I've been tagged by Lydia! So here is a fun-filled meme about my adopted state of Texas. I have stolen all of this information from various websites around the Internet, since I'm rather new to this state and am a little behind on Texas trivia. So I'm learning, too! For those who don't know, Hubby is a native Texan, while I'm a tranplanted Georgian. Sometimes I poke fun at Texas' unique sense of state pride. They seem to think everything is bigger, longer, larger (and fatter--I've heard that Houston has the highest incidence of obesity) in Texas.

Here it goes:

1. The phrase "Don’t Mess with Texas" is a slogan for the Texas Department of Transportation, and was developed to reduce littering on Texas roadways used as part of a statewide advertising campaign in 1986. More than its immediate success at reducing litter, however, the slogan became a Texas cultural phenomenon and the slogan has been appropriated by the citizens of Texas for general use.
2. The Alamo is located in San Antonio. It is where Texas defenders fell to Mexican General Santa Anna and the phrase Remember the Alamo originated. The Alamo is considered the cradle of Texas liberty and the state's most popular historic site.
3. The state was an independent nation from 1836 to 1845. Texas is the only state to enter the United States by treaty instead of territorial annexation. (And they let you know it, too. Hubby seems to think the state could easily secede if they ever feel like it.)
4. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. The Dublin Dr Pepper, 85 miles west of Waco, still uses pure imperial cane sugar in its product. There is no period after the Dr in Dr Pepper.
5. Texas is home to Dell and Compaq computers and central Texas is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of the south.
6. The worst natural disaster in United States history was caused by a hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900. Over 8000 deaths were recorded. As a result, the city of Houston, an hour north, grew in population and is now the 4th largest city in the country.
7. Texas is a very big state. The city of El Paso, Texas is closer to Needles, California than it is to Dallas. With more than 267,000 square miles, Texas is as large as all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois combined. (But Alaska is bigger. Like I tell Hubby, if you cut Alaska in half, Texas becomes the third largest state :-). )
8. The Tyler Municipal Rose Garden is the world's largest rose garden. It contains 38,000 rose bushes representing 500 varieties of roses set in a 22-acre garden.
9. Houston is home to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The largest rodeo in the world, it attracts more than 1.8 million visitors each year.
10. Houston is also home to the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world, with a local economic impact of $10 billion. More than 52,000 people work within its facilities, which encompass 21 million square feet. Altogether 4.8 million patients visit them each year.

Information "borrowed" from these websites:

www.50states.com/facts/texas.htm
http://www.wikipedia.com/
http://www.thc.state.tx.us/triviafun/trvdefault.html
http://www.longyangclub.org/houston/houston_facts.htm

Thanks for the meme, Lydia!