I visited Taxes once, (Dollars, Taxes, I got an uncle there. It's a Marx Brothers line.) and being Canadian, the climate terrain and to some extent the culture was radically different than what I'm used to. I spent a few days around Dallas then went to Kerrville for the Kerrville Folk Festival, in the beautiful Hill Country that Joe mentions. Things that really brought me up short:

• You can't sit on the ground. Fire ants are really nasty little buggers that will get at you in short order if you put your rear end on terra firma. Being a skeptic, I had to try this out. Once only. After that, I realized why my travelling companion had insisted on putting up a tent when we pulled into a campground at 3 a.m. on a typical warm night.
  
• It's friggin hot. Typical June day would go to 95o F. Almost all the folk fest activity is in the evening. Days are spent consuming beer in the shade.
  
• The soil is all hardpack clay, and does not drain. When it rains, it pours and floods all over the place. I didn't see a drop in my two weeks there, but they have these huge concrete spillways all over the place.
  
• The people are friendly, although they may hold strange beliefs. The stereotyped Texan Republican cowboy type is only one kind of Texan. There are as many New Age and hippie types as anywhere else.
  
• Among cities, Austin is the music place. Blues, BBQ, and South By Southwest (big industry event in spring) are big.
  
• Go.
  
  
  W-O