1. When in North Dallas, you all of a sudden feel like you have to wear makeup to the drugstore.

And buy a new outfit for the occasion.

2. You see girls in plaid and bobby socks, boys in khakis and blazers, and they are everywhere.

Dallas has so many private schools that most residents know which school a kid goes to just by the plaid pattern.

3. Flying in, it looks like a multicolored pancake as far as you can see.

There is not a hill, or even a bump in the road, in sight.

4. Everything is made from concrete.

From five high expressways to shopping malls, skyscrapers not only downtown but all over town, there isn’t much greenery to be found.

5. You can’t wait to go hang out at Clyde Warren Park for your green fix.

And you still think it’s awesome that it was built on top of a freeway.

6. The heat comes up off the pavement and smacks you in the face like a hand.

In the summer it is too hot for anything but staying in the air conditioning or submerging in the pool and not coming out until nighttime.

7. There are mansions on zero lot lines next to 60-year-old homes with yards.

The Texas Adage, “everything is bigger in Texas” certainly applies to most things in the Big D.

8. Cowboys don’t wear boots and hats.

They wear silver and blue with helmets.

9. When it snows less than a quarter of an inch, the entire city shuts down.

Businesses and schools shut their doors, and no one emerges until at least noon.

10. There is a huge selection of fantastic new restaurants in Uptown.

You almost forgot how seriously Dallas takes its food, starting from the Dallas Farmers Market.