Are you up for the challenge? Amarillo Part 1.

I'm in Amarillo.  I've been here since Friday evening.

The last time I was in Amarillo, I was in high school and traveling from Monroe, LA to Las Vegas to visit my oldest brother for Thanksgiving.  It was a looong road trip with my lovely mother and we stopped midway in Amarillo for the night.  The only thing I remember about it was "the smell" and when a cow from an 18 wheeler in front of us shat on the windshield on my side of the car.  YUCK-OH.

This trip has been MUCH better and way more entertaining. :)  I'm here to visit my friend of 11+ years, Michelle.  What was our first adventure?  The Big Texan of course!!

this picture is courtesy of www.legendsofamerica.com

And that's the end of good pictures lol.  I had to convince Michelle that going to The Big Texan was a good idea.  My theory: if you live in Amarillo then you have to eat at The Big Texan at least once!

Lemme tell ya!  The place is FUN!  All the waiters are dressed in cowboy/ cowgirl garb... we're talking cowboy boots, cowboy hats, plaid shirts, garters around arms, prairie style skirts... the works!  It's pretty cute if I do say so myself.

This was our view.  We sat at one of the balcony tables.  Boy am I glad we did!  Great view!

This is Michelle petting the big dear head on the other side of our balcony view.  And yes, I believe that is a chicken or something to the left of her head....

I had to order my "Big Boot" coke.  Why do drinks taste better in red plastic boot cups?  I don't know, but they do.

So all was fine and fun.  Then the show REALLY started.  As everyone in the world should know, The Big Texan is home of the free 72oz. steak .  Yes, that's what I said.

This kid thought he would step up to the challenge.  You have to eat the entire 72oz. steak (which was 9 times the size of my puny little steak), two sides, AND rolls all in ONE HOUR.  See, they even have a timer.  See the plate the kid is eating off... that is ONE STEAK!  Totally made me a little sick to watch, but it sure was fun!  There is a trash can next to this table on a stage.  We asked our waiter, Jerry, if the trash can was for the contestants to throw up in and he just nodded his head yes.

He was going at it pretty fast.  Jerry said that 1 out of ever 10 people will finish.  He also said that 2-3 people try this everyday.  You can watch it live on their website LOL .

Yeah, this was when the kid had about 24 minutes left on the clock... I'm guessing he was thinking about that trash can pretty hard.

Poor guy.  You're disqualified if you leave the stage.  hehe.  He had quickly gotten up and headed to the bathroom.  Jerry told us some horrible stories about the outcome of some of these "eat binging."  Jerry also told us that "there's some man from up there in Wall Street or someplace like that" that will call The Big Texan once or twice a year and pay over the phone to challenge somebody in the restaurant to try the challenge.  All just so he can watch it live on the web with his banker colleagues.  LOL

Jerry also told us that women have a higher success rate then men who enter this crazy challenge.  There's something to be proud of ladies!!  Jerry said women know if they can or can't and won't enter at all if they know they can't... therefore if they enter, they will more than likely eat the whole dang thing.

There's a little food for thought for ya!  ha!

~Fran