Day Trips

Happy New Year! Here are 10 things that happened in 2012 in the world of day-trippers.

1) AARP magazine revealed a local secret by announcing that the Devil's Backbone, officially known as FM 32 between Wimberley and Fischer, is one of the seven prettiest drives in America.

2) Ellison's Greenhouses in Brenham went wholesale only and ended 22 years of the annual Poinsettia Celebration.

3) America's fastest legal speed limit on SH 130 gave tourists another reason to go to Lockhart for barbecue.

4) Volunteers planted 200,000 pine seedlings in Bastrop State Park, which was 96% burned in 2011.

5) U.S. Customs and Border Protection will soon allow tourists into Boquillas, Coahuila, Mexico, in Big Bend National Park.

6) The Texas Supreme Court weakened Texas' public beach easement provision of the Texas Open Beaches Act.

7) The FBI Uniform Crime Reports suggested that the border towns are some of the safest areas in the state.

8) The number of whooping cranes migrating to the Texas coast continues to increase; add to that at least six of the endangered birds taking up temporary residence on the Sore Finger peninsula of Granger Lake.

9) Art, music, and climate landed Marfa on Smithsonian magazine's list of 20 best small towns.

10) Promoters promised Big Tex will be back bigger and better after fire destroyed the 52-foot-tall State Fair greeter.

1,118th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips," is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.