living in the town, serving as sheriff, mayor, and keeper of the flame).  Of particular note is the old "First in Texas-Last in Texas" gas station.

Returning to the I-40, we entered Texas, a first for Melody.  We continued to head east at a pretty good pace, anxious to get to Amarillo before dark.  We had to make a stop at the legendary Cadillac Ranch, however, just on the outskirts of Amarillo.  It's a rite of passage to visit this shrine along Route 66, home to "public art" in the form of ten old Cadillacs (models from 1949-1963) buried nose-down in the dirt, supposedly at the same angle as the Egyptian pyramids.  It's a rite of passage to mark the cars with your own artwork, and many bring cans of spray paint to decorate them as they desire.  Melody and I brought Sharpies, and we placed messages on one of the cars, took a few pics, and returned to the road.

We soon entered Amarillo, and I headed straight to the Big Texan Steak Ranch, a highlight of both of my previous stops in the Texas Panhandle.  The Big Texan is a noteworthy restaurant with good western-style meals, and features the epic 72 ounce, eat-it-in-an-hour-and-it's-free, steak.  The cavernous dining room has hundreds of tables, including a balcony, and a large stage right in the middle where patrons desiring to try the 72-ounce contest sit, for all to see, as they attempt to finish not only the steak, but a baked potato, salad, roll, and shrimp cocktail, all in under an hour.  Here are the official rules:

1. Entire meal must be completed in one hour...
2. Before the clock starts, you are allowed to cut into the steak and take one bite to make sure it tastes good and is cooked to your satisfaction...
3. Once you start, you may not stand up, leave the table, or allow anyone else to touch your meal...
4. You will be disqualified if anyone assists you in cutting, preparing, or eating  your meal...
5. You don't have to eat the fat, but this will be judged...
6. Should you become ill, the contest is over and you lose...
7. You are required to pay the full amount up front, and will be refunded 100% if you win...
8. You must sit at a table that we assign....
9. If you do not win, you are welcome to take the leftovers with you...
10. No consumption or sharing of the leftovers is allowed in the restaurant once the contest is over...
11. If you fail to complete the challenge, you must pay the full $72.

There have been well over 9500 winners to the challenge, but success rate is not high.  The ultimate champ is a young lady who ate one of the steak meals in under 5 minutes, and ate 3 total in under 20 minutes.  That's a lot of steak!

Melody and I enjoyed our steaks, then we checked into a nearby Sleep Inn for the night.  We were tired, having spent most of our day in the Jeep on the road.  But we were still having a blast!

Have a great day, everyone!