"An unexpected treasure!" Canyon by Bunsch

I'd never heard of Canyon; in fact, I didn't know there were any canyons at all in Texas (which, with my monolithic Eastern mind, I envisioned as essentially flat and featureless). Thanks to some guidance on a VT travel forum, I was steered towards this small Texas town, twenty miles or so south of Amarillo, as the jumping off place for a tour of Palo Duro Canyon.

Let me say here that there ARE other things to see in Canyon, but since I didn't see them, I'll have to leave you to discover them on your own. I do encourage you to go out of your own way to find Palo Duro Canyon, however. For one thing, it is much less crowded than its cousins to the northwest in Colorado, Arizona and Utah. For another, you can get to the floor of the canyon without having to ride a burro. And admit it...how many people can say they've visited the second biggest canyon in the United States? Join the elite!

• Pros:Outstanding scenery
• Cons:Somewhat off the beaten path
• In a nutshell:250 million years of erosion can't be wrong!