INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT TEXAS.....

[gozetec02]

I found these to be very cool. If you have never been to Texas you got to visit.

1.. Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles

2.. Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles

3.. World's first rodeo was in Pecos... July 4, 1883.

4.. The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America
built over water.

5.. The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full time coach for Rice University, in Houston, Texas.

6.. Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in
North America. Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only remaining flock of whooping cranes.

7.. Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.

8.. The worst natural disaster in U.S. history was in 1900 caused by a
hurricane in which over 8000 lives were lost on Galveston Island.

9.. The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was "Houston."

10.. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas.

11.. Laredo is the world's largest inland port.

12.. Tyler Municipal Rose Garden is the world's largest rose garden with
over 38,000 bushes with 500 varieties on 22 acres.

13.. The State shell is Lightning Whelk.

14.. King Ranch is larger than Rhode Island.

15.. Tropical Storm Claudette brought a U.S. rainfall record of 43" in
24 hours in and around Alvin in July 1979.

16.. Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, instead of by
annexation. (This allows the Texas flag to fly at the same height as the
US flag.)

17.. A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.

18.. Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.

19.. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period after Dr
in Dr Pepper.

20.. Texas has had six capital cities ...
a. Washington-on-the-Brazos
b. Harrisburg
c. Galveston
d. Velasco
e. West Columbia
f. Austin

21.. The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S. which is
taller than the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. (by 7 feet).

22.. The name Texas comes from the Hasini Indian word "tejas" meaning
friends.

23.. Tejas is not Mexican for Texas.

24.. The State animal is the Armadillo. *

25.. The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston.


*An interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always have
four babies! They have one egg which splits into four and they either have
four males or four females. Well... I thought it was interesting anyway!

[JLC]

Aaahhhhhhhhhhh......just like being back home! I for one enjoyed that very much, Damien. Thank you!!

[Ironhead]

And dont forget the National Beer of Texas.....LoneStar

And the best fast food resteraunt in the darn world......Whattaburger.....Hamburgers with Jalapenos!!

And....and.....and......and.....

I loved the 2 1/2 years that I lived in Texas

[gozetec02]

Some of those give you a feeling of how BIG Texas really is.

[Kara]

Oh man...I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO homesick now!!!!

Thx for posting this!!!

K

[freakoverdose1]

i trained in texas. Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. I hate that god awful city. That has got to be the dirtiest city I have ever been too. That whole riverwalk thing isn't what they make it out to be. Its brown and full of trash. Other than that, texas is pretty cool. I liked living there, but it was nothing compared to my homestate of Michigan

[Smynx]

Interesting facts about West Virginia:

1. Most people don't know it's its own actual state separate from Virginia.

2. Most West Virginians are not inbred.

3. Most West Virginians actually own and wear shoes.

:wink: :lol:

[Shadow_TA]

Those were pretty cool. Whataburger is the best!

[gozetec02]

Yea the first Whataburger opened in downtown Corpus Christi. The Original building is still there but has additions to it.

[freakoverdose1]

While we are on the subject of cool states. Michigan is pretty interesting as well.




Grand Rapids was the first city in the U.S. to put fluoride in their water.

The world’s largest weather vain in located in Montague. It stands 48 feet tall and weighs 3,500 pounds. Its wind arrow is 26 feet long.

The first state police radio system in the world was established in 1929 by the Michigan State Police.

In 1939, the Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit manufactured the first air-conditioned car.

Eau Claire holds the annual International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship contest. The record set in 1988, was for spitting 72 feet, 7 1/2 inches.

Michigan has the only floating post office in the world. The J.W. Westcott II delivers mail to ships still underway.

Spanning five miles between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan, The Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridges in the world.

The first people in the nation to receive assigned phone numbers lived in Detroit in 1879.

Singing sand can be found on the beaches of Grand Haven. The sand particles make a whistling sound as you walk upon them.


Michigan has 116 lighthouses and navigational lights.


The first soda pop made in the U.S., Vernor’s ginger ale, was created by accident in 1866 in Detroit.

Henry Ford, who produced his first experimental car in 1893, founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903.

The Great Lakes account for one-fifth of the world's surface freshwater supply.

Michigan has approximately 11,000 lakes.

Michigan has more than 4,000 miles of snowmobile trails.

Mackinac Bridge: Completed in 1957, the five-mile-long suspension bridge (WORLD'S LONGEST SUSPENSION BRIDGE) connects Michigan's peninsulas across the Straits of Mackinac