Sexy Nerd and I are home from an impulsive trip to Texas. We brought home a car from Dallas! I'd planned to buy a 2022 Ford Mach-E, then decided to upgrade to a 2022 Jaguar I-Pace. Then I remembered that I'm a cheapskate and bought something much better.
Care to guess what I bought? Fully loaded, it's quite an upgrade from my 2013 Chevy Volt, which is a terrific car for a Texas road trip, BTW.
(It's totally cheating to guess if we already told you.)
The drive home from Dallas wasn't bad. The weather was really bad - ridiculous Texas winds knocked out power at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel, leaving us without water or elevator service on the 24th floor (!!!), but the drive wasn't bad.
(The hotel staff did an excellent job given the circumstances outside their control, BTW. Go Marriott!)
This was our first road trip from Dallas, TX to Amarillo, TX and it was fun breaking up the drive with unique stops. There were interesting trinkets to purchase and some of the best food we've had in a while. Here are our favorites:
Best Road Trip Stops Between Dallas and Amarillo
How many miles is it from Dallas to Amarillo? 365 miles.
How long does it take to drive from Dallas to Amarillo? 5.5 hours.
Start: Dallas, TX
1. The Salty Donut - 414 W Davis St, Dallas, TX 75208
Start your adventure by picking up some snacks and caffeine for the road. Texans love to frequent The Salty Donut for the donuts, coffee, and vibes. Don't miss out on their most popular donut, the meringue-topped Horchata, and a Cinnamon Cereal Milk Latte, which features a syrup made in-house. They also have a location in Austin, TX.
2. Valley Pecans - 1001 Highway 287, Chillicothe, TX 79225
Not interested in buying any nuts, Sexy Nerd and I weren't sure Valley Pecans would be worth a stop. Luckily for us, we stopped anyway. Like Texas, the store is enormous and is filled with treasures you can't find anywhere else. There's an old, turquoise operating room light on the ceiling in one of their rooms and they sell fresh empanadas for almost nothing. Ooh, and they will offer you a free sample of pecan pie! What's not to love?
Sexy Nerd thought this duck-faced roadrunner was hilarious.
3. The 501 Winery - 109 Ave E NW, Childress, TX 79201
You know how some wineries are pretentious, making anyone without a degree in Oenology feel like they don't belong? The 501 Winery is the opposite of that.
Arriving on a Saturday afternoon, Sexy Nerd and I were the only customers. The young lady behind the counter seemed excited to welcome us in and even more excited when we accepted her offer of a free wine tasting. She cheerfully shared stories about the optometrist winemaker, Dr. Adam Bishop, and recommended other places for us to go in historic downtown Childress. It felt like we were old friends.
The wines she recommended for our tasting were so good that we each purchased a $5 glass, which we enjoyed in a private room. You can't beat Texas hospitality - we were sent on our way with complimentary bottles of chilled water for our drive.
4, 5, 6, 7. Antiques Shopping on 6th Avenue in Amarillo, TX: Alley Katz, Amarillo's Route 66 Store, The NAT Antiques & Collectibles, and 6th Street Antique Mall
You never know what you'll find in an antique store. If you love vintage, retro, secondhand, and all other sorts of treasures, be sure to stop on Amarillo's 6th Avenue. It's a charming area with colorful murals. With store after store (there are even more than listed here - these are only the ones we made it into before running out of time), 6th Avenue alone is worth a trip to Amarillo.
8. It’s a Punjabi Affair - 4201 Bushland Blvd, Amarillo, TX 79106
With only 1 night in Amarillo, we asked the concierge at our hotel for his recommendation for the best place for dinner and expected him to reply with Texas BBQ, BBQ, BBQ. Instead, he pointed us to a casual Indian restaurant, It’s a Punjabi Affair. Everything on the menu sounded good.
We treated ourselves to a feast - butter chicken, lamb curry, samosas, and a mango lassi. Naan bread was included and had big, fragrant slices of garlic cloves. Although we were full, we couldn't resist trying a dessert called gulab jamun, which we'd never heard of before. They're sort of like donut holes, served submerged in a warm syrup of cardamom, honey, and slivered almonds. The syrup was so good that we saved it to enjoy on our hotel waffles the next morning.
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Enjoy your Texas road trip. You never know what unexpected sights you'll see along the way, like these trucks towing 2 vehicles.
Is this a Texas thing? Sexy Nerd and I are skeptical that this is legal. Texans, is this legal?
