Amarillo is a tough place to love, not to mention a tough place to find a decent latte or stroll merrily from place to place in. It sometimes feels like a ghost town in the making. People who live there must be really good at keeping secrets because alll the good stuff seems to be hiding. Since my husband has family there I've found myself wondering what to do with myself and my kids on more than one occasion. It wasn't until our last visit, driving through after the
Renegade Austin show, that I could say I really felt l had discovered some redeeming characteristics. Namely, good thrift store shopping, good doughnuts and coffee, a bit of the art scene and something for the kids.
The first I located whilst tagging a yarn bomb just outside of downtown proper. Peering a the darkened shop window I spied cute vintage dresses. How could I stay away?
The next morning we were set to leave for home so I made sure it was on our itinerary. After coffee, of course.
Roasters is the best place for that, really. I had learned that lesson on an earlier trip. It's a local chain, a touch Starbucks-ish but with local ambiance and good iced americanos. But what about those doughnuts? You cannot, I repeat- CANNOT leave Amarillo without doughnutting up. It's a quasi-legal reqiurement. So I was giddy to discover that the store I thought had gone out of business the last time I was in town was, in fact, right where it had always been. Like I said, it's a confusing town-in more ways than one.
Thank god for husbands who can read maps.
Benjamin's is the art house of doughnut shops, an oasis of pastry in a desert of mediocrity. Green tea raised? You got it. Want a Cherry, candy and cake? Blueberry? Lemon glazed? Oh my freakin' yum! Get one of each and go to town! I mean it. Because next I went downtown, back to Heroine's. Remember the yarn bomb?
If good coffee and doughnuts made for a good morning then the folks at Heroine's made my day. Cute clothes, lots of selection (which, sadly, I have to attribute to Amarillo not having much of a hipster scene), a sweet shop dog and the guy at the register went above and beyond to help me out. They even have an
Etsy site.
In between all this and, really, the whole time we were in Amarillo, I made my darling husband pull over to the side of the road about a bazillion times. For these:
One of those
exceptional men with more money than sense has been nurturing the scene in this dusty Texas town for a while now. These prolific street signs are one of his projects. You can find them scattered throughout the "seedier" bits of town. Random quotes are generally the rule, but once in a while you find a graphic one like this. They have been a my favorite part of Amarillo since we started dropping in every so often a few years ago.
Our very last stop was several miles out of town and another of the benefactor of Amarillo's installation pieces: Cadillac Ranch. It's been moved once already to avoid the encroaching sprawl and the first hint I had of its existence was in a fleeting scene in one of my favorite movies,
Arizona Dream. Cans of spray paint are scattered among the half buried cars and tagging is encouraged, in fact it's kind of the point. Art for the masses, by the masses. My own kids were happy to oblige. All of us were.
Thanks, Amarillo. For once, a good time was had by all. I apologize for taking so long to send this thank you note!
When I was little I thought I'd grow up and live in a mountain town. I loved visiting my aunt and uncle in Breckenridge and it all seemed so cozy and fun and interesting. Living in one now...I miss my city anonymity and having more that three places to go besides the apartment. There are awesome bits like hiking in the woods, meeting people who've known Gerry since he was a kid or feeling comfortable letting Anais semi-free-range around town. But there just isn't enough awesome to outweigh or even balance out that resigned feeling of ick I get when I think about being here for another year. Where to go from here has become one the the chief occupations of my brain in the past few months. Because beggars can't be choosers. Not even this one. What I thought was a serendipitous solution turned out to be not so much. I'm back at square one with more ideas than ever, but no real plan or means for actualizing them.
And yet, I'm not nearly as close to circling the drain as I was this time last year. I think part of that has to do with me being more focused on self-care (st. john's wort and immunity boosting blends of spices in my coffee, etc.) and not caring if its a placebo or really working. My mom and rest of my family have been extra supportive lately, too. That and for as much as I've done less this year, in some ways I've accomplished more. I didn't get back to Austin for the Renegade Craft Fair, but I did have a art batt included for a display at the Denver Art Museum, which led to getting a consignment deal with the gift shop there over the summer. And I may have done fewer shows overall, but I seem to have made more at each than I would have otherwise. I'm slowly adding more stockists to the fold and the whole Eat Agar thing is more cohesive product and brand-wise. My ethos and my output have become conjoined twins. Little bits of the over-arching plan I came up with three years ago are coming together. I'm even back to researching what would've been my thesis. Because who needs the approval of a committee to put a book together, anyway? Pfftt! 
