You know what they say; everything is bigger in Texas!
This saying doesn’t just apply to the big hats, big hair and big… well, we won’t go there. This popular phrase likely originated as a reference to the massive geographical area that Texas covers in comparison to so much of the rest of the continental United States. That, and maybe those famous Texas attitudes…
All jokes aside, there is some real concrete truth to the statement! Many things are, indeed, much larger in Texas than they are anywhere else. Here are some of them!
Things that are really bigger in Texas
Fire hydrants
The world’s largest working fire hydrant is in Beaumont, Texas. It weighs a whopping 4,500 lbs. and is a fully functional fire hydrant! The best part? It’s painted to look like a Dalmatian! It was donated by Walt Disney in 1999 to mark the re-release of the popular movie “101 Dalmatians.”
So not only does Texas have the largest working fire hydrant in the world, it also has the largest Dalmatian-themed working fire hydrant in the world! Spot on!
Cedar rocking chairs
Lipan is home to the world’s largest cedar rocking chair, but it’s unlikely anyone could actually enjoy the massive thing. It’s over 26 feet tall, so unless you’re around 40 feet tall, you probably won’t be able to do much more than look at it.
Boots
Who would have guessed?
The largest cowboy boots in the world stand proudly in San Antonio at a towering 40 feet tall! Now, if only we could find some socks…
Christmas trees
Festivities are big in Texas, too!
Around Christmas time, Texas is home to the largest indoor Christmas tree in the world. You can see this massive tree at the Galleria Dallas every year starting as early as November 3!
This Christmas tree is no mere decoration. It stands at a towering height of 95 (!) feet in the center of an indoor ice rink (!!), with over half a million lights (!!!), ten thousand ornaments (!!!!) and a 100-pound illuminated star (!!!!!). It also takes a crew of 50 people three days to install the tree, so it’s worth the visit to see.
The economy
Big things in Texas don’t just apply to large versions of fairly regular-sized household items. Texas’ economy is equal to that of the entire nation of India!
Arts districts
Art lovers will find no better destination than in the Dallas Arts District, which is the largest urban arts district in the world (and home to AMLI Fountain Place)!
State capitol buildings
What better place to govern a big state with a big population than from a big state capitol?
Texas’ state capitol building is built to look like the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., but did you know that it’s actually taller than the nation’s capitol? By 14 feet, in fact!
Although it’s not greater in size (floor space-wise) than the U.S. Capitol, the Texas State Capitol surpasses all other domed state capitols in the U.S. with a floor space covering an impressive 18 acres!
Convenience stores
Have you ever left a convenience store without finding the road-trip snacks you’re desperately craving? Well, you’ll never be disappointed at the Buc-ee’s Travel Center in New Braunfels, as it holds the world record for being the largest convenience store in the world!
The massive complex features a 255-foot-long car wash (which is also the longest in the world), 60 gas pumps that can serve 120 cars at any single moment, a thousand parking spaces and even a barbeque pit! The store itself covers 67,000 square feet, has 80 soda fountains and a Wall of Candy!
Cowboys
As the beloved guardian of the Texas State Fair, it’s only natural that our favorite ‘Big Tex’ is, in fact, the biggest Texan around. True to his name, the Big Tex statue is just over 55 feet tall and has become a Dallas and Texas icon to residents everywhere. He is also officially the tallest cowboy in Texas.
Bats
Nope, not baseball bats! Actual, real-life bats!
The largest bat colony in the world lives outside Bracken Cave in San Antonio, made up of over 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats. The world’s largest urban bat colony resides under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, where anywhere between 750,000 to 1.5 million bats can be seen flying out from the bridge every evening!
Pecans
Guadalupe county is one of the largest pecan producers in the country, making Texas the ideal home for the largest pecan in the world! A fiberglass pecan sculpture measuring 8 by 16 feet sits proudly outside the Texas Agricultural and Heritage Center in Seguin, Texas.
Oil
Texas is the largest producer of crude oil in the United States. In 2020, the state produced 1.78 billion barrels of oil, while second-place North Dakota produced only 421 million barrels in the same year.
Greenhouse gasses
On a more sobering note, all that oil has an ugly side effect: greenhouse gasses. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Texas produces twice as many GHG emissions than any other state.
If you live in our Dallas apartments, now you can say with absolute certainty that yes, some things are indeed bigger in Texas!
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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/albertoadan
Colleen Ford is a South African who now lives on Oahu in Hawai'i. She loves to travel, camp, spearfish and hike. She's also part of a super cool canoe club and is pretty decent at it. Colleen enjoys Star Wars and also not being cold ever.
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