01
Garden casita
A two-bedroom, two-bath cottage with an attached garage, a front porch and a fenced back patio for the dog.
- Attached garage
- Fenced patio
- Full kitchen
Senior living · Canyon, Texas
Twelve miles from the canyon rim. Right next door to everyone.
Apartments, casitas and assisted living on forty acres east of the Canyon square, with sister campuses in Amarillo and Hereford, all run by one Panhandle family of caregivers since 1996.
- 1996the year our first apartments opened
- 3campuses across the Panhandle
- 40acres on the Canyon campus
Since 1996
Big sky, wide porches and nobody eating supper alone.
Palo Duro started with one building, twenty-four apartments and a stubborn idea: that folks who spent their lives on ranches, in classrooms and behind hospital desks out here should not have to move to Dallas to find a good place to grow old.
Thirty years on we have three campuses and about four hundred residents, from retired wheat farmers to retired professors from the university up the road. Some of them still drive out to the canyon every week. Some need a hand with their medications and a ride to the doctor. All of them get the same porch, the same kitchen and the same staff who know their names.
— Ramona Esquivel, executive director
- 1996the year our first apartments opened
- 3campuses across the Panhandle
- 40acres on the Canyon campus
- 27years our longest-serving cook has been here
Photo tour
Canyon country, day to day
Out here we keep the porch light on, the coffee hot and the calendar full, and we never make anybody choose between independence and help.
Rooms & suites
Apartments, casitas and suites
Every floor plan has a full kitchen or kitchenette, a walk-in shower and a window big enough for a Panhandle sunset.
02
Two-bedroom apartment
Corner apartments on the canyon side of the main building, with a den big enough for a desk and a sleeper sofa.
- Corner windows
- Washer and dryer
- Covered parking
03
One-bedroom apartment
Our most popular plan: a real kitchen, a walk-in closet and a balcony that faces the sunset.
- Balcony
- Walk-in shower
- Full kitchen
04
Assisted living suite
A private suite with a kitchenette, near the nurses' station and a short walk to the dining room.
- Kitchenette
- Emergency call system
- Daily check-ins
05
Mesquite House memory care suite
A private room around a secure courtyard, with a memory box by the door and room for a favorite chair.
- Private bath
- Courtyard access
- Memory box
06
Respite and guest suite
Fully furnished, for a short stay after the hospital, a family trip or a trial run before moving in.
- Furnished
- Meals included
- Week or month
Sample family reviews
Folks who know us best
Daddy farmed outside Happy for fifty years. We thought he'd hate town. Turns out he just needed a garden bed, a woodshop and four other old farmers to argue about rain with.
When Mom's memory started slipping, she moved from her casita to the Mesquite House without leaving the campus. Same chapel, same chaplain, same Sunday lunch. That mattered more than I can say.
I taught history at the university for thirty-one years. Now I give a talk in the Commons once a month and the questions are better than my students' ever were.
Tasha called me before I could even worry. Dad had a fall, she'd already talked to Dr. Whitlock, and she had a plan written up by the time I got there from Lubbock.
We sold the place in Vega and kept the pickup. I drive it out to the canyon twice a month with whoever wants to come. Usually it's a full cab.
My mother is a picky eater and a former home-economics teacher. She has approved of Wade's pie crust. In our family that's the highest honor there is.
The respite week let us go to our grandson's wedding in Denver. Dad called it his vacation and asked when he could go back.
I came to Hereford campus after my hip. The therapy gym got me walking, and the ladies at my table got me laughing. I stayed.
Jenna sat with us for two hours going through Mom's VA benefits. We had no idea she qualified for Aid and Attendance.
Every Christmas they light up the whole circle drive. Our grandkids think it's the best show in Canyon, and they might be right.
I visit at odd hours because of my shifts. I have never once walked in and found Mom alone and unhappy. Not once.
They let my dog move in with me. Biscuit has more friends here than I do, and I have plenty.
Our team
The people who run the place
Ramona Esquivel
Executive Director
Tasha Greer, RN
Director of Health Services
Dr. Aaron Whitlock, MD
Medical Director
Wade Kimbrough
Executive Chef
What sets us apart
Where we shine
01
One- and two-bedroom apartments and garden casitas
Full kitchens, covered parking and a patio or porch on every home.
Monthly rent
02
Thursday drives to Palo Duro Canyon
Picnic lunch at the rim, back by three. The van has a wheelchair lift.
Included
03
Help with bathing, dressing and grooming
Same caregivers on the same hall, so help comes from a familiar face.
Care level
Admissions
Moving in, one step at a time
Marisol walks every family through the move, from the first phone call to the first Sunday supper.
- One person who answers your calls and texts, start to finish
- A floor plan of your new home, with your furniture measured in
- Names of trusted local movers, estate-sale companies and realtors
- Help with Medicaid, VA and insurance paperwork from our social worker
- Your new home cleaned, painted and the pictures hung before day one
- A resident ambassador to show you around your first week
Ratings & recognition · sample
- Panhandle Readers' Choice · Best Senior Living
- Regional Business Journal · Top Workplaces
- Canyon Chamber · Business of the Year
- County Fair · Blue Ribbon, Pie Division
- Area Agency on Aging · Community Partner
- Regional Hospital System · Preferred Partner
- Caregiver Alliance · Dementia-Friendly Partner
- High Plains Volunteer Center · Partner of the Year
- Panhandle Builders · Design Award, Casitas
- Local Radio · Listeners' Favorite Place to Retire
Now hiring
We hire people who want to stay. Ask anybody who's been here ten years.
Come out to the canyon road.
Schedule a tourVisit
Come out and see us
- 1408 Caprock Trail
Canyon, TX
Pull into the circle drive under the big cottonwood; visitor spaces are on both sides of the Commons. Golf carts run out to the casitas all day. - (806) 555-0172
- Text us
- welcome@paloduroliving.example
- PaloDuroSeniorLiving
Tour & office hours
- Tours, Mon – Sat9a – 5p
- Sunday lunch tours12p – 3p
- Leasing office, Mon – Fri8a – 5p
- Families visitAny time
Our nurses are on site around the clock. Families can visit any hour; after 9 p.m. ring the bell at the Commons door.
Come for Sunday lunch. Stay for the sunset.
Call or text Marisol to set a time, or pick one online. Bring the whole family; the chicken-fried steak is worth the drive from Lubbock.