The year 2011 will go down as being hot and dry in historic proportions. Here’s a quick rundown of events that affected day trippers.
How hot was it? Austin had a record-breaking 86 days of triple-digit heat. The rest of the state suffered under similar conditions.
How dry was it? Counties across the state instituted burn bans. Rainfall totals were more than a foot below average. Every lake in the state sported a bathtub ring where the water level used to be.
Then paradise burned. Wildfires burned more than a million acres across the state. Fort Davis, Possum Kingdom, and Bastrop were hit the hardest.
It was too hot and dry to go outdoors. With attendance down by a third, the state parks had to ask the public to donate $4.6 million to help them get through 2012.
The good news: The number of whooping cranes wintering along the Texas coast increased to 281 and is expected to break the 300 mark in 2012. A record number of Kemp’s ridley sea turtle nests, the most endangered sea turtle, were found on Texas beaches.
In memoriam: The nuns at the Monastery of St. Clare outside of Brenham sold the last of their miniature horses. Dietz Bakery in Fredericksburg closed in June. John “Trey” Woodward, patriarch of the Woodward Ranch outside of Alpine, passed away.
1,067th 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.
This article appears in 2011.
