So Amarillo Aint Really Texas Huh? (Dallas, Fort Worth: real estate, tornadoes, living)

[GayleTX]

Salo Palo????!

Guess I missed that canyon in my 5 years there. Did learn to love the Palo Duro, though.

And the people of the Panhandle don't have a Southern Drawl....they sound more like Kansas folks to me - of course I moved to Amarillo after spending 30 years in East Texas. The Panhandle people knew when I opened my mouth that I was 'not from around there.'

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by GayleTX

Salo Palo????!

Guess I missed that canyon in my 5 years there. Did learn to love the Palo Duro, though.

And the people of the Panhandle don't have a Southern Drawl....they sound more like Kansas folks to me - of course I moved to Amarillo after spending 30 years in East Texas. The Panhandle people knew when I opened my mouth that I was 'not from around there.'

Here is a pretty good map illustrating what you are saying. I wish I could find it, but I used to have another map around (which I think I got from Terry Jordan's "Geography of Texas") which showed "settlement patterns" into Texas. And the upper panhandle area -- atypical of most of the rest of the state -- had a particularly heavy influence from the Lower Midwest, which probably accounts for some speech differences.

EDIT ADD: Sorry, forgot to include the link!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nglish.svg.png

[Synopsis]

West Texas and the Panhandle of Oklahoma have always attracted me for some reason. I think it's the high plains and rugged nature of the area. It's like something out of the old west. I also like the lower humidity and more frigid temps in the winter.

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

West Texas and the Panhandle of Oklahoma have always attracted me for some reason. I think it's the high plains and rugged nature of the area. It's like something out of the old west. I also like the lower humidity and more frigid temps in the winter.

Right now we are pretty frigid. Lubbock had a high of 25 and Amarillo only got up to 14!

[Houston3]

My home town is Dumas, 48 miles north of Amarillo and I'm 100% Texan..

[mirkwoodmoses]

Having lived in the Panhandle most of my adult life (Pennsylvania raised), I found the Panhandle, and Texas in general, to be home. I was welcomed to any part of Texas I encountered in my travels as oilfield trash, as though I was born and raised in the loveliest state I have ever lived in. Be it Amarillo, San Antonio, Corpus, Cuero, La Porte, or El Paso, I never encountered the "yankee" thing I saw so many people go through. Yes, Amarillo is Texas, and no, it ain't the same as Houston, but they both rock, in their own distinctive way. "TEXAS" is more a state of mind than a geographical location describes my experience. There are people who hate any place they have been, and this seems especially true in Texas, but I have found that my attitude makes the difference in my outlook. Texans have contributed to my well-being, as have the majority anywhere I have lived, including my current home in rural Western New York. Tornado Alley and the Bible Belt (both Panhandle) will live in this old hippie's memories forever. As concerns the drug and prostitution problems? Try living near Buffalo for awhile and it won't seem so bad. As an aside, I met most of the folks I know in the area where I now live I met while doing the oilfield thing in Texas, for jobs have always been, and are, scarce hereabouts. When I first moved to the Lone Star, I wasn't asked how many relatives worked for the company, but rather, do y'all think ya kin do the work?, to which I replied, "I'll give it my best", and was rewarded for trying my best. Very well rewarded. My thanks eternal to Texas in general, and to the Panhandle in particular, can never convey my gratitude to the finest folks I have ever encountered. Should any of the Sino-Texan Smiths read this, I love you guys like brothers. Moses a.k.a. Wooley

[mirkwoodmoses]

P.S. Sao Palo is in Brazil, which may explain some's confusion about what constitutes Texas>

[turkeytrot]

I moved to the Texas panhandle almost nine years ago after living in the DFW metroplex for almost 24 years.
Folks around here for the most part are not PC and I like that. Shoot straight from the hip, you always know where you stand.

Their work ethic is second to none. Ranches and farms have been handed down from one generation to the next and they know the value of hard work.

And yes Orka I mean Oprah was here for a court case with cattle producers. Some of the local restaurants named burgers after her. BIG ones.

[TXSooner]

Amarill ain't really Texas?????

I've heard one guy in Lubbock claim that everything north of Plainview, TX isn't really TX, calling everyone north of Plainview, TX "yankees." I couldn't get him to explain any further, and found it insulting. We do have a regional competition with Lubbock.
I like the TX panhandle. It has a lot of influence from OK immigrants, and this I like (of course, being an OU grad and fan).
As far as Amarillo being a "tx truck stop" the initial post has misquoted T. Boone Pickens. He is the person who attacked Amarillo when he left here. The story goes that he moved here sometime in the 80's trying to make a business for himself. After not succeeding, and rubbing some politically influential locals the wrong way, he left. He then called Amarillo "just a glamorized truck stop on the way from OKC to Albuquerque."
As far as prostitution and drugs, Amarillo does have this on the northern side of town around the "boulevard"--that is old Amarillo Boulevard that used to be Route 66, which was bypassed by I-40. Every town has its' bad section.

This might sound crazy, but I love the snow and being snowed in. You know what people do here when they are snowed in? They go out in their 4x4's and drag a rope behind it with an inner-tube and someone on it. I like the full range of seasons. I like being close to OKC and New Mexico (for snowboarding).

What I don't like about Amarillo is that your skin dries out and hands crack, and the temperatures range in the extreme. It is nice in the summer when the temperature drops during the night-time, but in the spring and fall, it can go from 75 one day to 35 the next and vice-versa. Very unpredictable. The saying goes "If you don't like the weather, give it a couple of hours."

[sawbones95]

Amarillo does have the coldest winters of any major city in Texas, & it's the 1 Texas city where you don't swelter in the summer. The culture is definitely Texan. We do have socioeconomic ties to 5 states. (Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado & Kansas.) I've had friends from Houston & Dallas refer to the Panhandle as "Texas' Siberia" & "Texas' Outback."