South Padre Island

After staying close to home yesterday, we were anxious to get back to our exploring today.  It was another gorgeous day with temperatures in the 70s with a pretty strong wind to blow your hat away.  We decided it would be a fine day to go to South Padre Island.  It was a short, easy drive of about 35 miles from our home base in Harlingen.  Along the way, we found where the rodeo will be which we are planning to see on Sunday and we located the road which leads to the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site also on our agenda for Sunday.

South end of South Padre Island

After crossing Laguna Madre by way of the Queen Isabella Causeway onto South Padre Island from Port Isabel, we turned right to head to the southern most point of this barrier island.  This section of the island is a county park—Isla Blanca Park—and is very popular with beach goers.  Of course, on this “winter” day the beach was not overrun with sunbathers (although we did see a couple out on their towels soaking up the rays).  There is a fairly large area for RV camping just across the road from the beach.  If it weren’t for such a strong wind to rip the awnings right off my home, I think I could stand parking here for a month.  I took my shoes off to test the water and was surprised at how warm it was.  Of course, I only got my feet wet.  We saw a surfer taking advantage of the waves pushed up by the wind and several kite flyers.

North of the Isla Blanca Park the hotels, condos, restaurants, and shops dominated the landscape typical of any beach resort community.  We drove as far north as possible on paved road and the farther north we went, the less developed the area became until we finally reached just dunes and beach.

Back on the mainland, we stopped at the Port Isabel lighthouse.  This light was commissioned in the mid 1850s and is now a local landmark.  We found a fish market and picked up a couple pounds of fresh shrimp. I have divided the shrimp into 3 portions, 2 of which are in the freezer and the other is chilling in the refrigerator just waiting to the slathered in cocktail sauce. Umm, lip-smacking good!

Apparently rare for this part of Texas, we had a few dark clouds today and even a few rain drops.  The wind is remarkable.  I’m not sure I have ever experienced anything like this.  They said it would be windy in Texas.

Port Isabel Lighthouse