Texas Regions Tour
Tourism
A tour through the Texas Regions
Welcome to the virtual Texas tour with your tour guide, tumbleweed Tonya on the Texas trail. Please remember to fasten your seatbelt, enter and exit through the aisle. Take notes on the beautiful side to see we'll be making four stops so hold on tap and by the way, tips for the tour guide are encouraged.
Our first stop is the mountains and basins region, the mountains and basins region is the most western region of Texas. It is the highest and the dryest part of Texas. A basin is a low ball-shaped land with higher ground all around it. The basins in this Texas region are desert. This region has all of Texas's mountains and valleys. The mountains in Texas are part of the Rocky Mountains, which stretch through the western United States from Mexico to Canada.
The Texas Rocky Mountains are made up of many small mountain ranges. The Davis mountains are about in the center of the mountains and basins region. The Chisos mountains are in the south. The Guadalupe mountains are in the north. Guadalupe peak is the highest point in Texas at 8749 feet above sea level. The Chihuahuan desert is located in this region, prickly pear cactus grows here, watch out, don't touch it. Big Ben national park is located in a gigantic bin in the Rio Grande river, 99% of the park is desert. Did you know the largest pair of dactyl bone ever discovered was found right here in big bend national park. It had a wingspan of 51 feet and was found by a Douglas a Lawson in 1971.
This is the city of El Paso, the name is Spanish for the past. El Paso is the largest city in this region of Texas. Okay everyone, back on the bus. Make sure you took plenty of notes. This region is located in West Texas. This region has all of Texas's mountains and valleys. This land is mostly desert. It has the least amount of rainfall in Texas. El Paso is the biggest city, and baked Ben national park is located here. Our second stop is the coastal plains region. The coastal plains are mostly flat land that lies alongside an ocean, coastal plains cover nearly one third of the state of Texas. This is the piney Woods of east Texas. It was once home of the caddo Indians. Our state bird, the mockingbird lives here. They got their name from their unique ability to copy or mock other birds. The pecan tree is also found here. It is the state tree of Texas.
Weather in the coastal plains region is usually mild. That means the winters are short and warm, compared to other parts of the country, summers are long, hot and humid. They are lots of rivers and lakes in this region, perfect for fishing and water sports. The coastal plains of Texas lie alongside an ocean. All rivers that flow west drain into the Gulf of Mexico, many people visit the beaches that lie along Texas. Shipping is a huge industry in this region, Corpus Christi and Houston have huge ports where ships from all over the world visit to load and unload goods. Farming and range in our important industries in the coastal plains region. Oil is found in the coastal plains region.
These tall structures are oil they are, many people call the oil found in Texas, black Texas tea, but be warned, do not drink it. Many large cities are located in the coastal plains, including Dallas, Austin and Houston. Although Austin is our state's capital, Houston is the state's largest city. Houston is also the fourth largest city in the U.S.. Okay everyone, back on the bus again, make sure you took plenty of notes and remember this region is located in southern and eastern Texas. This region is very flat, so it's very easy to build large cities like Houston, Dallas, Austin, Corpus Christi, San Antonio and Laredo.
This region gets the most rainfall in Texas. It's also very hot and has mom, winters, farming, ranch and shipping, and oil are the largest industries in this region. Our third stop is the half-planes region, the hot plains region is also known as part of the great plains. Most of the Texas Panhandle is located here. Land in the high plains region is higher, but more level than other regions, it's very hot in elevation, but it is still very flat. In the southern part of the hot plains is landform called the Edwards plateau. It's very high and flat, like a table, the southern and eastern parts have heels though. This area of Texas is often called the heel country. In the Texas Panhandle, is lame form called the cap rock escarpment. This is where the rolling center planes meet the high flat land of the high plains. In the southern part of the hot plains is another scarp called the Balcones escarpment.
Spanish explorers called it that because it looked like balconies. Powder Canyon is the largest canyon in the U.S.. It is sometimes called the Grand Canyon of Texas. The hot plains region is very dry and has little water supply. Early settlers face many droughts and sandstorms. However, in the winter, the Panhandle will often get blizzards of very harsh, snowstorms. Ranch-in is very popular in the hat planes, flat grassy land is perfect for raising cattle. What you don't see are armadillos, it's much too cold here. Wheat and cotton are important crops in the hot plains. Wheat can grow an area with little water. Two major cities in the hot plains are Lubbock and Amarillo. Both cities grew after railroads were built in Texas. Railroads carried the cattle to markets back east.
Today, both leopard and Amarillo are home to many different industries, including farming, cattle ranching, gas, oil, healthcare, and tourism. Okay, everyone back on the bus again, make sure you took plenty of notes. And remember, this area is a very high flat land. There's plateaus, maces and canyon. This region is very dry with little rain. It's a cooler land because of the high elevation and major cities are Amarillo and lavik. Important crops include cotton and wheat, and the cap rock escarpment separates the great plains from the central planes. All right, our last stop is the central plains region. The central planes region is in the center of Texas. It has a little higher elevation than the coastal plains region, rising from 600 feet to about 2000 feet above sea level.
The central planes region is a rural area, not having a high population, it has warmer summers and cooler winters, and they are many cattle ranches here. Rolling hills cover much of the central plains in Texas, in many places in the central plains, rivers and streams have cut steep sided hills and valleys into the land. This area is often called the Roland heels region. Fort Worth was one of the many stops along the famous cattle trail known as the Chisholm trail. The Chisholm trail was started by a chair key trader. Cowboys and cowgirls in this region still work on cattle ranches. Many compete in rodeos around the country.
Did you know that after the Civil War about one third of the Texas cowboys were African American or Mexican American? And several were women. Fort Worth is one of the larger cities in the central plains region, it is known for its stockyards and cowboys. One little critter you might see in the central planes is the horned toad. You don't see the merry often, but if you do, be careful. They are on the threatened animals list. This means a species is threatened to be an extinct. Okay, everyone, back on the bus, make sure you took plenty of notes and remember this region is known for its role in heels. The syndrome planes are slightly higher than the coastal plains. Many cattle ranches are located here. It is rural, not highly populated, and Fort Worth, Abilene, and several military bases are located in the central plains. Thanks for coming along on the tour. I hope you'll learn to bunch.