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Texas is bigger than you think it is. Clocking in at 268,497 square miles, Texas is larger than every country in Europe and could easily fit a handful of European countries within its borders. (In fact, if you strategically juxtaposed the shape of Texas over a map of Europe, you could cover the cities of Paris, Prague, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels, Munich, and Florence.) Not to mention, one in every 12 Americans lives in Texas. When they say "everything's bigger in Texas," they're not kidding.

This tough phrase has become iconic, but it was actually invented by an advertising agency in 1985 for the Texas Department of Transportation. (And everyone who lived in Texas during the '90s will remember the slogan from the classic commercials that would come on TV.) The Don't Mess With Texas campaign still works today to educate the public and prevent littering.

Here's a brief primer on Texas history: During the age of Manifest Destiny, wagonloads of American settlers came into Texas (which at the time was a part of Mexico) and eventually decided that they wanted their independence. The Texas Revolution lasted from October 2, 1835, to April 21, 1836, culminating in the formation of the Republic of Texas. The country lasted just 10 years (tough break) before it agreed to join the United States. It became the 28th state of the union on February 19, 1846.

When Texas businessman Angus G. Wynne decided to open his first theme park in 1961, he wanted to call it something that would serve as an homage to his home state's history. From that inspiration came the amusement park Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, which pays tribute to the fact that in its entire history, Texas has been owned by six different countries.

Texas is filled with tiny little towns that boast awesome names. If you can't afford a European vacation, just hop in your car and drive through Paris, Athens, Naples, London, Dublin, and Florence, Texas. There's even a town called Earth in the plains of Llano Estacado—and its the only town on the planet to bear that name.

Texas has a huge amount of German cultural influence thanks to the influx of German immigrants who came to the state in the mid-19th century. "Texas German" is still spoken today, and you'll encounter it particularly in the towns of Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, Boerne, Schulenburg, and Weimar.

Texas is pretty quirky, and all it takes is a look at its legal code to see that. The state still has plenty of strange, antiquated laws that will definitely raise your eyebrows. For instance, it's illegal to sell your eye, to dust a public building with a feather duster, to milk somebody else's cow, and to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel. And you absolutely cannot let a camel run loose on the beaches of Galveston. On the other hand, it's totally legal for you to shoot and kill Bigfoot if you happen to see him out and about.

Texas football is no joke. In fact, in 2014 the small town of Decatur voted to reschedule Halloween to October 30 because the October 31 date would have conflicted with the local high school's Friday night football game.

The town of DISH in Denton County used to be called Clark. But one day in 2005, satellite television company Dish Network made Clark an offer it couldn't refuse. In exchange for renaming the town DISH, each of its 201 residents would receive free basic television service for ten years and a free digital video recorder. Could you blame them?!

Yep, you read that right. The King Ranch in South Texas covers 1,289 square miles. Compare that to the size of the entire state of Rhode Island, which is 1,212 square miles. There's also a windmill farm that's about seven times the size of Manhattan.