You can't go to Texas without getting on a horse, and horses love the water as much as we do. (MITCHELL SMYTH/QMI Agency)

It's no way nearly as popular as Florida with Canadian winter visitors and snowbirds, but still the Texas Gulf coast has its firm devotees. For one thing, accommodation is generally cheaper, especially for long-stay visitors. And its proximity to Mexico gives it a whiff of the exotic, a slightly "foreign" place where they speak your language and you can drink the water.

Just like Florida it has good beaches, wildlife sanctuaries, museums, golf courses, hiking trails and all that. But here are a few offbeat things you may want to see and do.

Saddle up

You can't go to Texas without getting on a horse, and horses love the water as much as we do. A favourite ride is a wrangler-led centre in the surf on South Padre Island.

Big and small

Visitors on Corpus Christi's waterfront marvel at the contrast between the replicas of Columbus's three ships, Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria, each about 17 metres long, and the massive USS Lexington (277 metres). You're welcome to climb aboard.

The Hanging Tree

That's the name of a big oak on the courthouse lawn in Goliad and it's a reminder of the lawless early days, when justice was dished out immediately after sentence.

Costly delay

A museum in Brownsville tells the story of a battle in nearby Palmitto Ranch, which Confederate forces won. Trouble was, the Civil War had ended 34 days earlier but the news hadn't reached south Texas, so 11 men died in vain.

Just relax

South Padre Island is so laid-back the council passed a bylaw banning the wearing of neckties. The cops carry a big pair of scissors for dealing with offenders. And the one-hour photo shop advises "Prints will be ready in about an hour and a half."

Baby boom

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is winter home for the endangered Canadian whooping crane, which migrate from northern Alberta every fall. Numbers fell a couple of years ago but a "baby boom" this past summer has brought the population up to about 300, officials say. In 1941 there were just 14. There are viewing platforms in the refuge.

Flag of the fathers

An iconic photo from World War II, of marines raising the U.S. flag after a decisive battle on Iwo Jima island, is the basis for a bronze sculpture in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. At the military academy in Harlingen you'll find the original model from which the bronze was cast. The flagpole is 20 metres tall.

La Rosa Blanca

That means "the white rose." It was the name her fans gave Mexican-American pop singer Selena. She was top of the Mexican charts and on the brink of stardom in America in 1995 when she was shot dead in a minor dispute with her fan club founder. Her statue -- with, of course, a white rose -- stands on the waterfront in Corpus Christi, her hometown. (Jennifer Lopez played Selena in a 1997 movie).

King-size spread

Even for a state with massive cattle spreads, the King Ranch is exceptional. The ranch, in Kingsville, covers 3,300 sq. km. That's bigger than the state of Rhode Island, more than half the size of Prince Edward Island. You can tour part of the ranch by minibus and learn more of the story in a museum in Kingsville.

High water mark

In Galveston a waterfront memorial depicts a man perched on a pole. The top of the pole, seven metres from the ground, represents the height of the water when a tidal wave, spawned by a hurricane, devastated the island in 1900. Some 6,000 to 8,000 people died. It was America's worst natural disaster.

Keep them dogie's rollin'

Every moviegoer is familiar with the image of the great cattle drives from Texas to the northern railheads. The first drives began from a ranch that surrounded the Presidio (an old Spanish mission) near Goliad and the story is told in historic markers.

-- For further information, visit the website traveltex.com.