Texas Tidbits: October in Texas, Cooler Weather, Cool Events

With only a couple of days left in September, I thought it might be a good time to check out what's happening in the Lone Star State in October. The biggie, of course, is the State Fair of Texas at the Fair Grounds in Dallas, where Big Tex will greet more than three million visitors from around the world. About three weeks ago I did a write up about some of the fried foods featured at this year's fair, including fried beer! The State Fair runs through October 24.
Here's a list of a few more shindigs happening around Texas in October:

• The 32nd Annual Festa Italiana takes place in Houston October 15-17, paisan.
• In Fredericksburg the 30th Oktoberfest is slated for October 1-3.
• My blog buddy, Bob Zeller at Texas Tweeties will be a busy man over the next few weeks as the approaching winter up north will usher millions of birds into Texas, making it one of the best bird watching opportunities in the world. Bob is a Wiz with his camera, so scoot by his place to get the latest on which of our fine feathered friends are migrating into the San Angelo area. 
• Here in New England we are hitting the peek of our fall foliage viewing, but in Texas they are getting warmed (cooled down?) up for it, and there's no better place in the state to see the transition from summer to fall than Lost Maples State Natural Area.

Any or all of those events would be worth the drive to take part in, so make your plans early. Make a long weekend of it by going to the State Fair in Dallas, then down I-45 tom Houston for the Festa Italiana, then head west to the Hill Country for Oktoberfest and fall scenery viewing at Lost Maples and finally meet up with Bob in San Angelo for some birding at one of that area's lakes or the state park in San Angelo. Now that sounds like a plan.