Big Sky National Monument - Stonewall, TX

Lyndon Johnson is not a president often associated with the Antiquities Act. In his term, he enlarged four existing national monuments and established another two, most of which he did only at the behest of others. The exception to this is Big Sky National Monument. Set close to his ranch in Stonewall,Texas, Lyndon used to load VIPs into the back of his Lincoln Continental and go careening across the open prairies that would one day become the monument. He’s quoted saying that he loved seeing the faces of those unfamiliar with the Texas sky, crushed under the weight of it. And admittedly, there is something magical about the skies over the Lone Star State, something countless have commented upon. It’s in every song and story the state has to offer, the wide panorama of open sky that ensures storms can never sneak up on you, that teaches you from an early age how small you are in the world. It’s only fitting that a state obsessed with size would be blanketed by an equally big sky. Previ

Águila Rock

There are many islands that sit off the coast of Texas but only one that floats above it. Águila Rock is a wonder of the Panhandle, a floating island thick with trees and intact, native ruins. There is a widely spread misconception that the Texas Constitution allows for the floating island to secede from the state and the country it occupies whenever it might please, but this idea is not just wrong, it is also absurd. 

The Texas Constitution only mentions Águila Rock in regards to its historical protection designation and the details of its management. Nowhere does it discuss secession, give cause for how such a thing might happen, or outline how the floating island could exist as an independent entity. In fact, the constitution does much of the opposite, outlining extensively how administrative borders and mineral rights apply to the island. But even if Águila Rock could secede, it is economically infeasible to imagine how the tiny island could survive, let alone prosper, given that it has no real economic output. Finally, even if it was possible for Águila Rock to gain its independence and survive, it has no living population to desire such a thing or benefit from it. It is nothing more than a tourist destination whose freedom from the bonds of physics give people too much liberty to read their own desires into.

Practicalities:

Águila Rock sits off of I-40 to the west of Amarillo. Paired with Cadillac Ranch, the Ozymandias Legs, the Goodnight Castle, and the Floating Mesa, it makes for a pleasant tour across and around the city. While it is free to walk the grounds below the island, tours of the rock are only provided by authorized guides with reservations made a month in advance. Know that Águila Rock is not wheelchair accessible as the only way up to its ruins is by a series of rope ladders.


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