As we continue our journey east after Amarillo, we’ve been hugging the northern border of Texas. We haven’t crossed into Oklahoma, but have been within a few miles. We should have travelled slower because we’ve loved both of our stops.
The first stop was Wichita Falls, Texas. It took us just about 4 hours from Amarillo, which again, is the most our kids can be in the car in a day. We got a pull-through site and didn’t unhitch the truck. Just spent time at the campground’s awesome pool and lounging around in the humid Texas heat. We almost decided not to stay at this particular campground. Pulling in, it seemed run down and a bit scary. Boy, were we wrong! It was friendly, clean, and perfect for our little family. The pool was only 2′ deep at the beginning and gradually got to 3′ before a cliff down to 8′. Adelaide could walk just about to the 3′ line without losing touch of the bottom. We should have stayed another day just to play in the pool again.
The second stop was in Paris, Texas. I’d heard of Paris, Texas, and their Eiffel Tower. It was a good 3.5 hours of driving for us from Wichita Falls and the only large-ish place within an hour along our route. We found a little RV park behind an RV sales & service place and set off to explore town. The Eiffel Tower was smaller than we thought, but the red cowboy hat on top was perfect. I can’t believe it was only erected in 1996! Another famous landmark here is “Jesus in Cowboy Boots”. A gravestone in the local cemetery. I guess the man who commissioned it had a sense of humor. As we made our way towards downtown, we bumped into an estate sale at a gorgeous, huge house in the Historic District. We’re suckers for estate sales and real estate, so we stopped. It was a beautiful old house. Adelaide loved it because “her room” had a “blue bathroom” attached. The property was beautiful and only $395,000 for a home that would be approaching $1 million in our town. We joked about moving here and telling everybody we’re moving to Paris (leaving off the Texas part). We capped off our time in Paris with a visit to the local playground. They had an old, retro rocketship with a slide and more modern play equipment. We got pretty hot in the humid, 85-degree heat but managed to have fun too. Paris, Texas, is a cute little town of 27,000+. Here, we wish we could have stayed longer to explore the pretty downtown.
We continue our journey eastward today. It still feels strange to go east and not west.