A largish
city in the
Texas Panhandle, settled in 1887 and named for the
Spanish word for "
yellow", the color of the
soil in the area. It is the
county seat of
Potter County, but a large part of the city is also located in
Randall County, too. The
population is approximately 300,000 people, the average annual
temperature is 57 degrees, and the city receives about 19 inches of
precipitation yearly. The city's residents are
conservative to a near-cartoonish degree.
Most of the
economy is based around
agriculture and
tourism.
Route 66 runs through
Amarillo, and the nearby and spectacularly beautiful
Palo Duro Canyon hosts the
popular musical drama "
TEXAS" during the
summer months. Among other things, Amarillo has the
Big Texan Steakhouse, where you can eat a
five-pound steak for
free (IF you can eat it AND all the fixins in less than one
hour), the
Cadillac Ranch (a bunch of
old cars sunk
nose-first in the
ground and covered with
graffiti -- for some reason, the local
chamber of commerce considers it the town's biggest
attraction, even though it's utterly
stupid), and a bunch of very
Discordian road signs scattered
prominently throughout town. The
American Quarter Horse Museum is located in Amarillo, and the city also has a small
zoo.