When a Spanish expedition was sent to Texas centuries ago, the peaceful native Americans of that time called them "Thechas" meaning "friends" in their language. It later became the state name hence Texas is often referred to as the Friendly State. It's a state that at times seems stuck in its gun-toting cowboy traditions past in a ever-changing world.

 

 

Fort Worth

Not far from Dallas, Fort Worth is a great place to get immersed into cowboy culture. Not quite the images of sprawling fields of dusty farmland with the odd tumbleweed blowing past, but close enough. There's cowboy paraphernalia shops and steakhouses everywhere, but the main action are the Stockyards Rodeo shows. Bull riding, calf roping, bronco busting, just to name a few. The commentators delivered some great lines like "we have great paramedics, we just don't like to use them". The show is two hours long but after the bull riding, everything else is dull in comparison.

 

In addition to the Rodeo, walking around Fort Worth Stockyards you can get a feel of old cowboy Texas. In short, it's acres of trains, shops, steakhouses serving gut busting portions, horses, longhorns, cowboys and a lot of country music. Country music is very endearing with songs usually about pickup trucks, ripped jeans, or a cowboy falling for a farmer's daughter.
In the evening, I went to Red River, a modern day saloon with live country music. I was one of the few not wearing any cowboy gear. They had a huge dancefloor, people were line dancing. I made friends with a few cowboys, their thick southern accents was surprisingly easy to understand. They had some cool cowboy expressions like "this ain't my first rodeo" which I would've incorporated into my daily vocabulary if it didn't result in flummoxed reactions.

 

Space Center Houston

Space Center Houston is the visitors center at NASA's Johnson Space Center. There's a tram tour that takes you to the mission control centre from which the moon walking broadcasts were made as well as the astronaut trying facility and to see the Saturn rockets. There's also a shuttle simulator and exhibits. And you get the full history behind the famous "Houston we have a problem".

 

Austin

Austin has the college town vibe, since The University of Texas has a very large campus there. The area to the west of the University along Guadalupe Street is known as "The Drag" and has a number of restaurants and stores catering to students so it's generally cheaper. Downtown Austin revolves around the many nightclubs on the infamous 6th Street.