Getting the flavor of...

Johnson City, Texas

“LBJ would be proud,” said Clayton Maxwell in Texas Monthly. The small Hill Country hometown of our 36th president still has only 1,700 residents, but it “quietly hums,” providing a crossroads stop worth planning for. Named for Lyndon B. Johnson’s grandfather and founded in 1879, the county seat is home to ranch families that date back generations, but also to a growing number of artists, winemakers, and scrappy business owners. Rusted 1880s silos in the middle of town now house “a small but excellent” science museum, and bikers from across Texas swoon over the “two-wheeled beauties” at the Texas Vintage Motorcycle Museum. Good tacos are “never out of reach,” thanks to a few excellent food trucks, including Cast Iron Punk and others that share a pavilion at West Main Streatery. Pecan Street Brewing is “the living room of Johnson City,” but make time for local wine-tasting rooms. And after visiting LBJ’s family ranch, visitors can explore Pedernales Falls State Park, “one of the best places in Central Texas for a cool summer swim.”

Florida’s pesky red tides

Beachgoers, beware, said Cheryl McCloud in the Sarasota, Fla., Herald-Tribune. Red tides, also known as toxic algal blooms, are plaguing southwest Florida, with six counties affected and the worst concentrations between St. Petersburg and Naples. The blooms arrived in the fall, as usual, but they’ve lingered longer this time. A red tide is a high concentration of Karenia brevis algae, which can color the water and produces toxins that kill marine life, littering shorelines with dead fish. Red tides can also cause serious illness; at high-risk beaches, even breathing the ocean breeze leads to coughing, throat irritation, and asthma attacks. For red tide maps, check with the NOAA or the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (myfwc.com). Fortunately, Florida’s east coast has not been affected.

Mississippi’s cultural capital

You won’t ever have to ask where to stay in downtown Meridian, Miss., said Jim Beaugez in Garden & Gun. The city of 35,000, “a low-key getaway destination” known as Mississippi’s unofficial cultural capital, recently celebrated the conversion of its unmissable tallest building into a centrally located hotel. The Threefoot Hotel, which occupies a 16-story art deco tower, now stands at the heart of the city’s walkable downtown, adding its throwback glamour and a rooftop bar to the visitor experience. A few blocks away sits the Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience, or the MAX, a museum that celebrates Mississippi cultural giants from William Faulkner to Oprah Winfrey. The nearby Jimmie Rodgers Museum honors the Meridian native son known as the Father of Country Music. Railroads made the city a music hub, and the tradition continues at places like Brickhaus, which pairs live music with 63 craft beers, and the “elegantly restored” 1890 Grand Opera House, which hosts national acts. Refuel at Weidmann’s, an 1870 lunch counter that serves a good black bottom pie.