Gary Clark - Backroads of Texas: Along the Byways to Breathtaking Landscapes and Quirky Small Towns

Texans love their cowboy boots. Ornate to practical boots can be found at Sassy Pantz in Stockyard Station at the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Youll discover a state of startling geographic contrasts, including a 367-mile coastline from the border with Louisiana to the Mexican border; a seemingly endless and dense pine forest where early Anglo settlers often got lost; verdant hills with valleys cut by spring-fed, clear-water streams; thirty-seven mountains over a mile high; desert terrain astonishingly filled with flowering plants, grasses, and immense ranch lands; high plains where millions of bison once roamed; eye-popping canyons with one second in size only to the Grand Canyon of Arizona; and a sweeping, lush tropical paradise along the Rio Grande River. Texas is a place of Spanish missions dating back to the 1600s and historic lands first claimed by American Indians such as the Teya, Querecho, Caguate, Aranama, Coca, Karankawa, and Nasoni peoples. The states name derives from a Caddo word translated by the Spanish as Tejas, basically meaning friends. Texas boasts towns dating back to the 1700s filled with extraordinary histories; a wine country rivaling Californias Napa Valley; and big cities teeming with businesses, top-tier colleges and universities, cutting-edge medical research centers and hospitals, highly rated art museums, music halls, theater companies, and, of course, restaurants and hotels.

Wildlifefrom deer to mountain lions, bears, jackrabbits, armadillos, foxes, and birdsabounds. Perhaps no wildlife is more abundant and readily seen than birds, more than 620 species in all. You will not miss them. From meadowlarks in the Texas prairies to waterfowl in lakes, coastal wading birds, eagles, hawks, hosts of songbirds, and even tropical birds such as the resplendent green jay seen nowhere else in the United States but in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, birds will light up your life in Texas.

The people of Texas are as diverse as the land. European heritage, Hispanic heritage, African heritage, Pacific Asian and Chinese American heritage, and Middle Eastern American heritage are woven into many other cultural traditions to create a tapestry both beautiful and life-affirming. And yes, Texas has a big cowboy heritage, a proud heritage, and a heritage inclusive of all brands of ethnicity. Dont be surprised to see a Chinese American alongside an African American, both wearing cowboy boots.

Are Texans full of pride? Yes. But its pride in the land more than pride in themselves, the kind of pride you find among people in all fifty states of our great nation. Regardless of the caricatures of Texans as swashbucklers, they are no different from citizens in other statesfriendly, hardworking, giving, interesting, quick to laugh, quick to give you a hand, and even quicker to share winsome stories with you about their towns.

Enjoy Texas. Enjoy the land. Enjoy the people.