South Padre Island

I just returned from a week's vacation at South Padre Island, Texas. The best parts of the trip were being able to spend a week away from home with my husband and son as well as my two sisters and their families. The weather was not the best, being quite windy for the most part. South Padre Island is just off the coast of Texas near the port city of Port Isabel. It has a rich history that includes Spanish shipwrecks and lost treasure.

Although a big tourist area, there miles and miles of undeveloped beach and dunes, a must see if you visit there. This is mostly the north end of the island. Plan on walking the beach and dunes for as long as you like.

Our condos were spacious and had a view of the gulf. The hot tubs were a highlight since the weather was a little cool.

As a big shrimping area be sure to eat shrimp. I advice buying fresh shrimp and other seafood at Dirty Al's market. The shrimp is large and inexpensive. For one dinner we boiled shrimp and fried flounder in our condo. It was better than any food we bought at the restaurants.

Sunset on the patio of one of the restaurants on the lagoon side is also worth doing.

We rode horses on the beach. Place like this should be sure to tell you that experienced riders need not go. There were over 30 people on the ride and they gave us a feeling of being 'herded' rather than going for a ride. Even though we were told that it was ok to trot the horses, I found that they meant for just a few short minutes. Much of the time was spent just sitting still on the horses while we waited for slower riders and picture taking.

December is a good time to visit South Padre because it is not crowded, but the weather is probably nicer later in winter. After the rush of the Christmas Season its great to enjoy some R & R before getting back to work though.

Happy New Year Everyone and thanks for a great year.