KnowYard Community

It takes like a year. I know that's not what you want to hear but real friendships take time. Keep showing up to the same places consistently. The people who keep showing up too become your people.

My barber recommended a BBQ spot that's been open since 1991. Went there. No signage. Just a smoker and some picnic tables. Best ribs I've had in this state.

TxDOT project timelines are suggestions at best. I've lived near a highway expansion that was supposed to take 2 years. It took 6. When it finished they immediately started a new project on the connecting highway.

Get the AllTrails app and search your area. Filter by difficulty and distance. Some of the best trails aren't in official parks — they're along creeks, power line easements, and greenbelts.

Look for nature preserves run by land trusts or Audubon societies. Usually free, well-maintained trails, and way fewer people than state or city parks.

How genuinely friendly people are. I was suspicious at first. Turns out people just wave and hold doors open here. It's not weird, it's normal.

I stop every time I see one and I'm not sorry. The kolaches are solid, the bathrooms are spotless, and the beaver nuggets are crack.

Early morning on weekdays is the cheat code for popular parks. I go at 7am on a Tuesday and have the whole trail to myself. Same trail on a Saturday at 10am has 200 people.

My Mexican friends refuse to eat at most Tex-Mex places. But they also admit that queso (which doesn't exist in Mexico) is addictive. Cultural exchange works both ways.

Pool membership was the best $200 I ever spent. June through September I'm there 4 days a week after work.

Old school Tex-Mex places are the best example of this. The ones where the enchilada plate is $9.99 and it comes with rice beans and chips. No substitutions. Perfection.

The key is never letting your house get hot in the first place. Blackout curtains, good insulation, and never open the doors more than necessary. Treat it like winter in reverse.

The bathroom thing alone justifies its existence. After driving 3 hours on a Texas highway I would pay $5 just for a clean bathroom. The food is a bonus.

Army Corps of Engineers parks around the lakes are always less crowded than city parks. Free or cheap, good trails, water access. Google the nearest lake to you and look for Army Corps sites.

Compared to where I moved from in the northeast, this is still a bargain. But yeah the trajectory is not great.

State parks. Texas state parks system is incredible and massively underused. A year pass is $70 and gets you into every park in the state. Weekend camping is $15-25/night.

Birria tacos here have gotten so much better in the last few years. The trend actually brought legit birria spots out of hiding.

Just wait for your first blue norther. 80 degrees at lunch, 35 degrees by dinner. You will learn to check the weather every morning.

It's both. It's a tourist trap AND it's good. Those things can coexist. The prices are high but the quality is real.

The "no income tax" thing is a trap. They get you with property tax, sales tax, and toll roads. You end up paying the same or more than a lot of income tax states.

NWS confirmed brief touchdown near Benbrook. Damage reports coming in on Winscott Road.

The fudge and the jerky are genuinely high quality. Everything else is overpriced gas station food with cute packaging. Fight me.

Costco for bulk items, HEB for weekly stuff, and I still end up at Walmart at 10pm because I forgot something. Every single week.

San Antonio erasure in this thread is criminal. River Walk, missions, best Mexican food in Texas, most affordable big city. Put some respect on SA.

The electricity thing. I had no idea you have to CHOOSE your electric provider. Signed up for a variable rate plan my first month and got a $380 bill in August.