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Texas & Oklahoma Travel Stories

A collection of the best Texas & Oklahoma travel stories featured in The Statesider: Oklahoma | Texas
Also see: Southwest, Midwest, South and Southeast

Oklahoma Travel Stories

Languages: How Oklahoma tribes are fighting to save their languages from extinction. David Joshua Jennings, Oklahoma Today

Oklahoma Dirt: Popular gravel bike race rebrands to acknowledge the region’s violent past. James Stout, Adventure Journal

Tulsa: In a meat-and-potatoes city, there’s also a long tradition of tabbouleh and hummus on the steakhouse table, thanks to the local Lebanese community. Naomi Tomky, Saveur

Choctaw Nation: Scenes from the inaugural women’s stickball tournament. “Josh and her teammates got fierce: The hits came harder; the running more frantic, and each shot taken by either team caught the collective breath of the crowd.” Graham Lee Brewer, High Country News

Botanical History: A writer and an artist follow in history’s footsteps, tracing the path of eastern Oklahoma pioneer and wandering botanist Thomas Nuttall. (The artwork for this piece is especially evocative.) Susan Dragoo (words), Debby Kaspari (art), Oklahoma Today


Texas Travel Stories

texas travel stories

It’s last call for Attwater’s prairie-chicken: Lisa Boice heads to the lek to watch the boys shake their stuff and try to get lucky, and — most importantly to a budding birder — to check a bird off her life list while there are still prairie-chickens to check. 🐓 Read this Statesider Original Story 🐓


The Big Squeeze: Young Texans are tracing their lineage — and throwing down — at this (virtual) accordion festival and competition. Roberto José Andrade Franco Texas Monthly

South Meets Southeast (Asia): It’s comeback time for a Houston Viet-Cajun restaurant and a hybrid cuisine that is spreading across the country. Brett Anderson, New York Times

A Better Use for Walls: El Paso uses its walls to tell stories. Inside the vibrant — and sometimes heart-wrenching — murals of the Texas border city. Diane Spechler, New York Times

Hip-Hop Chicken Shop: The chicken wing dinner at Tommy Chan’s in Houston has an entry in the Rap Food Reference Hall of Fame. Alana Dao, Bitter Southerner

Secret Jews of El Paso: The hidden history of Judaism in Hispanic border communities. Rabbi Stephen Leon, El Paso Matters

Drool Warning: It doesn’t matter how much you overate on Thanksgiving, the Ultimate Texas Tacopedia will make you hungry…and jealous if you’re not in Texas. José R. Ralat, Texas Monthly

Blinded by the Mystery Lights: A spooky (and true!) story for Halloween about the strange, unexplained lights of Marfa, Texas. Probably best not to read this one right before bedtime. Frank Bures, Texas Journey Magazine

Houston Zydeco: Trail riding by day, dancing by night. Houston’s zydeco scene blends Creole and black cowboy cultures. Charlotte Buchen Khadra and Jessica Jones, KQED

Dallas Dreams: A long line of musicians started by busking in the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas. Now it’s Charley Crockett’s turn. Jonny Auping, Longreads

Texas Tea: An engrossing story of two Iraq War Vets who came home to Texas with a newfound taste for tea. Also featuring the most purely Texan sentence ever rendered in print: “We pause for tacos.” Shane Mitchell, Bitter Southerner

Fill ‘er Up: Nepalese momos. Citrus-glazed roast duck. Fresh ceviche and 10 gallons of unleaded. The gourmet transformation of Texas gas stations. Priya Krishna, Atlas Obscura

Texpat Tamales: To visit the first capital of Texas, you have to go to Louisiana. The other reason you have to go there: tamales. Wes Ferguson, Texas Monthly

Brownsville: Nearly to its dodransbicentennial (yes, that’s a real word for a 175th anniversary — impress your friends!), often overlooked Brownsville is getting some loving attention from locals who are working to bring the downtown back to life. Wes Ferguson, Texas Monthly

Texas Boots: The cowboy boot is a working shoe, it’s a fashion statement, too, and it’s a core — and complicated — part of Texas culture. A four-story collection from Texas Monthly.

Houston: Notes on a gay neighborhood in times of change, from HIV to gentrification. Bryan Washington, Buzzfeed

Love Will Keep Lakes Alive: East Texas’ Caddo Lake has survived more than its fair share of abuse. Now Don Henley — yes, that Don Henley — and a group of environmentalists are working to save this mysterious cypress swamp once and for all. S.C. Gwynne, photos by Scott Cantebury Campbell, Texas Highways

Honky-Tonks: Texas Monthly covered 3,000 miles to track dow the state’s best honky-tonks. Christian Wallace, Texas Monthly

Hotel Bars: The lasting allure of hotel bars, spaces built for conversations with people you’ll never see again. Michael J. Mooney, Texas Highways

River Adventure: Cacti, black bears, rapids, and few places to camp. Navigating the Devils River. No apostrophe—it’s “devils,” plural, which gives you an idea of how tough this trip is. Dan Oko, Texas Monthly

Mesquite, Texas: Serious athleticism, steer roping, bull riding…and Wild Drag and Goat Dressing at the 32nd annual World Gay Rodeo Finals. Sarah Karlan, BuzzFeed News

Go By Bus: A new fuel-efficient express bus covers miles and miles of Texas. Bruce Selcraig, San Antonio Express-News

Butterflies on the Border: The National Butterfly Center is an unexpected player in the debate over a US-Mexico border wall. Anthony Zurcher, BBC News

Life Saving Tamales: A fantastic photo surfaced on Twitter in the past month of a woman in Brownsville, Texas in 1939 selling “Life Saving Tamales.” Here’s the story behind the photo. Rene Torres, Bronsbil Estación

Beautifying Houston: The case against making a city faux-beautiful. Bryan Washington, Catapult

Tex-Mex: Not a fan? Maybe it’s time to revisit “one of the country’s most thrilling homegrown cuisines.” Gustavo Arellano, MR PORTER

Big Bend Ranch: Big Bend Ranch State Park: Where Nothing is Everything. Courtney Bond, Texas Monthly

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