Texas is enormous. It's so big, it has six different regions that are big enough to be their own states, plus five cities larger than 800,000 citizens. But as big as it is, there are things about the state of Texas state-wide that all Texans miss when they have to leave the Lone Star State. These things just aren't the same, or maybe they don't exist at all, outside Texas. So here are ten things that Texans miss when they leave home.

1. Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits and Spicy Ketchup

OK, maybe the beautiful Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit isn't your favorite Whataburger menu choice, and maybe you don't always use spicy ketchup on everything, but it's safe to say that Texans long for the beauty of the orange and white stripes and 11 p.m. breakfast when they leave home. Yeah, Whataburger is available in other states than Texas, but it was founded in Corpus Christi, and we've kind of taken ownership of it regardless.

2. Breakfast Tacos

You've probably heard of breakfast burritos. But if you're not Texan, chances are you don't know breakfast tacos. You can find them outside of Texas, but you can't find any that taste as good as Texan breakfast tacos. A flour tortilla with eggs, chorizo, and bacon will send you through the roof. When Texans leave home, we're forced to eat subpar tacos or just deal with burritos. They're just not the same.

3. Bluebonnets

Do you know your state's flower? Currently, I'm living in Illinois and I'm high-tailing it back to Texas as fast as I can, but I honestly have no clue what the Illinois state flower is. But in Texas, it's the delicate, intricately beautiful bluebonnet, and every last Texan stinkin' knows it. These beauties bloom in the spring--Mid-March to late April/early May--and nearly all of us have at least one picture of us as a kid sitting in the bluebonnets. They grow only in Texas, and they grow everywhere there. You can find them along the highway, in your backyard, on your school's playground, some school districts even see them around the football field. It's said that Lady Bird Johnson had bluebonnets planted all over the state, and if that's true, she succeeded in making the state look absolutely gorgeous every spring.

4. The Heat

You may actually get a few Texans to deny this one, but they don't really mean it. Yeah, it's miserably hot. 110 degrees every day from June to September isn't exactly ideal, but the extreme heat of Texas provides so many opportunities for things that just don't happen in other places. The BSR Cable Park waterslide in Waco wouldn't mean anything somewhere like Maine. In 110 degrees, launching off a waterslide vertically into a pond means a whole lot more. Or maybe Fossil Rim in Glen Rose where African animals like Giraffes, Zebras, and a whole lot more just roam around on a ranch you can ride a massive safari truck through. It makes that part of North Texas feel just like the African Savannah.

5. Y'all

Since I've lived in Illinois, there have been people who have literally made fun of me for saying the word "y'all." That doesn't happen in Texas. Once again, this happens outside of Texas in other Southern states, but I think it shows the hospitality and friendliness of the Texan people overall in a way it doesn't in other states. Not only is this word utterly un-erasable from Texan vocabulary, but it's often used in a caring way that highlights Texan hospitality. It's hard to feel like there are many strangers in Texas, and that just doesn't happen in other places.

6. Tex-Mex

It's not Texan, it's not Mexican, it's Tex-Mex. This food type has become so massively popular among Texans that there are legitimate Tex-Mex restaurants outside Texas in an attempt to recreate it in other places. Problem is, it just isn't the same in Texas. It's so much better.

7. Bluebell

You just have to eat it. I can't explain to you just how many levels above other ice creams Bluebell sits. Just eat it. It's a Texan delicacy.

8. Weekend Trips to other Texan Cities

Texas is big enough that it has, at least, five cities that are large enough to give you a weekend's worth of activities to do. Live in Dallas? No problem. Hop in the car and take a mini-road trip to Austin for concerts, BBQ, graffiti park pictures, and bat-watching. Live in Houston? It's just a couple hours to San Antonio where you can watch a Spurs game, spend a day on the riverwalk, and another at the Alamo grounds. It's something unique to Texas to be able to take a road trip to somewhere so different but that's full of so many familiar people.

9. The Texas Flag on Everything

The Texas flag is iconic. The reason this one is on the list is because of what plastering the Texas flag everywhere actually stands for--Texan pride. There is a large part of our hearts that flutters when we're away from home and we see another Texan license plate. If we could stop and talk to those people, we'd eventually find something in common, starting first with our love of our state. In no other part of America do you see pride for a state like you do from Texans. Plus the Texas flag looks downright cool.

10. Texas Speed Limits

A few years ago, many states in the country raised interstate speed limits to 70 miles per hour. Texas, however, raised theirs to 75. In Texas, we drive in a very different way than other states. Namely, faster. Yeah, traffic in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth is horrendous, but on the open road, it's pretty much the Autobahn, and for that we are extremely grateful. We feel like we're crawling along the road in other states.

So there you have it. There are quite a few things that make Texas home to so many people, but when it comes down to it, these are ten of the most profound things that we long for when we have to leave home.