You can’t really know a place from just visiting a week. I was here for two months now and every now and then I see something out of my ordinary here and there that I would like to share with my fellow Canuks and QKers.

1. Texas has palm trees and beaches!

All my life I thought Texas was just cactus and desserts! What a delightful surprise to see there are many tropical paradises other than California and Florida in the USA. Here in south texas, especially Corpus Christi, there is a lot of fishing. I love the fresh seafood. It’s not the same as the Maritimes in Canada, (despite being right next to an ocean, they still import seafood from Canada!). This isn’t a culture shock, but a geographical shock that many people have.

2. Beautiful Nature!

They also call it the bird watching capital. And there is the largest butterfly center two hours away.

This is a major stop for the Monarch butterflies.

I was glad to catch the rescue and release of these sea turtles. I saw people from all over America and even Canada witness this! (four Canadian license plates, two from Ontario, one from BC and another from Alberta, one traveller was quite seasoned!)

 

3. Yes, they actually have a sign for this!

4. They love Jesus so much, they want you to slow down your car!

5. They can’t be bothered to get out of their car when they want to eat!

This is a common fast food joint that is popular all over Texas called Sonic. I just couldn’t believe how popular this was. I also thought it was funny to see banks commonly having “drive-thrus” too!

6. They can’t be bothered to walk in a store!

It is very common to see courtesy electric wheelchair carts in all grocery and big box stores.

7. They can’t be bothered to even crumble their own feta cheese!

8. A lot of farming promise here!

Yes, I am growing my own goods!

You can grow anything almost year round! Orange trees are very common here. I thought Oranges only came from Florida and California.

hmm… and what else?

– They really really have the best BBQ. Their secret is their mesquite wood. You will never ever ever have meat in this form anywhere else. Vegans and vegetarians need to make the exception to try this BBQ or else you haven’t lived!

– Corpus Christi is the most ideal terrain for cycling. It is completely flat. Unfortunately though, it is dangerous for cyclists here. They need to build more bike paths.

– Oh and in Texas, they take justice to a whole new level. Virtually everyone gets tested for drug usage before getting hired and randomly at work! To think I used to work at places where they openly smoked weed during lunch makes me laugh!

They alert everyone by text if there is a dangerous criminal on the loose. The text notification has its own unique alert sound. Finally, they publicly make available a map of all convicts.