World Record Holding Tourist Spots That Suggest Everything Truly Is Bigger In Texas

You've heard it before, and it bears repeating: "Everything is bigger in Texas." The Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin attributes this well-worn saying to the Lone Star State's sprawling geographical area. Of the 50 U.S. states, only Alaska covers more square miles than Texas and only California has a larger population. Yet Alaska is usually confined to a small inset on U.S. maps, making Texas appear bigger than any other state.

One thing's for sure: Texas has no shortage of offbeat roadside attractions. Consider The Gas Station in Bastrop, where you can spend the night in a spooky cabin and visit one of the original 1974 filming locations for "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." If eating "We Slaughter Barbecue" there seems too gruesome, cities like San Antonio, Bowie, Burleson, and Beaumont hold some other interesting, large-scale attractions that might help Texas live up to its outsized reputation for travelers.

Back in Austin (only 35 miles from Bastrop), you can see the world's largest urban bat colony take to the skies from the Congress Avenue Bridge. That's just one destination you could check off on a super-sized Guinness World Records tour of Texas. Guinness used to have a museum in nearby San Antonio; it was across from the Alamo, a landmark that makes this Texas city a must-visit for history buffs. The museum closed in 2022, but if you put on your walking boots, you can find another larger-than-life tourist spot right across town outside a local shopping mall.

Speaking of boots, Austinite Bob Wade constructed the world's largest cowboy boot sculpture in San Antonio. The "Guinness World Records 2016" book notes, "These boots might not be made for walking, but they sure are huge." Visible from the Interstate 410 beltway (otherwise known as the Connally Loop), the boots stand next to Saks Fifth Avenue outside the North Star Mall. With a height of 35 feet, 3 inches, they're big enough that a person can walk under them between the arch and heel. You can access them from the parking garage and lot along San Pedro Avenue.

Created by Montana Silversmiths, Earth's biggest belt buckle made its debut in Dallas in 2021. It's as if some giant cowpoke had begun to discard their clothing items all across Texas. Unlike the boots (which have been there since 1980), the belt buckle's reign was short-lived, however. It moved to Montana's Billings Airport, while Abilene, Kansas, erected an even bigger belt buckle as a roadside attraction in late 2022.

That's not to say North Texas is bereft of record-breaking roadside oddities. Over in Bowie, you can see — what else? — the world's largest Bowie knife. The 3,000-pound knife is 20 feet long, with its steel blade alone measuring 14 feet, 5 inches. As for the surrounding city, it's named for James Bowie, who fought and died alongside Davy Crockett in the Battle of the Alamo. His brother, Rezin Bowie, is credited with inventing the knife.

If you're disappointed that you missed the reign of the world's largest belt buckle in Dallas, you can travel 45 miles southwest and work on expanding your own belt and waistline in Crowley, Texas. It's the new outpost for Moontown Pizza Bar, formerly located in Burleson. This is where the world's largest commercially available pizza — which took the record in 2018 — is served.

Forget the legendary 72-ounce steak challenge at the Big Texan restaurant in Amarillo. The Bus has all the protein you need. It's a pizza that measures 8 feet by 32 inches. To say that it holds 10 pounds of cheese is no exaggeration. A single-topping Bus warrants almost 300 pepperoni slices. Adding to the novelty factor is the tie-dye Volkswagen Beetle that will deliver the pie to you in a trailer hookup. Understandably, this party pizza has to be ordered 48 hours in advance.

East of Houston, outside the Fire Museum of Texas in Beaumont, is the world's largest working fire hydrant. It's 24 feet tall and weighs 4,500 pounds, so don't get any crazy ideas about making off with it in a pizza trailer. This thing was shipped in from Disneyland in California when the animated film "101 Dalmatians" went into rerelease in 1999. Its design reflects that: white with black Dalmatian spots, copyrighted by Disney for good measure. Playing in the hydrant like a kid in summertime would expose you to 1,500 gallons of water per minute.