Hello, again. Yes – I am aware that I just wrote a list; however, I feel that list form is the clearest way to describe my sweet home away from home that is Fort Worth, Texas.

In a few of my previous articles, I’ve probably evoked my vague sense of distaste for Texas, after all, I am originally from Massachusetts – a distinction that I make proudly. I still feel like I “fit in” more on the East coast, but in the spirit of my return home for thanksgiving, allow me to share some of the wonderful things that I get to love from my home in Fort Worth.

1. The Stockyards!

The Stockyards are the prize tourist juncture of FW. This uses to be a literal stockyard, where cows were stored and sorted and prepped for death (tragic, I know). Nowadays, the Stockyard represent as much “country”/”western”/”cowboy” memorabilia as you can find in our urban town. The Stockyards feature all the tourist necessities, and we always take our out of state visitors there; it’s sort of corny but it’s a blast.

There’s a fake bull-riding game, a maze, lots of shops and restaurants, and a rodeo arena. This arena hosts a rodeo on Friday nights, and it’s pretty cool. Country music blasts, including the classic, impossible-to-not-know-if-you-live-in-Texas, “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” There are games where the kiddies get to chase around a truly terrified sheep and calf duo. The cowboys chase after the cows and my family and I sit in the stands, cheering for the cows.

Also featured in the Stockyards is the ever-famous “cattle drive.” This sounds exciting, like it’ll be reminiscent of the herding of the bulls in Spain, but it is, in fact, humorously underwhelming. A total of about ten or fifteen cows stroll sleepily down the cobble stones and it’s done.

This may be sort of a goofy cultural norm and tradition down here in Texas, but it remains one of my favorite things about my town.

2. The Weather.

Right now in Allentown, Pennsylvania – on Muhlenberg’s campus – it is just starting to get frigid. On Saturday, as we all experienced, it was sunny and beautiful and 70 degrees. By the evening, icy rain and wheezing wind was afoot. It has remained, for the last week, horribly cold due to the extremity of our winds. In Texas, however, it is mild and is floating around the fifties right now. I love snow, and I don’t love the icy drizzle that we call snow in Texas, but in anticipation of another three or so months of winter, I gladly bring light to how nice the Texas winters are every year. In Fort Worth, temperature gets as low as the twenties range, but not a lot colder. We still get our share of snow days due to the incapability of Texas’ trucks to deal with icy roads. As soon as you may be getting sick of the winter, spring rolls around. Or rather, summer…

Texas switches back to the 80s and 90s pretty quickly, and once the heat descents, it sticks around!

3. Proximity to Austin!

Brace yourselves: this is exciting. In my precious city of Fort Worth, I live exactly three hours away from the city of Austin. This may seem like a really long drive, but Texas is so big anyway that you just gotta’ go for it…it could be a lot worse of a drive than three hours.

Austin, one of America’s great “hipster-villes” – a nickname coined by yours truly – is one of my absolute favorite places to be. It’s got a main street full of incredible and artsy boutiques like Uncommon Objects, and a Toms shoe store, and American Apparel and a really awesome costume shop and a lot of others I can’t remember. Austin’s got the “I Love You So Much Wall,” which is rightfully famous.

Austin also has a wonderful string of delicious restaurants that my family and I hit up methodically and strategically every visit. This list includes Kerbey Lane (breakfast food heaven), Trudy’s (true Tex-Mex food), Mother’s (Vegan Heaven), and Amy’s Ice Cream (great ice cream and a great cow mascot). There’s also the Alamo Draft House, which is like Movie Tavern but way better. Last but not least, there’s the Oasis which is a picturesque little area of town that’s by the lake has delicious food and a really sweet atmosphere.

So none of this actually has to do with Fort Worth, but Austin is just so cool that it’s an immediate selling point for the state of Texas,

4. Mexican Food!

Fact: My name is Lizzie and my favorite meal of all time is the burrito. Fort Worth, Texas, as part of the south and as a state that borders Mexico, has incredible Mexican food. Our restaurant excellence includes spots like Chuy’s, Blue Mesa Grill, Cantina Laredo, Salsa Limon, Torchy’s Tacos, Freebirds World Burrito…I could go on forever but this article’s already crazy long. (And yes, we have Chipotle, like everywhere else.) Whenever I’m home, I make sure to stock my belly up on refried beans and rice and many, many, many burritos. (Side note: I admit that, ironically, the best burrito I’ve ever tasted is made in a joint in Amherst, Massachusetts: Bueno Y Sano.)

5. TCU!

When we first moved to Texas, it was because my dad got a teaching job at TCU (Texas Christian University). TCU is nothing short of collegiate country club heaven. The campus is impeccable (thanks to all the unfortunate construction going on all the time). Our mascot is the horned frog (which is actually more like a lizard) and our school color is purple – my dad’s favorite. Having my dad as a professor here has lent us some really cool experiences, like concerts and music lessons, and attending the crazy football games that you find at colleges with a really good football team, and in Texas in general. I’m really grateful to live in Fort Worth and to be so connected to TCU because it’s also what helped me get a spot on the Tuition Exchange List – a program that gives me huge benefits on my tuition at Muhlenberg, the place I really wanted to be.

6. Dallas is our Best Buddy!

Although Dallas is no Austin, and although some people from Fort Worth hate Dallas and vice-versa (so more like “frienemies”), Dallas is also a really cool city to live close to. Besides the fact that it named one of my favorite characters in "The Outsiders" (*cough*, RIP), Dallas is home to a lot of super cool events. I’ve hopped over to the city to visit the arena where the Mavs play, to watch a basketball game, to see Disney on Ice, and to see Selena Gomez in concert (low-key my queen).

7. There’s a trampoline park.

This is not a particularly significant fact, nor is it particularly ground-breaking, however, the fact that Fort Worth has a trampoline park is of great importance to me. If you’ve never been to a trampoline park, I insist that you try it out because it is, quite honestly, a blast and a half. There’s trampolines, there’s a foam pit, what more could you want?

8. Fort Worth Zoo!

Fort Worth has got a pretty great zoo. It’s ranked pretty highly. It’s massive, and it’s got pretty much any animal you could want to gaze at through a glass wall. My favorites are the giraffes, the elephants, the tigers, the penguins, and the bears…okay, I like a lot of animals. Our zoo also has a play area for the small ones and a giant candy store, because you know, consumerism. The Fort Worth Zoo is a pretty awesome place and we often take our family and guests there. My high school even gave us a field trip there during senior year!

9. Spiral diner.

Spiral Diner is a vegan, and largely gluten-free, restaurant in Fort Worth and it is the coolest. It is incredibly delicious and it doesn’t taste anything like the stereotype of vegan food. The décor and the people and both really interesting and artsy and hipster-esque, just like me! I fit right in. It’s a great place for my family, who is mostly gluten-free or vegetarian. Fort Worth is increasingly getting some adorable hot spots like this that are quite reminiscent of the millennial culture I so adore in Austin.

10. Bass Performance Hall.

Right smack-dab in the center of Fort Worth’s beautiful downtown is Bass Performance Hall. It is stunningly beautiful, with signature angels playing trumpets on the side of the building. It’s a gorgeous theater and my family and I have frequented here on multiple occasions to see some really incredible shows and concerts. It’s a fun excuse to get all dressed up, or just to slum it in your jeans and a t-shirt, because there will always be a little bit of both of these type of people here.

11. Museums.

Finally, our town of Fort Worth has got a really special Museum District. There’s the science museum, with rotating exhibits including ones about dinosaurs and The Titanic and about crime-scene investigating, and with – like any good science museum – a lot of areas for kids to play and learn and be creative. Then, we have a string of art museums. As I grow older, I get more and more appreciative of and patient with museums. Before I went back to college last summer, I dragged my family along to the modern art museum – which is quickly becoming a favorite kind of museum for me to visit. This museum also has a beautiful reflecting pond, a fancy-schmancy restaurant if you’re into really complicated and gourmet foods, and a movie theater. This theatre was the source of my budding enthusiasm for the (especially recent) films of Woody Allen.

One other incredible piece of modern art in Fort Worth isn't quite a traditional museum, but the "Water Gardens." It's an absolutely beautiful place:

In closing, I hope that any readers are still awake/alive after my long spiel of interesting things, at least interesting to me, about Fort Worth. If anyone is inspired enough to hop a plane down to Texas, I’d be an ever so gracious host and tour guide.