Texas, The Lone Star state

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, we arrived in New York, another of the most populous states in the US, and waited for a plane to take us on the four-hour flight to Houston, the largest city in Texas. The concept of time is confusing in these kinds of journeys because there is an eight-hour time difference between Turkey and Texas.

Contrary to popular belief, Texas and its districts are very green. I guess that many people are unable to hide their astonishment when they come to Texas for the first time. Having a flat terrain, the state of Texas gets very hot in summer. Among the US states, Texas is also known for its locals’ welcoming and hospitable attitude; they often smile at people they don’t know.

Following Alaska, Texas is the second-largest state in terms of area at 268,820 square miles (696,200 square kilometers), similar to Turkey. It has a growing population of 24.7 million residents and is home to the biggest petroleum industry in the United States.

People in Texas are very proud of their state. There are signs saying “Don’t Mess with Texas” on its highways. Originally used as a slogan for an anti-litter campaign launched in 1986, the phrase was adopted by the people of the state and is widely used.

Texas, the Lone Star state

While we were traveling around Texas, we often saw the state flag outside people’s homes, workplaces, schools and official institutions alongside the US flag. Texans are proud of their flag, the Lone Star.

Texas has the highest percentage of people with a religious affiliation in the United States. The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Roman Catholic Church with 4,368,969, the Southern Baptist Convention with 3,519,459 and the United Methodist Church with 1,022,342. There are large churches in the state and its districts. We went to many universities in the state and saw churches as well as small mosques for Muslim students to pray. Nobody exclaims, as Turkish people do, that secularism is beginning to disappear because of religion.

1) The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center 2) A ranch in Texas 3) A local sign 4) Almorhea state park in Toyahvale, Texas (from top to bottom) 5)Dallas, Texas (R).

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, after New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and the largest city in the state of Texas. Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of the Houston-Sugar-Land-Baytown metropolitan area -- the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the US with a population of 5.9 million.

During our trip, we saw the municipal buildings of Houston and learned that Houston and İstanbul are sister cities; we are pleased to be a sister city with a city as beautiful as Houston.

The age for purchasing alcohol is different from other parts of the world. People under the age of 21 cannot buy alcohol or drink alcohol in Texas. People under the age of 18 cannot buy cigarettes. We were interested to see that the signs saying that drinking alcohol is prohibited in parks are in both English and Spanish. However, as it turned out, this is normal in Texas, and signs are generally written in both languages. There are many districts where the government restricts the sale of alcoholic beverages in the state. These places are called “dry counties.” Some prohibit off-premises sales, some prohibit on-premises sales and some prohibit both. Hundreds of dry countries exist across the United States, although most commonly in the South. Seeing the advantages of a life without alcohol, many American people are sensitive about this issue, and therefore, almost everyone abides by the rules on this crucial issue. Thirty-three states have laws which allow localities to prohibit the sale (and in some cases, consumption and possession) of liquor. Still, many of these states have no dry communities. Three states, Kansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, are entirely dry by default: counties must specifically authorize the sale of alcohol in order for it to be legal and subject to state liquor control laws.

A liter of gasoline in Texas is cheaper than gasoline in Turkey at $2 for four liters. There is no law against speaking on a cell phone while driving a car in the state.

During our trip, we went to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, where NASA’s Mission Control Center is located. Established in 1958, the center attracts many visitors to Houston and is the only place in the world where visitors can see astronauts train for missions, touch a real moon rock and land a shuttle. The center also offers behind-the-scenes tours of NASA.

The center is home to the US astronaut corps and is responsible for training astronauts from the US and its international partners. We saw a unit where astronauts were being trained at the space center. You also have the opportunity to see real shuttles, and we saw a huge engine belonging to one of the space shuttles.

We also visited the control room where in 1969 mission control kept in contact with the first person to walk on the moon. This control room is not in use as a new one has been built, but it receives large numbers of visitors. Finally, we saw the Saturn V rocket displayed at the center. The Saturn V rocket is such a huge rocket that people look insignificant next to it. This type of rocket played a major role in the space race. Texas experiences the most tornadoes in the US, an average of 139 a year. Tornadoes generally occur in the months of April, May and June, and strike most frequently in North Texas and the Panhandle. In 2008, the city of Galveston, Texas, was hit by Hurricane Ike, one of the most destructive hurricanes in US history.

Galveston is no stranger to hurricanes. The 1900 Galveston hurricane devastated the city, killing approximately 8,000 people (but possibly as many as 12,000), making it the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the US. The littoral zone in Galveston, a coastal city located on Galveston Island in Texas, is surrounded by huge barriers to prevent hurricanes from striking the city. Around the coastal city, there are many buildings that have been damaged because of hurricanes. However, when Galveston’s locals see beautiful weather without any storms, they take advantage of it and enjoy the outdoors.