Credit: Photo by Gerald E. Mcleod

Best addition to Space City: Space Center, the NASA-based museum in Houston, didn’t snag one of the retired space shuttles. As a consolation prize, the science palace received one of the jumbo jets used to ferry the spacecraft across the country. Then they built a model of the shuttle to piggyback on the 747. The two were joined on Aug. 14. By 2015, it will be the only place to see a shuttle stacked on a carrier jet, and the only shuttle that can be explored from the inside.

Best trip without leaving the state: Texans won’t have to travel to Florida to see historic rocket launches anymore. By 2016, visitors to South Padre Island will see space vehicles flying from the SpaceX launch pad at Boca Chica. Plans are for the remote beach near the mouth of the Rio Grande to remain open.

Best small shuttle: Caprock Canyons State Park outside of Quitaque has added a shuttle to take visitors to remote sections of the park. The electric bus goes to the old railroad tunnel where bats emerge in the summer and offers rarely seen views of the rugged Llano Estacado.

Best winery off the beaten path: Only two years old, Wedding Oak Winery in San Saba offers some wonderful vintages that are making waves in the Texas wine industry. Using primarily hot weather grapes, the winery is making the best wine you’ve never heard of.

1,206th 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 September 12 • 2014.

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Gerald E. McLeod joined the Chronicle staff in November 1980 as a graphic designer. In April 1991 he began writing the “Day Trips” column. Besides the weekly travel column, he contributed “101 Swimming Holes,” “Guide to Central Texas Barbecue,” and “Guide to the Texas Hill Country.” His first 200 columns have been published in Day Trips Vol. I and Day Trips Vol. II.