What Makes Texas Big and Bright? Texas is a special place. It is celebrated for its basics: barbecue and Tex-Mex, boots and jeans and cowboy hats, pickup trucks, the Alamo, oil wells, longhorns, and bluebonnets. It is recognized for its distinctive shape and its diversity of landscape. From Palo Duro Canyon to the Big Bend and from the Rio Grande River to Caddo Lake, there are mountains and plains, deserts and swamps. It has a history that dates back to early Spanish missions and carries forward to missions into space coordinated from the Johnson Space Center. It clings to its Lone Star, a reminder that Texas was once its own republic, and Texans can (and will) boast about a fairly long list of biggest, tallest, longest, most, first, and only. Texas Bigger and Brighter illustrates the quintessential symbols that make Texas so fascinating and unique. Profiled here are fifty classic symbols of this extraordinary state, revealing little-known facts, longtime secrets, and historical legends. From blue bells to armadillos and the San Antonio River Walk to Cadillac Ranch, here¿s the inside story about the very things that give the state its character. Donna Ingham is a professional storyteller whose repertoire includes original stories and tales based on history, folklore, and outrageous lies. She lives in Spicewood, Texas. Paul Porter is the official photographer of the Tejas Storytelling Association and the Lone Star Storytelling Festival. He currently lives in Duncanville, Texas.