We decided to head over to South Padre Island and spend a three day weekend at the beginning of Texas Spring Break. We were greeted with the coldest three days of the winter. Temperatures varied from the mid-60’s to the mid-70’s with cloudy skies and an on and off drizzle. (Of course, the day we left SPI, it was beautiful, sunny, and in the mid-80’s.)
Many of the college kids didn’t plan on cold weather as shorts and sandals were the norm. Jackets were few and far between. Lots of Hoodies!!!!!
We made it out onto the beach for a drive. Believe it or not, there were a few kids “enjoying” the water. Others were trying out their beach driving skills doing donuts, etc. New landmarks had been left from Hurricane Dolly. This log, marking the nude beach, should be there a while.
The South Padre area has its share of beach accessory stores. Here is one of the most unusual.
And the street view is even more exotic.
One of the neatest things to do on South Padre Island is to visit the Turtle Rescue Center. The weather was in the 50’s when we went there and many of the tanks were covered to retain the heat for the turtles. Some of the turtles have been there since 1980. Most are released when their injuries are healed, unless they only have a fin or fins on one side of their body. They would be able to swim in nice circles, but wouldn’t live long that way in the ocean.
Restaurants that we tried out were:
Daddy’s – Seafood. Excellent
Pier 19 – Shrimp dinners. The food was pretty good, but not as good as Daddy’s.
Ted’s – Breakfast – Loved their veggie omelet with Swiss cheese.
Dirty Al’s – Lunch – Large Burger and Po’ Boy. Pitchers of beer are the better deal.
Denny’s – Breakfast – It was Denny’s.
There is quite a contrast between canal type homes in the Port Isabel/South Padre area. You might find beautiful condos in a golfing community with canals for easy access to your boat. This looks like the ideal spot to settle down when we’re ready.
Then there are canals that look like they are straight out of Vietnam. This one is somewhere in the middle.
After three days at SPI, we headed to Corpus Christi for a few days to visit with Lance and granddaughter Ayden. The weather was much better and the beaches were quite crowded with spring breakers. It was after all, Texas week.
Companies and organizations set up displays and sponsored events on the beach. This was a huge display set up by the US Army as a recruitment tool.
We found a friend that helped us watch for fish.
We’ll fill you in on the balance of our Corpus visit in another posting.
Thanks for the catch up on your adventures.
Happy Trails.
Jenelle