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Whooping Cranes Are Back From the Brink. A Port Aransas Festival Celebrates North America’s Tallest Bird.I’m leaning on the rail of the Scat Cat, a red-and-white, 78-person fishing boat in Aransas Bay, when two bottlenose dolphins leap majestically out of the water alongside our wake. The midday sun gleams on their fins as the pair chases us, jumping and diving in what looks like a playful game of leapfrog. “Look!” I shout, unable to contain my excitement at seeing them so close. A few of my sixty or so fellow passengers turn to watch, but only for a moment. Our guide for the day, Isidro Montemayor Jr., has just spotted something that this crowd finds far more compelling. “Reddish egret at two o’clock,” he proclaims, lifting his binoculars. “And we’ve got another Forster’s tern flying by, too.” Dolphins forgotten, we…

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pizza hut classic hempsteadPizza Hut nostalgia is a powerful force. Depending on how old you are and where you come from, the role the iconic Plano-based chain played in your childhood could well be outsized. For me, it’s forever tied to high school theater; after opening night of any production, the tech crew would celebrate by going to Pizza Hut. As a sit-down restaurant with servers and real plates and silverware, it made us feel grown-up; as an affordable, comfortable space where you could play Ms. Pac-Man, it was also perfect for a bunch of teenagers. Decades later, I still can’t pass a hat-shaped building with a shingled roof and trapezoid windows (even if it’s currently a martial arts academy or a funeral home) without thinking about the…

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Reverend John Whiteford at St. Jonah Orthodox Church, in Spring, on December 10, 2023.On a recent Sunday morning, parishioners shuffled into St. Jonah Orthodox Church, a beige clapboard building topped by a blue onion dome. Tucked down a wooded lane far from road noise in the Houston suburb of Spring, the house of worship drew a crowd of congregants, many of them sporting floral headscarves, chest-length beards, and cotton or gingham dresses that fell past the knee. Beeswax candles flickered in a blast of air-conditioningthat dispersed an invisible cloud of incense. As the Reverend John Whiteford, wearing a ceremonial cape, stood with his back to the congregation, a small choir chanted three times, “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.” Parishioners crossed their foreheads, shoulders, and chests with three fingers and then bent down to touch…

The post Inspired by the Confederacy and Czarist Russia, “Ortho Bros” Are on the Rise appeared first on Texas Monthly.

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Road House.After the world premiere of Amazon’s remake of the 1989 cult classic Road House at SXSW on Friday night, star Jake Gyllenhaal offered a tribute to Patrick Swayze, the performer who originated the lead role of Dalton that Gyllenhaal reprises in the new film. The late Swayze, a Houston native, delivered one of his most soulful performances in an unabashedly pretty silly action movie about a star bouncer who protects a roadside honky-tonk called the Double Deuce from the evil machinations of a corrupt businessman. Swayze, as we all know, had layers. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t [mention] Mr. Swayze,” Gyllenhaal said after the screening, when panel moderator Dax Shepard asked which big-screen tough guy most inspired him as a young man. He grew up…

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Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Pastries at Little Foot Farms.When it comes to baked goods, Waco is, for the most part, firmly rooted in the early 2000s. If you want softball-size cookies or cupcakes heaving under three inches of frosting, this is your town. True, folks in search of something more nuanced have enjoyed a recent uptick in artisan bakers offering items such as sourdough boules, cakes that favor salted honey buttercream over fondant, and Costa Rican empanadas stuffed with guava paste and cheese. But for a long time, those of us devoted to laminated pastries, of which the croissant is queen, had just two options: H-E-B, whose bready, pliant croissants are more suitable for lunch-box sandwiches, and Nightlight Donuts, whose signature cronuts are positively juicy with frying oil.That changed in 2021, when Little…

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A guest enjoying the view outside one of two cave suites at the Summit at Big Bend.The glass door to Crystal Cave, a site at the Summit at Big Bend resort, reminded me of the wardrobe that leads to Narnia. But this portal was hidden in the jagged cliffsides of the high desert. As I pulled it open, I felt like I was straddling two worlds: Outside, an electric blue West Texas sky throbbed over the brown mountains stretching to Mexico. Inside, an intimate haven beckoned with a king-size white bed, mini fridge, and Instagram-ready two-person shower.“We’re getting married tonight,” I told my friend, which was awkward because she has a husband, but I was struck by an overwhelming desire to have my honeymoon here. Our room was one of two luxury suites constructed into the side of Tres Cuevas Mountain,…

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Glamping-Sidebar-five-other-spots-tents-yurts-treehouses-a-frame-casitaWhat started as a niche trend almost twenty years ago has transformed the travel industry in Texas. Although the Hill Country is the state’s glamping capital, you’ll find high-end domes, yurts, tree houses—and even caves—across the state.Live Oak LakeWacoJust about ten minutes from downtown Waco, seven lakeside A-frame cabins with glass facades are nestled among the trees. Created by Isaac French, who moved to Waco in 2020 and has become known as a microresort influencer, Live Oak Lake’s tiny homes were designed in the Scandinavian style. Each comes with a firepit, hammock, and hot tub. Rates range from $658 to $735.*Missing HotelMarble FallsGlobe-trotters Sam and Stephen Hopkins opened this property on a one-hundred acre farm in 2021. The domes and villas were inspired by their travels…

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Border Patrol agents patrolling the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass on February 24, 2024.He stood at the edge of the Rio Grande, mustering the nerve to wade in. It was early in the morning, and days of rain had swelled the river, amplifying the danger of trying to cross. On the opposite bank, he could see Eagle Pass, a border town roughly midway between Big Bend and Brownsville. Alan Paredes Salazar, a stocky 37-year-old, was athletic—a former player in a lower division of Peru’s professional soccer league. And yet as he faced the wild rapids, it mattered more that he was a weak swimmer who feared deep water. In Peru, where he had eked out a living selling T-shirts and working other odd jobs in coastal towns, he had steered clear of the ocean. But desperation drives people…

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MARCH PIT PERKS Brisket U | Get $15 off any Brisket U Class with code TXMNEWS24scTW La Barbecue | Happy hour on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 3:00 pm-6:00 pm Juan and Allie’s BBQ | Address: 114 Texas Spur 511 Sunset Texas 76270 Bar-A-BBQ | Easter pre-orders available; Will be open Easter Sunday, March 31. Tejas Chocolate & BBQ | 20% off merchandise, rubs, and sauce bottles.* Sundays offer brisket hash, and Mondays offer Cubanos. They are now open seven days a week!

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Dan Patrick Now Controls the Texas House tooDade Phelan may soon have the distinction of becoming the first Texas House Speaker to lose his seat since 1972, when Democrat Fred Head, one of those rare do-gooder types in state government, knocked off Rayford Price. Phelan’s opponent, oil and gas consultant David Covey, is no Fred Head, and little about this matchup has to do with good government. Still, Phelan’s inability to avoid a runoff against his Republican primary challenger is a political earthquake. Even if he does win his runoff on May 28 and clings to his Beaumont district, his speakership is in jeopardy. The stench of defeat hangs over the two-term Speaker.The GOP primaries this year were remarkably ill-tempered and contentious. Governor Greg Abbott targeted sixteen House Republicans who voted against…

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