Oh, and the Traveling Part

I sort of forgot that the other, and perhaps bigger, part of this challenge is traveling around Texas. Although I am a transplant (as are most of the people I know), I really want to get a feel for all of Texas. Whenever I go someplace new - whether it is my aunt's new house in a whole different state or a high school trip "out east" - my favorite way to get to know a place is to walk or run around as much of it as I can. I feel like that way you really get to be a part of the town. People wave to you, you hear the sounds, you smell the smells, and sometimes you can see in the windows!

So, obviously, I cannot walk my family all over Texas, but I can get off the interstates and out of the big cities. I can go places like Hico and show my son an antique school bus (he LOVES buses). I can forgo I-35 and discover that there are fields and fields of cotton growing just south of Dallas. I cannot, however, effectively explain how the cotton boll becomes a T-shirt without some sort of visual aid! (I'm secretly hoping for a little help from the State Fair in a couple of weeks on that one.)

The bottom line is this, even if I don't eat all the burgers and go to all the places on the list, this challenge will truly be a success if I show my children parts of their state that most others have never heard of, not to mention experienced personally. I hope to take away a true feeling of belonging to, understanding of, and appreciation for Texas.