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We begin this journey inside my car, where it tells me the outside temperature is nearly 100. Nice. About four of the past six days have been 100 or higher.




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Shameless plug of my employer. This is where I parked and headed on my foot-propelled tour.



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Downtown Amarillo has lots of painted horses. I don't exactly get them, but I guess they're better than the pigs all over Cincinnati.



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Here's the Amarillo Globe-News building. The Globe-News is Amarillo's newspaper.



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The Santa Fe Building is Amarillo's second-tallest building. It's 188 feet tall and was built in 1930. It currently houses county offices.



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The top of the building features red lettering that lights up brightly at night. It's visible for miles.



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The Chase tower, the tallest building in the city. We'll pass by it later.



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The Paramount Building. I don't know the history of it except that it used to house a theater and now has offices.



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Sadly, a lot of downtown Amarillo looks like this. Closed buildings with boarded up fronts. The city's trying to revamp downtown, and there are a few projects going on that might kick up the place.



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One of those projects is the Fisk Building. This 10-story building opened in 1927. I don't know how long it's been closed, but it's reopening in 2010 as a hotel.




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This sign gives the details. They just had a dedication ceremony a few weeks ago. They're gutting the building to make the hotel.



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There we go. The Chase Tower, the tallest building in the city. It's 374 feet tall and apparently is the tallest building between Dallas and Denver.



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Another view.



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Another horse!




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This is the Barfield Building. It opened in 1927. It's currently waiting to be fixed up and turned into condos, but that seems to be getting nowhere. Such is the case with a few abandoned buildings downtown.



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The Barfield Building from the side.



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Amarillo National Bank Plaza One. This 16-story building is the eighth-tallest in the city.



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This is Plaza Two of the Amarillo National Bank Building.



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The old Potter County Courthouse. It's closed. You can probably see the fencing around it. There's a bit of fighting about this building. Gut it, tear it town, keep it, etc.



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The front entrance of the courthouse, taken over the fence.



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There's a tank next to the building, and even that's controversial. Some people want to move it, and that's got some veterans angry.



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This is the courthouse that's currently in use. It's right across the street from the old courthouse.



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This shapely building is the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts. This place houses Broadway plays, concerts, singers, the works. I've heard it's got great acoustics. The design is supposed to imitate Palo Duro Canyon, the second-largest canyon in the U.S. The canyon is about 20 miles south of Amarillo.




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Another view of the Globe-News Center.



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Aw. Isn't it a cute little downtown?



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The Herring Hotel opened in 1926. It's the third-tallest building in the city. It's been closed since the 1970s, and I haven't heard anything of what's to become of it.



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Another horse.




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As I wandered around, I found a bunch of unpainted horses sitting inside, surprise, an abandoned building.



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An out-of-focus (bleh) shot of the Amarillo Building. It's about a block away from the Herring Hotel, and this side is a similar design.



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The 10-story Maxor Building. Dark clouds started rolling in.



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Another abandoned building. No idea what this guy is.



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And here comes the rain.



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The "WT" on the top of the Chase Tower lights up. That was added a few months ago because West Texas A&M University has some classes in the building.



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No way! Another horse!



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Many of the streets downtown are brick, a throwback to the old days.