Capital of the South? (live, best, state, better)

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by Spade

Some parts of DFW look like Oklahoma. No parts look like Arkansas IMO.But some parts look like it really should remain in Texas. That I-35 area is really the crossroads topographically.

For the AR part I was speaking on demographic. Especially historically.

And of course all parts of DFW and Houston SHOULD remain in Texas

[Spade]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

For the AR part I was speaking on demographic. Especially historically.

And of course all parts of DFW and Houston SHOULD remain in Texas

Ahh. Yeah I was mostly focusing on topography from both the Central Texas and North Texas standpoint. Didn't even think about demographics.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

I see your point on that, Spade...and mostly agree on a generalized level. But keep in mind (which I know you are aware of as you have spoken of it many times before), the broad "Eastern and Western Cross Timbers" area...which extends quite a bit further west than the "grand prarie" that sorta marks the proverbial I-35 division!

Ok I see. I had to actually look it up lol and that is a perfect place to mark the transition. Because once you get west of Abilene, the trees start to disappear outside of any populated center. They are flat out gone in some spots. Haven't been out that way in years.

[Nairobi]

Originally Posted by Spade

Some parts of DFW look like Oklahoma. No parts look like Arkansas IMO.But some parts look like it really should remain in Texas. That I-35 area is really the crossroads topographically.

South Dallas is reminiscent of the non-pine woods parts of Arkansas, like around Fayetteville or West Memphis. That's just me, though.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by polo89

Yep, SA/Austin has the dryish element, but not as dry as El Paso. Austin/SA and their surrounding areas also have the shorter native cacti. Just different cities than their Southern counterparts. No one can tell me these areas of Austin and San Antonio don't look "Western". Not saying they ARE Western, they're certainly Southern, but they have characteristics of "The West":

Well said, Polo, even though I might quibble just a bit. For instance, the SA/Austin area fall well within the range of the "sub-humid, sub-tropical" climate zone, which is not at all characteristic of the "West."

Still though (and incoming rep point!), you made a very good point that is often overlooked -- either thru not knowing or not caring -- in that "the West" has two different meanings. And it has been discussed/covered countless times on threads like this.

To wit, there are two "Wests". On is the "geographical" West which -- depending on criteria -- either starts west of the Mississippi River, with the "Frontier Strip" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Strip), or west of the 100th Meridian or with the Rocky Mountains and/or desert Southwest or dozens of others!

But point being, the above "West" just translates into that it isn't "East".

This is not the historical/cultural "West" of which the modern day states of the Census Bureau definition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_United_States) -- which were mostly mixed territories until quite a while after the "Civil War" -- have not much in common with the above Frontier Strip states....which were essentially shaped by "eastern" settlement. That is to say, Texas (and to a lesser extent Oklahoma) by the American South...and Kansas and those to the north by the states of the eastern Midwest.

These "Wests" are not synonymous with one another, as you kinda said!

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by Slyman11

I visit Louisiana once every 15 months. So tell me what about Houston's terrain looks/feels different than most of Louisiana?

Is it the lush trees? The bayous/wetlands? Gulf coast? Weather? No I believe both Louisiana and the Houston area share these common characteristics. Then again I'm talking to the guy whose never seen crawfish restaurants in Houston before, I haven't ever even lived there but see many each time I visit the city.

According to annie_himself, Louisiana is just a mythical place. Flying unicorns, world peace, people of every background hurdling around camp fire holding hands and singing 'Kumbaya' together while telling stories of their former homes/homelands prior to moving to Louisiana. This is how your posts come off, I dont know if you mean to hype up Louisiana this much but almost every single post by you is attacking Atlantans/Texans/other southerners, fulfilling misconceptions of places you have never experienced in real life, and putting Louisiana on such a high stage, more than it belongs

Wow I struck a nerve.
Crawfish restaurants aren't the same. There are seafood restaurants in St. Louis, doesn't mean anything. We bought our crawfish on the corner, if not that corner, then drive down the street and get some from that corner, same with fresh shrimp.
You haven't lived in Houston or Louisiana, who are you to question my opinion?
Attacking Atlantans?!! I actually like Atlanta, have said it numerous times but ATL posters put their city up way higher than you may think I do.
Bashing Texans? Again, you don't know me obviously.

Originally Posted by Nairobi

How can you disagree with Slyman? Houston does feel like Louisiana. Take away the millions of illegals and it could easily pass as Louisiana's largest city.

Yea it could pass as a city in north Louisiana but not south Louisiana. It could be a city in Louisiana but it's nothing actually like a city in Louisiana. Get what I mean? As a native Louisianan, Houston is very Texas, not quintessentially Texas like Dallas but still more Texas than Louisiana. Most people from Louisiana will tell you the same.

Originally Posted by Spade

I know you may hate to agree with it. But he's right.

In yalls opinions he is.

[Slyman11]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

Wow I struck a nerve.
Crawfish restaurants aren't the same. There are seafood restaurants in St. Louis, doesn't mean anything. We bought our crawfish on the corner, if not that corner, then drive down the street and get some from that corner, same with fresh shrimp.
You haven't lived in Houston or Louisiana, who are you to question my opinion?
Attacking Atlantans?!! I actually like Atlanta, have said it numerous times but ATL posters put their city up way higher than you may think I do.
Bashing Texans? Again, you don't know me obviously.

Yea it could pass as a city in north Louisiana but not south Louisiana. It could be a city in Louisiana but it's nothing actually like a city in Louisiana. Get what I mean? As a native Louisianan, Houston is very Texas, not quintessentially Texas like Dallas but still more Texas than Louisiana. Most people from Louisiana will tell you the same.

In yalls opinions he is.

I dont know, I dont think I care all to much for it to strike a nerve. I dont think I've ever truly cared for anything online to get that carried away about anything.

Look we all have different opinions, if that is your belief then so be it but you yourself stated its more like northern Louisiana than southern Louisiana, then answer me this. Where in northern Louisiana is there a Gulf of Mexico to equate for what Houston truly is- a southern gulf city like Beaumont, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. In fact isn't Beaumont on the TX/LA border and seen as a much smaller sister city to Houston? How is it that Beaumont is gulf southern and shares that with southern LA cities but Houston cannot?

[Nairobi]

I've told polo already that the common cacti-like plants you see around central Texas are not western cacti. Some people are just hard-headed.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by Slyman11

I dont know, I dont think I care all to much for it to strike a nerve. I dont think I've ever truly cared for anything online to get that carried away about anything.

Look we all have different opinions, if that is your belief then so be it but you yourself stated its more like northern Louisiana than southern Louisiana, then answer me this. Where in northern Louisiana is there a Gulf of Mexico to equate for what Houston truly is- a southern gulf city like Beaumont, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. In fact isn't Beaumont on the TX/LA border and seen as a much smaller sister city to Houston? How is it that Beaumont is gulf southern and shares that with southern LA cities but Houston cannot?

he is a Southern LA guy, he doesn't like people comparing his area with anywhere else. Leave him alone

[Spade]

I'm sorry. I don't find any part of the Houston area that looks like Northern Louisiana nor feel like it. Even the Northern Houston suburbs look like the northern shore area of the Lake Ponchartrain area (Mandeville as a matter of fact) than it does Northern Louisiana. Look around Kingwood The closer you get to the Gulf, the more it does indeed look like a Gulf Coast city just like Southern Louisiana, Southern Alabama and Mississippi, and West Florida.