It never fails. You can always find something interesting by going to YouTube and searching for "Amarillo, TX." If you can get past all of the videos of people just driving (which there are many of), you can find the good stuff.

Today I came across a video of someone playing Microsoft Flight Simulator. This version of the flight sim is a lot different from the flight sims I grew up playing.

KISS FM 96.9 logo
Get our free mobile app

This one actually does an amazing job of accurately representing Amarillo while in game. You can check it out below.

The video starts out at Rick Husband International Airport. Once the plane is off the ground, the player follows along I-40, making sure to stop and check out all of the major landmarks in Yellow City, in the game.

For the love of all that is holy, the home of the 72 oz steak is in there.

Soon, the person behind the controller takes us to downtown Amarillo. It's all there. All of the buildings you would expect to be there, are there. The most impressive part is the level of detail; especially for a video game.

I did a little digging and found out that enthusiasts have developed mods that will allow them to use Google Maps data in the game. The real simple way to explain this is that it gives the game a much better level of detail.

This isn't this first or only time Amarillo has been featured in a video game. I think the most recent, that I can remember, is MLB The Show that featured the Sod Poodles.

Check Out The Original Names For These Amarillo Streets

It's hard to imagine these well-known Amarillo streets as any other name. Try to imagine giving directions to someone while using their original names. Gets tricky, doesn't it?

The new names (that we currently know them by) came mostly from associates of Henry Luckett, who drew the first map of the area. When this took place exactly, records do not show, but the street name revamp is covered extensively in 'Old Town Amarillo' by Judge John Crudgington, published in the Plains Historical Review in 1957.

The Abandoned St. Anthony's Hospital on Amarillo Boulevard


The 119-year-old abandoned hospital is a fascinating place for any who are lucky enough to be granted the chance to explore.

The sprawling building saw thousands of Amarillo's citizens inside its halls daily, all the the way until it was shuttered in 2001. But there are still incredible artifacts of the all-too-recent past tucked away in the nooks and crannies of the old St. Anthony.

The explorer who took these photographs gave the following information:

"Many rooms were left untouched, we found patient files, old prescriptions, a blood transfusion machine from the 60s, and microscopic slides of breast cancer from the 70s and 80s. I put one picture in here of some heart scans so you can see the dates and diagnosis of the patient, but marked out the patient’s names of course. During a time when mental illness was not understood, 76 exorcisms were documented to have been performed between 1909 and 1931."

Take a look inside the halls of the legendary abandoned St. Anthony's hospital

More From KISS FM 96.9