Today is a big day in Texas history– Texas Independence Day. I know I have a lot of readers who don’t live in Texas, and you might not know that Texas was a part of Mexico until we declared our independence in 1836. (Though we Texans think that EVERYBODY knows all about Texas!)
For 9 years Texas was an independent republic with Sam Houston as our 1st President.
In 1845 Texas was annexed to the United States, as the 28th state. At that time it was even larger than it is now.
Mr X and I were born in Texas and have lived here all our lives and though we love to travel, we can’t imagine living anywhere else. It’s truly a beautiful state with unbelievable variety. (I wrote a little bit about it in A Texas State of Mind.)
We’ve seen a good bit of our state and I’d love to share it with you!
This is a roadrunner photographed by Mr X in the Hill Country, in Central Texas.
This is leaving my neighborhood going on to the highway (actually a “farm to market” road). We live in the Big Thicket, and pine trees have been a large part of our local economy since the beginning.
Bluebonnets (our state flower) and Indian paint brush blooming at a historic church in Independence, Texas. April in Texas is a wildflower explosion!
Houston was once the capitol of Texas. but now is just our largest city. It’s 2 hours from our house and we go over several times a year. We’ve seem wonderful museums, parks, historic buildings, and very fine musical theater venues.
Here’s a view of Downtown Houston, in Tranquility Park.
The very tasteful Beer Can House, just minutes from Downtown.
Nacogdoches (Pronounced nak-uh-DOH-chis) is home to Stephen F Austin University and the beautiful Ruby Mize Azalea Garden.
One of my favorite places, The Antique Rose Emporium outside Independence.
Dallas is another large city in Texas. We visited last spring and toured the Sixth Floor Museum, which was the Texas School Book Depository, from which JFK was shot.
Dallas has one of the most beautiful arboretums I’ve ever seen! Tulips by the thousands were blooming.
You can’t talk about Texas without mentioning crazy Texas weather. We have a saying– “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes!” Every summer we hold our breath and pray that no major hurricanes will hit. 2005 stunned us with a Category 3 storm named Rita.
Here’s our front yard viewed from the porch after I got back from evacuating for 10 days.
And here’s my back yard after our Snow Day of 2008. It hadn’t snowed like that since 1971 so we were thrilled.
There’s lots more to Texas– but I hope I’ve shown you enough to see why we love it!
Happy Texas Independence Day!
