CC Vacation day 3

Today started real early, about 1 am. Since our room was over looking the sea wall we had a wonderful balcony and sliding glass door. However that makes the room a little more susceptible to outside noises and the youth of Corpus like to take their loud music and play for all to hear. I finally a turned on the TV and it sort of muffled the outside noise. So I was able to get some more sleep, Keith never heard a thing.

Today was the day to drive to South Padre Island, I had no idea it was 2 hours south of Corpus Christi and Padre Island. We headed out and as we were driving we saw a sign that said next gas station 60 miles. That was when we realized we were driving through King Ranch. I commented no gas, no coffee, no Boston baked beans ( we still can't find any) , no bathrooms Oh My! I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or the waffle I ate for breakfast but it was not long before I was asleep. In my defense I did not sleep all the way I would wake up for a bit then fall back asleep.

 When we got to San Benito we found a convenience store for a pit stop and we looked for Boston Baked Beans no luck. But guess what we did find!!! A Harley Shop...we were looking for Roadrunner Harley but we found Wild Boar Harley they had changed name in the last couple of months. We found a t-shirt on the sale rack for Keith and I found a charm with the old name on it on sale for $8. All is well. Now to the beach!! We are still about an hour from South Padre I can't believe people drive all this way to party.

 As we are driving over the big bridge (everything is bigger in Texas ) we see a sign that says stop for the pelicans. Really you have to stop if you see a pelican! Once again I got out Yelp and found Pier 19? Actually we drove past the entrance once and had to turn around and go back and find it. The restaurant was on the pier we actually ate out on the water. We cold see out on all sides we had a great time watching all the boats. We saw speed boats, fishing boats and this pirate ship.



I had the fish taco's

 Keith had a Hawaiian burger with pineapple, ham and a couple of kinds of cheese.

As we were waiting I saw some  bowls of a seafood soup, next time I am getting that. The entire time we were eating we were watching a pelican outside our window. Just as we were paying our bill some goofy kids on seadoo's came up and scared it off.

We walked out side on the pier and saw some interesting pirates.

And there is a bar at the very end.

  Now to the beach... We decided to drive north along South Padre to the very end of the road. It was neat that as you were driving past the sand dunes taller than the car and people.

 

We got to the very end of Texas, well not the very end but the road does end.

We decided to head back across the bridge to Port Isabel. The bridge was awesome. When we got to Port Isabel, we looked back at the bridge and the traffic was stopped going into South Padre.

Port Isabel is where you can catch the boat rides, the speed boat and the pirate ship. There were some pirates on this pier as well.

This one looks a lot like Keith.

After we spent some time on the pier, we decided to head back to Corpus Christi. As we were heading back, we came across a truck check station, that had been turned into a check point for the border patrol. All vehicles were having to stop. There were camera's everywhere like we saw on the beach yesterday. I wanted to take pictures, but the guards were very serious, so I decided not to take any. They go to the window of the U-Haul truck in front of us, take the drug dog around it, then open the back door. That truck had to pull over, I guess the dog hit on something. As we were pulling up Keith is getting out license, insurance, and private carry permit. The guard motioned us forward and asked if we were citizens, the drug dog is circling our car, when we said yes they motioned us to leave. That definitely woke me up, those guards looked so serious.

As we were driving back to Corpus we decided to find the Taqueria Garibaldi. This was another restaurant that we saw on The Hairy Bikers. We drove over our favorite bridge twice, because we missed the turn the first time. 

We told the waiter we were there because we had seen them on Hairy Bikers. He said "do you remember seeing me? " He told us next time we need to try the whole fish. I had seen it on the menu, but wasn't sure about a whole fish. If it is as good as the enchilada's, it would be wonderful. They also had handmade flour tortillas. They had even fried some like the corn tortillas to eat with the salsa. The enchilada"s were even good cold on the trip home the next day.  After we stuffed ourselves, it was time to head back to the hotel. We went for one more walk along the seawall, because tomorrow we have to head back home.

 I really do love the beach; the sounds, the wind, the smells. Oh well, maybe we can come back again soon.

CC Vacation day 2

We decided this morning that we wanted to take a drive around the Corpus loop. I got out the phone, googled it. and found a neat website (www.stxmaps.com). We took off on the beach loop. It worked well because it started on Shoreline Dr., and that is where our hotel was. Our first site was the Surfing Jesus at the 1st United Methodist Church.

 He really doesn't look like he is surfing, but I had to play tourist and run across the street to get a better picture.














Shoreline turns into Ocean where there are huge homes, I just wonder how much they cost, some are very modern and some old. We saw an empty lot on the ocean side of the street.  Keith said we could buy it and move in a trailer house. Then, if a hurricane hits, we can just move in another one. We turned onto Ennis Joslin Rd, but don't ask me if it was east or west, for I have no clue. Beside this road is a Karankawa Indian Burial Ground. We didn't see or feel any ghosts. As we were driving to the beach on Padre Island, we noticed areas of burnt grass.  I am going to research, did they set the fire on purpose or not?

We got to the beach, and lots of memories were dancing through our heads. 32 years ago we came to Corpus for our honeymoon. Sometimes it seems amazing we have lasted that long, lots of love and compromise.

 
Then we saw the seagulls and were laughing, because our son is afraid of them. He will tell you that we took him to the beach when he was about 6, then locked him on the balcony of our hotel and let the seagulls peck his stomach until it bled. That is not the truth at all.

 We took lots of pictures of seagulls for Andrew,
We Love You!!!

 We did get our feet in the water, but not our butt in the sand.









We had a wonderful walk down the beach, and got to climb some sand dunes.

We took Basil for his first ride on the beach.

 As we were leaving the Padre Island National Seashore, we noticed at the entrance to the park lots and lots of cameras. I mean there were a lot of them, taking pictures of every angle of your car. The way they were stacked on top of each other, they sort of looked like Johnny 5.

 We decided it had to do
with the Border Patrol.

 Next on our agenda was Bob Hall Pier

 This couple was just enjoying the water lapping on
their feet. They were both reading books.

 The surf was beautiful, the wind was blowing and you could smell the salty air.

As we pulled in next to the pier, we saw these signs that said "Head in Parking Only"

 Just look how the cars are parked!

 

It's now getting close to lunch, so I pulled out the phone again and found the list of places that Janie had given me to try. There was a La Playa at Port Aransas, we mapped it and it wasn't very far away. We decided to give it a try.  We pulled up, got out, and walked to the door. They don't open till 5 and it was now about 1:30, that was a little too long to wait. This area had a lot of restaurants, so we decided to pick another one. As we were driving down the street, I looked up and saw "The Gaff". That was one of the places we wanted to eat, since the Hairy Bikers had eaten there. In fact, one of the Hairy Bikers brother owns it. Of course, this was the trip of small places to eat.  It was a shotgun type house, made into a bar.

All the windows were open and it was a bit warm. The barmaid said we could sit out back if we wanted, so we went into the backyard.

 This pirate was guarding the bathroom.

 This pirate only had one leg!








We ordered our pizza and then got to looking around the backyard. There were wonderful pirates everywhere.

 AAARRRGGHH!, the pizza was piping hot and turned us into pirates.

 We also found out that this is birthplace
of the Texas Belt Sander Racing.

 They have a race track and everything!
















 After lunch, it was back on the loop road. We wanted to ride the ferry across the causeway. There are about four of them coming and going at all times.

 I was a little disappointed that we could not get out of the car. We were jammed in like sardines.

 But I did get to do something I have always wanted to. I opened the sun roof and stuck my head out so I could take pictures.










  Across the bay an around, and it was time to go back over the big bridge. This bridge became our friend, for we went over it 4 or 5 times during the weekend.

This is the the view from the underside of the bridge.

We were now back in Corpus, and guess what we found ????? A Harley Shop. We have never been there, so we had to look for a shirt and, of course, I found one that I liked both the front and the back. As we were shopping, the motor clothes lady said "so where are you from?" I said Duncan, Oklahoma.  She said "Oh my goodness, my grandparents lived in Waurika, and we used to go to Duncan when I would visit them", so we had a nice chat about southern Oklahoma. She was also a very good sales lady, because I ended up buying a bead for my bracelet as well as a t-shirt. They were both on sale, so it was OK.
After we got done shopping, we decided to go back to the icebox for a little bit. Our room was wonderfully cold. After a little rest, we decided to go to Blackbeard's for dinner. It has Pirates, Ghosts, and Rock N Roll

 It is listed at www.ccspookcentral.com as being haunted.
  It was a wonderful purple building with very little parking. After driving around for a little bit, we finally found parking. We put our names on the list, and as we were waiting at little bar table outside, a couple with two girls and a little baby asked if they could rest the baby carrier on our extra bar stool. Of course, we said yes. They asked where we were from, and we said Duncan,. Oklahoma The wife said really... I'm from Atoka.  Guess what, they also ride bikes, so as we were waiting, we had a wonderful conversation about riding bikes and Oklahoma.

 We had a wonderful dinner. I had Cajun Shrimp Quesadilla's, they were very spicy.

 Keith sort of wanted to try the gator bites, but he settled on the fried catfish.

Now comes the Rock N Roll, a guy singing 60's and 70's summer songs. We got to sing along with him. We sang: Sitting on the dock of the bay, In the Summertime, and a bunch  of other summer themed songs.

 Lots and Lots of Rock N Roll Memorbilia.

When got back to the hotel it was still light, so we decided to go for a walk along the sea wall. There are these really neat benches to sit on, It looks like you are about to fall in the ocean, but there are steps on the other side going down to the water.

Don't Jump!!!










 We took off our shoes and walked along the edge getting our feet wet. One of the outside restaurants had a band playing, so we had music as well. We walked quite a long way, because I wanted to go see the surfing Jesus in the dark. He is lit up, so it looks real neat.

 Now it was time to walk back to the hotel. We walked up to the sidewalk and realized that we didn't think the shoe thing through. We had worn our tennis shoes and socks, so we had to try to get all the sand off our feet to put our shoes back on. We should have worn our Keens, it would have been much easier. We walked the half mile or so back to the hotel getting to hear good music all the way. Next time we go, I am going to figure out how to get on the rock wall that is out in the ocean. It just got dark before I could this trip

This is the evening view from our room. Can you see Basil in the corner? He was in for the night

The Marina across the street from our hotel. We had a fabulous room.