13 Things To Do In 2020
NO MATTER HOW OFTEN YOU TRAVERSE THIS GREAT STATE, there’s always something new to see. Still, it can be easy to get stuck in a travel rut—visiting the same favorite towns, comfortingly familiar landscapes, and tried-and true attractions. Consider our 2020 travel bucket list your opportunity to push yourself out of your bubble. Explore a new region, appreciate a different culture, or test your physical limits. Make it your New Year’s mantra: Go forth and explore.
FLOCK TO ARANSAS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE’S NEW BOARDWALK
Stroll along the 850-foot-long, 6-foot-wide boardwalk at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and peer down at the teeming tidal-flat community of blue crabs, snakes, and alligators. There are even tracks of mammals such as bobcat, feral hog, and javelina. “Visitors can experience the sights, sounds, and smells of a coastal marsh without being up to their knees in marsh mud—making a sometimes inaccessible habitat available to all,” says Laura Bonneau, visitor services manager. If you visit between October and April, you can admire some of the more than 500 endangered whooping cranes—North America’s tallest bird and one of its rarest—that winter here. They number among the 405 bird species sighted at the refuge. The new structure, completed in August, extends over the marsh to a platform overlooking San Antonio Bay, where the refuge offers fishing access after the whooping cranes’ spring departure. It also links the existing boardwalk and 40-foot observation tower to the lush, forested Big Tree Trail.
—Susan L. Ebert
BEST TIME TO VISIT: BETWEEN OCTOBER AND APRIL
361-349-1138; fws.gov/refuge/aransas
