The South Padre Chronicles (Part 1)

Our family vacation to S. Padre Island has come and gone, and it is time to share some of what happened.

First, we were delighted that the drive itself took only six hours, with a 15 minute stop for lunch and 2 bathroom breaks. As we drove over the bridge from Port Isabel to the island, Shelley and I agreed that we could make that trip a couple of times a year if the opportunity presented itself. Sadly, by the time we left, several disappointments with the state of the island left us agreeing it might be quite a while before we returned.

Instead of staying at the Sheraton Hotel on the south end of the island, as we have every time before, we decided to rent a condo for our stay. Meals in the room for breakfast and lunch, as well as a reasonable cost for the room itself, made the trip more economically feasible than the hotel plus all meals out. When we got to the condo we rented, brave faces (for the children's sake) hid our horror at the condition of the unit. Without going into too much detail, it smelled bad, looked dirty, had badly soiled and worn furniture and was much smaller than advertised. As the boys looked at the ocean from our balcony, I proceeded to call the property management company and, using my David Horst voice, demanded a clean replacement. To their credit, they put us in a 2-bedroom condo which was very recently remodeled and a very nice place for us to stay. We unpacked all our stuff, including loading the refrigerator with all our food and drinks, and put together a simple picnic dinner to eat on the beach (the reason, after all, that we were there).

It was dinner time, so nearly everyone had left the beach for us to enjoy privately, which we did. The boys had little interest in eating any of the food we had packed, opting instead to pick up shells, run around in the water and chase the occasional sea gull. Shelley and I were pretty content to have a couple of cervezas, sit on our blanket and watch the boys be boys. If you consider how much these two enjoy their 5' by 5' sandbox, is it any wonder that they seem completely free and happy to be running around our little section of South Padre? Austin can entertain himself for endless hours at the beach, and did this evening. Though Braden checks in with Ma-ee and Da-ee quite frequently, he played non-stop too, needing only to be watched closely to prevent him from (fearlessly) trying to go out into the ocean as far as Austin.

Once it started to get dark, we went back to the condo, got the boys showered and settled into their room (2 twin beds) and then went to our room to watch tv until we fell asleep. Overall a good start to our trip.

Back soon with Day 2...

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