La Quinta Inn & Suites Bedford: 1809 Hwy 121 Bedford, TX
76021
With easy access to Highway 121, the La Quinta Inn & Suites Bedford, you'll find comfort, quality lodging and convenient access to DFW Airport, American Airlines Headquarters, the New Dallas Cowboy's Stadium....READ MORE |
Texas is a state geographically located in the south-central part of the United States, which the Census Bureau places in a sub-region of the U.S. South designated West South Central. It is also known as the Lone Star State.
With an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²) and a rapidly growing population of 23.5 million, as estimated in 2006, spread among 254 counties, Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population.
Dallas and Houston are the centers of the state's two largest metropolitan areas. Other major cities include the state capital of Austin, the state's oldest major city of San Antonio, and the western city of El Paso.
Due to its long history as a center of the American cattle industry, Texas is associated throughout much of the world with the image of the cowboy.
Topographically, the easternmost section of the state is covered by the same piney woods that cover much of the Deep South.
Moving westward, this evolves into semi-forests of oak and cross timbers then, as the climate gradually becomes more arid, turns into rolling plains and prairie and, eventually, desert in the Big Bend region surrounding El Paso.
It is these wide open spaces of the Texas prairie that have lent currency to the phrase that "everything is bigger in Texas."
Because of its large size and unique history, the regional affiliation of Texas is often debated. Historically and culturally, it has very close ties to the South.
However, due to Texas's history as a Spanish colony, its border with Mexico, and its large Latino population, Texas can also be considered a Southwestern state.
Nevertheless, while most residents acknowledge these categories, many claim an independent "Texan" identity superseding regional labels.
Spain was the first European country to claim Texas.
Starting in the 1820s, North American and European immigrants began arriving in the area, and in 1836 Texas declared its independence from Mexico, and continued to exist as the independent Republic of Texas for nearly a decade.
In 1845, it joined the United States as the 28th state. Texas is one of only four independent states to enter the US federation.
Annexation of Texas led the United States to war with Mexico leading to the Mexican Cession and helping to plant seeds for the U.S. Civil War. Texas was the 7th state to join the Confederate States of America.
Near the turn of the 19th century, discovery of oil led to an economic boom in the state and greatly increased funding for higher education. Texas grew rapidly, becoming the second largest state in population by 1994, and became economically diversified, with a growing base in high technology.
The word Texas has found its way into the American English vernacular in ways not directly related to the actual state.
Due to the state's large geographic size, the term "Texas sized" is often used to describe large things.
The state's name has been used as part of several brands such as the Louisville, Kentucky restaurant chain, Texas Roadhouse, and the multinational semiconductor corporation, Texas Instruments.
Texas Hold 'Em is the most popular form of poker in the world.
A shortened form of "Texas", Tex, has been used as a nickname for someone having been born and/or raised in the state. Some people nicknamed "Tex" include basketball coach Tex Winter and original Dallas Cowboys president and general manager Tex Schramm.
Tex also has been used as a prefix for several words related to Texas including Tex-Mex or the city Texarkana.
The common nickname for the state, The Lone Star State comes from the single star of the former Republic of Texas.
The star is still found on the state seal and flag, symbolizing Texas's fight for independence and that Texas was an independent republic.
Geography
The geography of Texas spans a wide range of features and timelines. Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. It is in the south-central part of the United States of America.
It is considered to form part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.
The Rio Grande, Red River and Sabine River all provide natural state lines where Texas borders Oklahoma on the north, Louisiana and Arkansas on the east, & the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south. But to the west, the borders with the State of New Mexico & with the panhandle of Oklahoma are not based on natural features of terrain.
Some residents divide Texas into five regions: North, East, Central, South, and West.
Texas Almanac divides Texas into four physical regions: Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and The Basin and Range Province. This is the difference between human geography and physical geography.
Some regions of Texas are more associated with the South than the Southwest (primarily East Texas, Central Texas, and North Texas), while others share more similarities with the latter (primarily far West Texas and South Texas).
The upper Texas Panhandle and the South Plains parts of West Texas do not easily fit into either category.
The former has much in common with the Midwestern United States, while the latter, originally settled primarily by anglo Southerners, yet with a notable Hispanic population, is somewhat of a blend of South and Southwest.
The size of Texas prohibits easy categorization of the entire state wholly in any recognized region of the United States; geographic, economic, and even cultural diversity between regions of the state preclude treating Texas as a region in its own right.
Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. The continental crust here is a stable Mesoproterozoic craton which changes across a broad continental margin and transitional crust into true oceanic crust of the Gulf of Mexico.
The oldest rocks in Texas date from the Mesoproterozoic and are about 1,600 million years old.
These Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks underly most of the state, and are exposed in three places: Llano uplift, Van Horn, and the Franklin Mountains, near El Paso.
This is overlain by mostly sedimentary rocks. The oldest sediments were deposited on the flanks of a rifted continental margin, or passive margin that developed during Cambrian time. This margin existed until Laurasia and Godwana collided in Pennsylvanian time to form Pangea.
This is the buried crest of the Appalachian Mountains—Ouachita Mountains—Marathon Mountains zone of Pennsylvanian continental collision. This orogenic crest is today buried beneath the Dallas—Waco—Austin—San Antonio trend. During this time E. Texas was a region of high mountains and shallow seas covered W. Texas.
The late Paleozoic mountains collapsed as rifting in Jurassic time began to open the Gulf of Mexico. Pangea began to break up in the Triassic but seafloor spreading to form the Gulf of Mexico occurred only in the mid and late Jurassic.
The shoreline shifted again to the eastern margin of the state and the Gulf of Mexico passive margin began to form. Today there are 9 miles (14 km) to 12 miles (19 km) of sediments buried beneath the Texas continental shelf and a large proportion of remaining US oil reserves are to be found here.
At the start of its formation, the incipient Gulf of Mexico basin was restricted and seawater often evaporated completely to form thick evaporite deposits of Jurassic age.
These salt deposits have buoyantly risen up through the passive margin sediments to form salt dome diapirs, commonly found in East Texas, along the Gulf coast.
East Texas outcrops consist of Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments with contain important deposits of Eocenelignite. Oil is found in the Mississippian ad Pennsylvanian sediments in the north,
Permian sediments in the west, Cretaceous sediments in the east, and along the Gulf coast and out on the Texas continental shelf. Oligocene volcanic rocks are found in far west Texas, in the Big Bend area.
A blanket of Miocene sediments known as the Ogallala formation in the western high plains region is an important aquifer. Texas has no active or dormant volcanoes and few earthquakes, being situated far from an active plate tectonic boundary.
Climate
The large size of Texas and its location at the intersection of several climate zones gives the state highly variable weather.
In general, though, there are three main climate zones: the humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa) of the eastern half of Texas, the temperate semi-arid (Koppen BSk) steppe climate of the northwestern part, including the Panhandle, and the subtropical steppe climate (nearly an arid desert climate, Koppen BSh) of the southern parts of West Texas, particularly around El Paso.
The Panhandle of the state is colder in winter than North Texas, while the Gulf Coast has mild winters.
Texas has wide variations in precipitation patterns. El Paso, on the western end of the state, averages as little as 8 inches (200 mm) of annual rainfall while Houston, on the southeast Texas averages as much as 54 inches (1,400 mm) per year.
Dallas in the North Central region averages a more moderate 37 inches (940 mm) per year. Snowfall often falls in the winter months in the north. Maximum temperatures in the summer months average from the 80s °F (26 °C) in the mountains of West Texas and on Galveston Island to around 100 °F (38 °C) in the Rio Grande Valley.
Nighttime summer temperatures range from the upper 50s °F (14 °C) in the West Texas mountains to 80 °F (27 °C) in Galveston.
Thunderstorms are very common in Texas, especially the eastern and northern portion of the state. Texas also experiences the highest number of tornadoes out of every state in the Union, with an average of around 139 a year. Although these tend to strike most frequently in North Texas and the Panhandle, every part of the state is subject to these violent storms.
Tornadoes occur mostly between the months of April-July but may strike at any time of the year.
Texas emits the most greenhouse gases out of any state.
The state's annual carbon dioxide emissions are nearly 1.5 trillion pounds (680 billion kg). Texas would be the world's seventh-largest producer of greenhouse gases if it were its own country.
Much of the greenhouse gas emissions come from the state's refining and manufacturing industries which provide the bulk of the United States's petroleum and plastics.
History
Prior to European colonization, Texas was inhabited by Native American nations such as the Caddo, Comanche and Apache. Spain was the first European country to claim the territory of Texas.
Starting in the 1820s, American and European immigrants began arriving in the area. Mexico declared its independence from Spain, and Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836.
Following this date, Texas existed as the independent republic for nearly a decade.
In 1845, it joined the United States as the 28th state.
Texas is one of only four independent states to enter the US federation.
Annexation of Texas led the United States to war with Mexico leading to the Mexican Cession.
In the American Civil War, Texas was the 7th state to join the Confederate States of America. Near the turn of the 19th century, discovery of oil led to an economic boom in the state.
Texas grew rapidly, becoming the second largest state in population 1994, diversifying its economy, with a growing base in high technology.
Texas boasts that "Six Flags" have flown over its soil: the national flags of Spain, the Fleur-de-lis of France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.
American Indian tribes who once lived inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include Apache, Atakapan, Bidai, Caddo, Comanche, Cherokee, Kiowa, Tonkawa, Wichita, Hueco and the Karankawa of Galveston. Currently, there are three federally recognized Native American tribes which reside in Texas: the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, and the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas.
Geography
The geography of Texas spans a wide range of features and timelines. Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico.
It is in the south-central part of the United States of America. It is considered to form part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.
The Rio Grande, Red River and Sabine River all provide natural state lines where Texas borders Oklahoma on the north, Louisiana and Arkansas on the east, & the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south.
But to the west, the borders with the State of New Mexico & with the panhandle of Oklahoma are not based on natural features of terrain.
Some residents divide Texas into five regions: North, East, Central, South, and West.
Texas Almanac divides Texas into four physical regions: Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and The Basin and Range Province.
This is the difference between human geography and physical geography.
Some regions of Texas are more associated with the South than the Southwest (primarily East Texas, Central Texas, and North Texas), while others share more similarities with the latter (primarily far West Texas and South Texas).
The upper Texas Panhandle and the South Plains parts of West Texas do not easily fit into either category.
The former has much in common with the Midwestern United States, while the latter, originally settled primarily by anglo Southerners, yet with a notable Hispanic population, is somewhat of a blend of South and Southwest.
The size of Texas prohibits easy categorization of the entire state wholly in any recognized region of the United States; geographic, economic, and even cultural diversity between regions of the state preclude treating Texas as a region in its own right.
Economy
Texas's economy is known for its energy and aeronautics industries, and for the ship channel at the Port of Houston—the largest in the U.S. in international commerce and the sixth-largest port in the world. The state is home to the most Fortune 500 companies and has the second-largest economy in the United States.
The Texas Medical Center in Houston contains the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions.
In 2006, Texas had a gross state product of $1.09 trillion, the second highest in the U.S. Gross state product per capita as of 2005 was $42,975.
Texas leads the nation in number of cattle, which usually exceed 16 million head. Cotton is the leading crop and the state's second-most-valuable farm product. Texas also leads nationally in production of grain sorghum, watermelons, cabbages, and spinach. Wheat, corn, and other grains are also important.
Texas's growth can be attributed to the availability of jobs, the low cost of housing, the lack of a personal state income tax, high quality of education, low taxation and limited regulation of business, a central geographic location, a limited government, favorable weather, and plentiful supplies of oil and natural gas.
The known petroleum deposits of Texas are about 8 billion barrels, which makes up approximately one-third of the known U. S. supply. Texas has 4.6 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves. There are currently 33 billionaires residing in Texas today. Dallas has 11 billionaires, the most of any city in Texas.
Texas remained largely rural until World War II, with cattle ranching, oil, and agriculture as its main industries. The sprawling 320,000 deeded acre (1,200 km²) La Escalera Ranch, located 20 miles (32 km) south of Fort Stockton, Texas, is one of the largest cattle ranches in the Southwestern United States. Cattle ranching was never Texas's chief industry – before the oil boom back to the period of the first Anglo settlers, the chief industry was cotton farming.
After World War II, Texas became increasingly industrialized. Its economy today relies largely on information technology, oil and natural gas, fuel processing, electric power, agriculture, and manufacturing. Much economic activity in Texas is regional– for example, the timber industry is important in East Texas's economy but a non-factor elsewhere, while Houston, the state's largest urban economic enclave stands at the center of the petrochemical, biomedical research trades, and aerospace (particularly NASA).
Meanwhile, Dallas houses the state's predominant defense manufacturing interests and the expansive information technology labor market.
Texas has the second highest number of Fortune 500 company headquarters, fifty-six.
This has been attributed to both the growth in population in Texas and the rise of oil prices in 2005.
In 2006, for the fifth year in a row, Texas led the nation in export revenues. Texas exports for 2006 totaled $150.8 billion, which is $22.1 billion more than 2005 and represents a 17.2 percent increase.
In 2002, the Port of Houston was 6th among the top sea ports in the world in terms of total cargo volume; Air Cargo World rated Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as "the best air cargo airport in the world".
Defense is one of the state's largest exports.
Lockheed Martin's Aeronautics division is located in Fort Worth, Texas.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon, the largest Western fighter program is produced in Fort Worth, Texas. The plane's successor, the F-35 Lightning II will also be produced in Fort Worth.
Texans pride their state's history, but they also seek new social and technological developments. The Austin area is often nicknamed "Silicon Hills". Dell's headquarters is located in the city's suburb, Round Rock.
Dallas is the birthplace of the integrated circuit. The North Dallas area is called the "Silicon Prairie" for the area's high concentration of Information Technology companies such as Texas Instruments and EDS. In addition, Houston based Compaq, was once the world's largest computer companies. After Compaq's merger with Hewlett-Packard, the new owner currently employs more employees in Houston, than anywhere else in the world.
Houston is a global leader in the energy industry.
Since 2003, Texas state officials have created various initiatives like the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to develop the economy of Texas. Texas is a leader in alternative energy sources, producing the most wind power of any state, as well as small solar powered efforts and the experimental installation of wave-powered generators.
Texas has a large tourism industry.
The state tourism slogan is "Texas: It's like a whole other country", a nod to Texas's diversity and history. Tourists might enjoy San Antonio and El Paso's hispanic culture, or Fort Worth western attractions. Corpus Christi and Padre Island are some of the popular Texas resort areas located on the Gulf of Mexico.
Texas is a top filmmaking state. Austin is now one of the leading filmmaking locations in the country.
The popular soap opera's, Dallas, exteriors were filmed on Southfork Ranch, a location near Plano, Texas. During 1995-2004, more than $2.75 billion has been spent in Texas for film and television production. The Texas Film Commission was founded for free services to filmmakers, from location research to traveling. Also many Hollywood studios are relocating parts of their production divisions to the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex.
