Laura Bush's Texas

May 1, 2002 -- First lady Laura Bush says she loves every inch of her home state, and she's happy to show off Texas to the rest of the world.

Good Morning America toured Texas on the third day of its whirlwind road trip, which has launched ABCNEWS' "50 States — One Nation — One Year" special.

As part of our look at Texas, ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman sat down with Mrs. Bush so the first lady could answer some questions about the Lone Star State.

Shipman: What is your favorite nook or cranny in Texas that nobody else knows about?

Laura Bush: I love Texas and I've lived in almost every part of Texas over the years. I guess I'd have to say El Paso is one of my favorite towns. It's very remote, it's in a different time zone than the rest of Texas. It's desert, it's mountains. It has great wonderful dry weather. My grandparents lived there, my mother lived there, so I spent summers there as a child.

Shipman: What's your favorite place?

Mrs. Bush: Well, it's hard to say of all the many towns which is my favorite. I like all of them in a different way. I could live in any one of them again. I think that there's something about the cities and towns and all the places you grow up that make them always special to you for the rest of your life.

Shipman: And what's the most romantic place for you?

Mrs. Bush: Well, our ranch, our own home is the most romantic place. But I have to say anywhere outside in the summer at night under that big starry sky is pretty romantic.

Shipman: Is there one particular place on your ranch that you like to go with your husband?

Mrs. Bush: Well I think you've actually seen some of the really beautiful places on the ranch. We love to go for walks, in fact last Saturday when we were on the ranch we walked for 5 miles down into another canyon.

Shipman: What do you think your husband would say his favorite place is?

Mrs. Bush: His home … that's going to be my guess. You'll have to ask him, but I think that's right. We're both sort of homebodies.

Shipman: What are some of you favorite hangouts, not necessarily beautiful places, but just places you like to go?

Mrs. Bush: Well, I like a lot of places in Austin. I think Austin is a really vibrant and beautiful city. I went to college there. I met my husband when I was living there. And I moved back there of course for the six years we lived in the Governor's Mansion. In Austin there are beautiful running trails. My husband loved them when we were dating. And I loved them when we were living in the Governor's Mansion and you could walk straight down to the Colorado River to Town Lake to trails that go along there. There are a lot of great restaurants in Austin, we love Jeffrey's, we love Las Manitas, which is a café downtown which just serves breakfast and lunch. We're fond of San Miguel's, a Mexican food place. I'll have to say the thing we miss most right now about Texas is the Mexican food.

Shipman: Well, my parents are from Texas, so I consider myself an honorary Texan. I understand some of the allure of Texas. But is it a place that's hard for outsiders to get?

Mrs. Bush: It really is not. Texas is a very friendly place and Texans are very friendly and I think people see that when they visit Texas. I don't know if all of your viewers know that the word "Texas" is an Indian word that means "friendly." And that's how people are there. There's a certain wide openness about the space and the landscape, but also about the people.

Shipman: How would you define a Texan?

Mrs. Bush: I think a really independent person with a lot of spirit. Texans are risk takers. All the businesses there, the oil business for instance is a business of risk, the cattle business, cotton, and all the basic businesses that Texas was founded on all depend on other things than your own hard work, the weather and your luck and so many other things. And plus Texas is a very difficult landscape, it's pretty unforgiving. It's difficult to settle for women as well as men. I think that's why Texas is known for so many strong women.

Shipman: Does that wide open tough landscape have an effect on the mentality?

Mrs. Bush: It does, I really think it does, it makes people feel very strong and independent. But also I think it just makes people realize that we're just humans here on this magnificent earth that God has given us and there's such a magnificence in the sky and the landscape and every day you're reminded of it with the sunsets and the sunrises and it's really beautiful.

Shipman: When your husband gets to Texas he looks like a different man. What is it that the state does for him?

Mrs. Bush: Well, I think we both relax. And of course we both relax there because we go to our home to our own house where are own things are. To the property we own, where we can be outside all day. We actually built our house so that every single room opens to the outside. We like that, we both like to be outside, to go for walks. We love to work outdoors. I love to garden myself, and I have actually a beautiful garden with plants of course that don't need a lot of water. I think it's all those things make us love being there.

Shipman: We understand in Midland you have a favorite BBQ?

Mrs. Bush: That's right, Johnny's BBQ. And actually Johnny of Johnny's BBQ was my dad's best friend. And so my whole life I went to Johnny's BBQ, first with my dad and then when George and I lived there, sometimes we even rode our bicycles on Saturday morning to eat breakfast at Johnny's BBQ. And then when we had the girls, the girls would go with me and my dad on Saturday morning for those grits and fried eggs.

Shipman: You have a lot of foreign dignitaries to Texas. How is it to have the crown prince of Saudi Arabia to your ranch in Texas?

Mrs. Bush: I really hope that all the foreign visitors who have come really find Texas is as great as we think it is. I think Texas has a certain myth, a certain exotic reputation among people who are not from the area. The whole idea of cowboys and ranches

Shipman: Do they look for them?

Mrs. Bush: They do, and of course the president shows them around. The president and I really feel that there are so many really beautiful places to show on the ranch. The canyons that go down to the creek — you know things that people don't really expect. Maybe they have a stereotype or idea of Texas that looks more like the movie Giant and less like central Texas looks.

Shipman: Is it a culture shock?

Mrs. Bush: Doesn't seem to be. They seem really happy to be there. It was very fun to entertain the Putins there — I think they liked it a lot. And Tony Blair, certainly, and his kids, we bought his little boy Leo a Stetson, a baby Stetson, that he wore and he seemed really happy to have it.

Shipman: Are they ever disappointed that there aren't any real live cowboys around?

Mrs. Bush: Well they don't seem like it. George calls himself a windshield cowboy, 'cause he drives around in the pickup. That's what most of the cowboys now are.

Shipman: Which was the most exotic group from abroad?

Mrs. Bush: Well, the crown prince himself is very interested in botany and the flora and fauna and I think he thought it was really beautiful when he got to ride around with the president and see it. But the Russians, the Russians had never been to Texas, neither one of the Putins had been there.

Shipman: What do you see as a setting like your Texas ranch as doing for diplomacy in situations where you get out of the formality of D.C., or in a place like Texas on your ranch. Does it help?

Mrs. Bush: I think it really helps. Anytime you have someone to your home, anyone to your home I think you develop a certain understanding that you might not have otherwise. It helps to ask foreign leaders, it gives the president and the foreign leaders the chance to have a relationship that's much more casual, much more friendly conversation and it lets them know what he's really like and what the state he's from is really like. There's such an openness in Texas and I think people see that when they visit. Certainly these foreign leaders see that when they come. There's a very direct quality that a lot of Texans have. A state where business used to be determined by just a handshake. I like that, and I think that it's very important for diplomatic relationships to have a very direct relationship so that all the parties know where all the other parties stand

Shipman: Is there anybody you'd love to bring to Texas?

Mrs. Bush: A group of people — exchange with the Russians. Any time that we have an opportunity to share what we are really like with people from another culture or another country, they have the opportunity then to get to know what Americans are really like. And all the characteristic that I love about Texans and I've noticed this especially since 9/11 are characteristics that all Americans have, those characteristics of strength and independence and courage and I've seen it everywhere all over our country.

Shipman: What three issues are really on the minds of Texans?

Mrs. Bush: Texas has a water problem. We often are in a drought … that's an issue. That's certainly a problem that we'll have to come to terms with.I'd say all Americans, not just Texans are concerned about education.

Shipman: What was it like as a Texan and as someone who knew many of the people involved to watch the implosion of Enron?

Mrs. Bush: That was tough, it was tough for the state to see people losing their jobs because of what other people did. It's very hard to see. Especially for Houston because Enron and the employees of Enron were supporters of charities. It's difficult to see people who had jobs be displaced.

Shipman: If you could change something about Texas, what would it be?

Mrs. Bush: I think Texas is pretty perfect. I'd want every single child to get a great education. I'd want every school to be the best. I know they're good, because I taught, but that's my wish for every single child in America.