Best Thing in Texas
November 14, 2023
A Guy in Grapevine Had the Best Hike Ever: He Discovered a New Dinosaur.
Roughly the weight of a standard schnauzer, the plant-eating dino roamed North Texas 96 million years ago.
Best Thing in Texas
Reminders of why we love our state so much.
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Best Thing in Texas
November 10, 2023
A Texas Teen Is Introducing Pedal Steel Guitar to a New Generation
Noah Faulkner’s popular twangy covers countrify songs by Duran Duran, Joy Division, U2, and more.
Best Thing in Texas
November 10, 2023
A Texas Marathoner With Down Syndrome Logs Another Historic Run
A viral video of Austin’s Kayleigh Williamson completing the New York City Marathon last weekend inspired athletes from coast to coast.
By Rose Cahalan![Rose Cahalan's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
October 10, 2023
Hats Off to the Arctic Cowboys, Who Just Became the First Paddlers to Cross the Northwest Passage
The Texas-based kayaking team completed the 1,600-mile journey over 83 grueling days.
Best Thing in Texas
September 25, 2023
We Salute the Houston Woman Who Solved a 40,000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle
It took her almost four years.
Best Thing in Texas
September 22, 2023
Watch This HS Field Goal Sail Through the Open Window of a Passing Car
Trick-shot professionals could practice a shot like this for years and never land it as cleanly as the Gordon Longhorns kicker.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
September 6, 2023
Tallyho to Tally the Texas Sea Turtle, Whose 4,000-Mile Journey Has a Happy Ending
After washing up on the coast of Wales, she was nursed back to health, flown home to Texas, and then released in Galveston.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
August 30, 2023
Four Rare Baby Crocodilians Just Hatched at the Fort Worth Zoo
Congrats to new parents Raani, Snaggle, and Big Boy—and the zookeepers who worked for years to help bring their toothy babies into being.
Best Thing in Texas
August 14, 2023
The Top Moments From a Very Texas Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
After a night of hilarious and emotional speeches, Becky Hammon, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, and Gregg Popovich are all Hall of Famers.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
July 13, 2023
The McNay Art Museum’s “Unhinged” Threads Account Is Our New Favorite Thing
The San Antonio museum is delighting Texans (and finding new fans nationwide) on the new social media platform.
Best Thing in Texas
July 11, 2023
A Texas Novelist Couldn’t Find His Audience. Then Came BookTok.
Shawn Warner was at an empty book signing for ‘Leigh Howard and the Ghosts of Simmons-Pierce Manor’ when a Fort Worth TikToker took notice. The rest is history.
Best Thing in Texas
July 10, 2023
A Texas Oak Tree Was Believed to Be Extinct. Now It’s Making a Comeback.
Twelve years after the last known Quercus tardifolia disappeared, conservationists at the San Antonio Botanical Garden are bringing the species back.
Best Thing in Texas
June 29, 2023
A Texas Family Passed Up Millions to Turn Their Ranch Into a Nature Preserve
The conservation victory at Honey Creek relied on “the goodness of those people’s hearts,” says one environmentalist.
Best Thing in Texas
May 11, 2023
We Salute Buddy Holly, Westminster’s Prizewinning Pup (and an Honorary Texan)
He's from California, but we're still proud of him and his namesake.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
May 2, 2023
A Dallas Cowboys Scout Got to Draft His Own Son
Chris Vaughn, the team’s assistant director of college scouting, shared the good news with sixth-round pick Deuce Vaughn.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
April 12, 2023
The First HBCU to Win the D1 Cheerleading Nationals Is From Houston
Texas Southern University's cheer team went to the competition confident they'd come home champions. Mission accomplished.
Best Thing in Texas
April 10, 2023
The Hill Country Is Getting a 367-Acre Nature Preserve, Thanks to a Generous Landowner
Monarch butterflies and painted buntings are among the species that flock there.
Best Thing in Texas
March 29, 2023
Let’s Just Move This Year’s Basketball Hall of Fame Induction to Texas
Mavs great Dirk Nowitzki, along with four San Antonio Spurs—Gregg Popovich, Becky Hammon, Tony Parker, and Pau Gasol—headline the 2023 class.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
March 22, 2023
Congratulations to Mr. Pickles, the Houston Zoo’s Elderly Tortoise, on Becoming a Dad
He and Mrs. Pickles are the proud parents of three new hatchlings.
Best Thing in Texas
February 23, 2023
A Texas Professor Has Cured Hiccups, Folks
No, it doesn't involve a spoonful of sugar.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
January 3, 2023
The Butter King of Corpus Christi Deserves a Raise
He serves popcorn with panache.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
December 21, 2022
Folks in Boerne Bought Hundreds of Poinsettias to Support a Struggling Garden Shop
That’s the holiday spirit, y’all.
Best Thing in Texas
December 20, 2022
A Texan Donated a Kidney to a Stranger 1,600 Miles Away. Now, “We Are Family.”
Heather Schaefer saw a desperate Facebook plea. Six months later, she had two new members of her extended family—and one less kidney.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
December 12, 2022
The Best Things in Texas, 2023
2022 was an up-and-down year—well, maybe more downs than ups—but Texas, as ever, brought out the best from scatological artists, beastly athletes, game-show brainiacs, natural-born nature lovers, and costumed Samaritans.
Best Thing in Texas
December 12, 2022
The Best Things in Texas 2023: The Texans Vaccinating the World
Houstonians Dr. Peter Hotez and Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi have created a COVID vaccine that’s saving millions of lives in developing nations.
Best Thing in Texas
December 12, 2022
The Best Things in Texas 2023: The Most Inspiring Educator In the Country
Barbara Yarbrough has taught and volunteered in Midland since segregation—and has won national recognition at age 87.
Best Thing in Texas
December 12, 2022
The Best Things in Texas 2023: The Best NBA Coach Ever
Gregg Popovich, of the San Antonio Spurs, became the winningest coach in NBA history, but that’s just one of several eye-popping facts from his extraordinary career.
Best Thing in Texas
November 2, 2022
CrossFit Star Dani Speegle Handles 215-Pound Logs Like Pick-Up Sticks
The CrossFit athlete and #GirlsWhoEat impresario stole the show at the annual Rogue Invitational in Round Rock.
Best Thing in Texas
October 10, 2022
Coach Pop, Manu, and the San Antonio Spurs Bring Smiles to Uvalde
Spurs legends past and present reminded residents that they haven't been forgotten in the months since the shooting at Robb Elementary.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
August 10, 2022
At the Little League World Series, Texas and Oklahoma Hug and Make Up
There was crying in baseball after a Pearland pitcher beaned a Tulsa batter on Tuesday. What happened next might restore one’s faith in humanity.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
July 6, 2022
It Takes a Village: San Antonio Shows Up to Celebrate a Local Teen’s Birthday
For Demauriae Bennett, turning fourteen has never looked better.
Best Thing in Texas
June 28, 2022
The Little Turtles That Could: 45 Endangered Sea Turtles Hatch in Texas
“It really is one of the greatest wildlife-conservation successes of our time here in Texas.”
Best Thing in Texas
June 27, 2022
An Indiana Man Put a (Smoke) Ring on It at Franklin Barbecue
A road trip from the Midwest to Austin culminated in Matt McKinney on bended knee in the pit room of the most famous joint in Texas.
Best Thing in Texas
June 3, 2022
Texas’s Run of National Spelling Bee Dominance Continues
Harini Logan claimed the top spot last night, making her the seventh Texan spelling bee champ in the last ten years. T-E-X-A-S!
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
May 16, 2022
How ’Bout Them Mavs?
An all-time-great game seven offers a hint of how high Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks can fly in the 2022 NBA playoffs.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
May 6, 2022
A 19-Year-Old Arlingtonian Might Be the Best Chef in the World
At the World Food Championships’ Final Table last weekend, Dallas College student Preston Nguyen took the top prize.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
April 12, 2022
Meet Taco Dad, the Viral Visionary Behind the “Travel Taco”
Corpus Christi's Roberto Ruiz elaborates on his Twitter-beloved plan for a half-crimped, half-open taco that won't deposit guisada all over your lap.
Best Thing in Texas
April 4, 2022
We Loved Every Second of This Spurs Fan’s Epic Jumbotron Lip-synch
San Antonio’s Briana Saldaña brought her A-game (with a little help from Kelly Clarkson).
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
March 28, 2022
The Teen Who Drove Through a Tornado Got a New Truck (and a Job Offer From Whataburger)
Elgin's Riley Leon survived a harrowing encounter with a tornado. Now the community is getting him back on his feet.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
February 11, 2022
An NFL Star Took a Grieving Pflugerville Girl to the Father-Daughter Dance
Philadelphia Eagles safety Anthony Harris flew to Austin to help lift the spirits of eleven-year-old Audrey Soape on a difficult day.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
February 1, 2022
The Secret Story of the Texas Philanthropist Who Helped Solve Math’s Toughest Riddle
Fermat’s last theorem went unsolved for more than 350 years—and the role of the Tyler oil heir who funded its 1994 solution was largely unknown until this week.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
January 10, 2022
A Rio Grande Valley Woman Just Broke the U.S. Record for Most Birds Spotted in a Year
Tiffany Kersten saw 726 species in 48 states, setting a new record for the mind-boggling achievement birders call a Big Year.
Best Thing in Texas
December 17, 2021
Diego the San Marcos Tortoise Comes Home After 38 Days on the Lam
This is a reunion we all can shellebrate.
By Cat Cardenas![Cat Cardenas's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
December 14, 2021
The Best Things in Texas, 2022
2021 may not have been the best of times, but thanks to countless kindly Texans, it didn’t always feel like the worst either.
Best Thing in Texas
December 9, 2021
In West Texas, a 1,400-Member Marching Band Honored a Fallen Teacher
After a tragic crash killed Andrews High band director Darin Johns, it was unclear if the school’s ensemble would perform in the town’s Christmas parade—until it got a lot of help.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
November 16, 2021
Texas Tech Just Won Its Third Straight National Championship in Meat Judging
Students, many of whom go on to work in food science, train by spending as much time as possible in a meat locker studying beef carcasses.
Best Thing in Texas
November 2, 2021
Mariah Carey Armors Up Against a Dallas Bar’s War on Christmas
A bar decreed “All I Want for Christmas Is You” non grata, and the queen of Christmas isn’t happy about it.
Best Thing in Texas
October 26, 2021
A Divine Presence Could Propel the Astros to a World Series Title
Houston is 2-0 in the MLB postseason with local furniture magnate Mattress Mack's "Rally Nuns" in attendance.
Best Thing in Texas
September 21, 2021
Demi Adejuyigbe’s Final ‘September’ Video Is a Triumph
The Dallas-raised comedian brings his six-year project to a close (and raises thousands for charity).
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Best Thing in Texas
August 25, 2021
Waiting on Hold to Claim Unemployment Just Got a Little Less Hellish, Thanks to an Austin Band
Composer Justin Sherburn drew on his own experience to write ‘Texas Workforce Commission Hold Music,’ which the agency officially adopted this week.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()