Day Trips

James Dean slept here: Marfa's El Paisano Hotel. (Photo By Gerald E. McLeod)

Every day-tripper should have a life list similar to the checklist that bird watchers keep of avian species that they have spotted. Here are a few places I would recommend adding to your life list of day trips if you haven't already.

Take a trip to Marfa. Texas' town with the highest altitude has become an artist colony since Donald Judd moved his studio and galleries to an abandoned Army post on the edge of town in the early 1970s. The community hasn't lost its small-town charm despite the influx of out-of-towners.

Although there isn't anything left of the set from the movie Giant, a stay in El Paisano Hotel lets you wander the halls where Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean stayed. The Thunderbird Motel is another place that has been remodeled for modern visitors. If you want funky, head about 50 miles south of town to the Chinati Hot Springs and stay in one of the rustic cabins.

The best reason to visit Marfa is to see the Marfa Lights. For more than 120 years, no scientific explanation has defined the flickering lights that put on a dazzling show at sunset. The best place to view the lights is at the observation area about 10 miles east of Marfa on U.S. 90 toward Alpine.

At least once in their lifetime, every Texan should visit Palo Duro Canyon south of Amarillo. The rugged beauty of "the Grand Canyon of Texas" is loaded with history. The Plains Indians once camped in the deep escarpment at the edge of the prairie that stretches north to the Canadian border. Spanish explorers passed through here and the cattle barons started their herds sheltered by the colorful rock walls that became a state park in 1933.

A 600-foot cliff in the park serves as the backdrop for the outdoor musical Texas Legacies. Since 1966, the 120-member cast and crew have been staging the musical production that tells the timeless story of the human struggle to settle an unforgiving land. The play runs each year from early June to mid-August. Bring a jacket because the evenings in the canyon can get chilly and you'll want to stay for the fireworks finale.

By the 1920s, East Texas' pine and hardwood forest had been logged into near extinction. The forests were one area of the state saved by the Great Depression. Four large sections were replanted and preserved as a national resource by the federal government during the 1930s.

The 163,037-acre Sam Houston National Forest southeast of Huntsville has six recreation areas that offer camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, and special trails for dirt bikes, mountain bikes, and horses. The 128-mile Lone Star Hiking Trail is a National Recreation Trail that winds through the forest in three major sections. Get there by mid-February to see the redbud tree blossoms followed by the dogwood tree blossoms in early March.

In the summer in Texas you need to be near a swimming hole, and the best swimming hole in the state is the Gulf of Mexico. Galveston, Port Aransas, and South Padre Island offer nice beaches, but exploring the undeveloped Padre Island National Seashore is so much more fun. The park stretches for 67.5 miles of the 130-mile-long barrier island.

For a special treat that you won't soon forget, attend one of the sea-turtle hatchling releases between May and August near the park headquarters outside of Corpus Christi. In 2006, there were 11 public releases of hatchlings incubated at the park's facility. After rescuing the turtle eggs from nests along the coast, park rangers release the baby sea turtles to the sunrise. To learn when the releases will occur, call the Hatchling Hotline at 361/949-7163.

Don't forget to schedule a visit to the Rio Grande Valley this year. The violence that has taken over Nuevo Laredo has not spread to the Lower Valley. In the 100 miles between Brownsville and Rio Grande City you can visit citrus groves, the last hand-powered ferry in the U.S. at Los Ebanos, an Elvis museum in Los Fresnos, aloe vera plantations in Weslaco, and beautiful state parks along the river.

811th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of Day Trips 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.