Visit the Bootmaking Masters in the Birthplace of the Cowboy Boot
In the world of custom cowboy boots, the Rio Grande Valley in particular is known for its bootmaking heritage, both for the number of bootmakers concentrated in the four-county area at the southern tip of Texas and for the high quality of their work. My purpose for this trip is to order custom boots from two of the Valley’s master bootmakers, Armando Duarte Rios in Raymondville and Henry Camargo in Mercedes. Read More »
Eat Your Way Through the Taco Capital of Texas at These 7 Taquerias
The tacos you’ll find on Southmost come in three varieties: breakfast tacos, fried tacos, and beef tacos. Trying them all is essential. Breakfast tacos go by the name tortillas de harina because of the 10-inch flour tortillas they’re served in. They’re typically filled with ingredients as familiar as chorizo and eggs, or as regionally specific as weenies (sliced Vienna sausages or hot dogs) and eggs. Fried tacos, like tacos dorados (deep-fried folded corn tortillas) and flautas (rolled and fried), are also popular—some are drowned in salsa, earning the moniker ahogados. Most prevalent are the beef preparations like barbacoa, bistek (thinly sliced), fajita, and mollejas (sweetbreads). They’re generally smaller in size and served in orders of three to six—closer to what most Americans would recognize as “street tacos.” Read More »
Big Bend Rafting Trips Combine Scenery, Food, and Live Music
Amid the spectacular scenery of the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, catered trips offer the chance to row, hike, relax, and listen to world-class live music under the stars Read More »
Editor’s Note: Exploring Texas’ Cultural Crossroads
Texas has always served as a cultural crossroads. Before it was the longest stretch of the United States’ southern border with Mexico, it was a boundary between Spain and French Louisiana. Long before that, it was home to a number of diverse indigenous tribes. Our name, even, derives from a Spanish interpretation of a Caddo greeting meaning “friend.” And the value of the state’s most prolific commodities—cattle, cotton, and oil—has been dependent on links to the world at large. Read More »
Summer For Procrastinators: Historic Texas
While everyone should visit the Alamo, you'll find lighter crowds at other San Antonio missions and in Goliad Read More »
My Hometown: A True-Blue Rangerette Explains Why There’s More to Kilgore Than Oil and the Drill Team
"People automatically associate Kilgore with oil and Rangerettes,” says Shelley Wayne, who should know. Wayne’s husband works in the petrochemical business, her daughter was a Rangerette, and Wayne herself was a member of Kilgore College’s world-famous drill team before becoming its choreographer. But she adds, “There is much more to this town.” Founded in 1872 by the Great Northern Railroad, Kilgore changed dramatically with the discovery of oil in 1930. Derricks soon crowded downtown, comprising the “World’s Richest Acre”—today a collection of restored derricks along a manicured downtown strip. Read More »
Remembering a Classic Game of the Old Longhorn-Aggie Thanksgiving Football Rivalry
The Texas Longhorns had lost 10 straight games when they welcomed the Texas A&M Aggies to Memorial Stadium in Austin for the 1938 edition of the annual Thanksgiving rivalry. Read More »
Russian Banya in Carrollton Is the Only Spa-Restaurant of Its Kind in Texas
While traditional bathhouses are much less widespread this days, there are still places where you can take part in the age-old tradition of not just getting clean but also being cleansed. At Russian Banya in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, a Slavic feast follows intensive sauna sessions. The bathhouse and restaurant is the only one of its kind in Texas. Read More »
How Pioneer Foods Shaped Texas’ Cuisine
F ood has always been instrumental in establishing a sense of place—especially during Texas’ journey from settlement to statehood. Between the 19th and 20th centuries, Texas cuisine was shaped by the variety of ethnicities arriving into the territory as well as those who were already here. Ingredients, and the meals they composed, were determined by what could be locally gathered, raised, or hunted, then prepared in manners that had been used for generations or replicated the flavors of home Read More »
50 Years After the Original, Texas International Pop Festival Returns
Producer Angus Wynne III remembers the Dallas festival 50 years ago and looks ahead to this year's show, which features bands like Grand Funk Railroad, Chicago, Shiva’s Headband, Edgar Winter, and ZZ Top. Read More »
Exhibit at George W. Bush Center in Dallas Explores Texas Presidential Escapes
As visitors this summer to the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas will discover, presidents seize opportunities to depart Washington, D.C. The Center’s exhibit on presidential retreats, which runs through Oct. 6, highlights Camp David and three Texas-related venues: LBJ Ranch in the Hill Country, George and Laura Bush’s Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford and the Bush family compound, Walker’s Point, in Kennebunkport, Maine, as well as identifying other getaways, including Harry Truman’s Florida White House in Key West, Herbert Hoover’s rugged Rapidan Camp in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains or a succession of presidential yachts. Read More »
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