Monday, January 29, 2018 - Doctor Visit; Padre Island; Kiteboarders; Beach Visit; Lunch at Pier 19

Monday, January 29, 2018 - Doctor Visit; Padre Island; Kiteboarders; Beach Visit; Lunch at Pier 19

Dean and I were up early this morning so we could eat an early breakfast and shower before heading out for the day.  I have an appointment with the chiropractor at 8 and then we are meeting our friends Dennis and Pam for a trip to Padre Island.  

The doctor visit went well.  My back, both upper and lower and my neck are feeling much better.  We headed straight to our friends house and arrived sometime after 9:00 or so.  I wasn't sure what the day would be like so I brought a bag packed with sweatshirt, jacket, visor, phone charger/cord, and sunglasses.  All I ever used was the phone charger - in order to keep taking pictures and videos.  

We headed for Padre Island, TX.  We've never been to this area of Texas before and we are looking forward to it.  Caution:  Photo Overload! 

As usual lots of conversation was flowing between the four of us as we worked our way to the east.  As we passed through San Benito I snapped this picture of their water tower, and their favorite son Freddy Fender.  He had some great songs --- Wasted Days and Wasted Nights, and Before the Next Tear Drop Falls were my two favorites.

Water Tower - San Benito w/ Freddy Fender picture

(Click on any picture to enlarge it)

A short while later we noticed this smoke off to the south of us and wondered if it might be a cane field being burned.  Unfortunately the colors didn't show up as well as I had hoped they would.  The fire was creating smoke with many variations of browns and gold.

Burning of sugar cane field in the distance.

Water tower in Port Isabel, TX - Laguna Madre

As I was writing this post I wondered why Laguna Madre was on the Port Isabel, TX water tower.  With a little googling I found this information.


Below are pictures I took as we drove the Queen Isabella Causeway into South Padre Island, TX.  

FROM WIKIPEDIA:  The two-mile-long Queen Isabella Causeway, located in southern Cameron County, Texas, is the only road connecting South Padre Island, Texas to the mainland. The Causeway was opened in 1974 and replaced the previous bridge, which had also been named Queen Isabella Causeway. A central section of the original causeway has been removed and it has been renamed the Queen Isabella State Fishing Pier. The Causeway is the second-longest bridge in Texas, stretching 2.37 miles (3.81 km) across the Laguna Madre. It is named after Queen Isabella of Castile.

As you enter Padre Island, they have a beautiful entrance, perfect for a photo op!  So we stopped:

An interesting thing happened while we were here.  As we pulled up we noticed a car with a Kansas license tag was also parked here.  Not only was it from Kansas but from Douglas County, the same county Dennis and Pam used to live in.  We started talking to this couple and he was a road grader for the county and used to grade the road that went by their house.  How small of a world is it sometimes?  
As we moved on, we noticed right away all of many the large stores dotting the space along main street, that you always find in "beach" communities - selling t-shirts, towels, boogie boards, etc.  We didn't stop today but possibly we'll come back before we leave.  If we buy a t-shirt we'll have to eliminate one we already have, so we have to be selective when making that decision.  

I thought this IGA grocery store was great with this blue marlin gracing the front of the store.  

Blue Marlin Supermarket (IGA)

As we drove on down the main road, Dennis pulled into the Ramada Inn so we could see their beautiful sand sculpture.  I didn't see the wood carvings at the entrance in time to take one as we drove in, but I did manage to snap one as we passed it.  

Dolphins and Pelican Wood Carvings at entrance to Ramada Hotel in South Padre Island, TX

Sand sculpture at Ramada Hotel - S. Padre Island, TX

As we moved on down the street, we ran across these kitesurfers.  We pulled into a large open sand lot and watched four different kitesurfers.  It was amazing and quite mesmerizing.  Of course, I didn't know too much about kitesurfing so I googled it as well.  Click Here if you want to learn more about this sport.

One of the kitesurfers we watched.  The water here was pretty calm, but the wind was still giving them some nice rides.

Moving on down the road we reached Beach Access # 5.  We paid our $10 fee (per car) to enter here and we drove several miles down the beach.  Here's where you need to be prepared for picture overload - and of course, pictures do not do justice to the beauty of being on this beach.

E. K. Atwood Park - Beach Access No. 5

I can never get enough of a beautiful beach with these gorgeous waves.  The sound of the water is mesmerizing. 

There was an old RV behind this vehicle.  It might have been wood.  I thought I had a better picture of it, or I would have taken another one on our way back to the beach access road.

The birds are always fun to watch as they run out to the water as it recedes, and then quickly running back from the waves as they rush in.

Our friends, Dennis & Pam Horstman.  They have been great to make sure we see the sites in South Texas, and knowing all the great places to eat, too!  A big Thank You to you both.  

We saw several people fishing as we drove down the beach

Coming across driftwood partly buried in the sand like this makes for a beautiful picture.

For my friend - Carolyn - she collects pictures from her friends and family as they travel to different beaches.  From South Padre Island!  Wish you were here Carolyn!

Trash that was washed up on the beach.  I wonder what it was from, and look at the way the water has rolled and folded this metal.  I love how simple the shells look laying around it.

Dean and I - thanks for taking these pictures Dennis!

Walking back to the car......ahhh, we love the beach!

Dennis, Pam and Dean checking out the pod.

Dennis and Pam wanted to show us this "thing". 

Known as UFO Beach on South Padre Island — the area got its moniker when an emergency evacuation pod that looked like a UFO washed onshore.  As you might guess from the words on this pod - this is an unofficial nude beach.  Now, that being said, we visited on a day we were pretty sure no one would be here.....it was way too cold for that type of thing, but the pod is quite interesting to see, and to think that someone might actually get in it and ride waves.  Not me!!

Take the time to enlarge these pictures and look at all of the debris (or things brought to the beach as people visited) that has been added to this pod.  It's apparent that there has been quite a bit of work to "decorate" this pod as it has set on the beach over the years.

This marks the unofficial Nude Beach.

There is lots of "art" along the beach.  This one is a vacuum cleaner tool stuck in the sand and gives the impression of a periscope - I wonder who was watching us??

Beautiful sand dunes - more mesmerizing views!

Inside the pod.  You can see there is room for several folks to sit.

Another view.

Our only visit to a nude beach....thank goodness it was so cool and windy....way too cold for anyone wanting to visit for that purpose!!

Look how different it looks here where the wind has blown the sand to partially cover these shells.

More wind blown sand - looks like waves.

Driving back to Beach Access Point #5

This looks a little like a seahorse

Notice the sunroof is open as we drive back down the beach

I was able to catch this heron in flight - check out the fish in his mouth.

Another shot of the heron.

Closeups of some of the art work along the beach. - Looks like a wigwam.

Christmas Tree

Hard Hats!

Both nature made and man made - beautiful driftwood with decoration.

I've never included a video in my blog before, so I hope this works.  This is a picture of a couple of kitesurfers on the "angry" side of the Gulf.  It was so much watching them.  If it had been a little warmer it would have been easy to spend hours out here.  Unfortunately the video was way too large to include.  I need to do some study to find out how I can add a video.

Just beautiful sand dunes.

Neat vehicle.....possibly stealth camping.  Great way to do it if you are the only occupant .

As we left the beach access area, you can see how the wind is blowing sand across the road.

South Padre Island Water Tower

Just a screenshot of these windsurfers.

I've never added a video to the blog before.  I am not going to input this as a video until I do some more research on how to do that, but hopefully you can look at the picture and see the kitesurfers on this side of the sand dunes - where the Gulf is showing us some of the raw beauty the winds can create.  If you enlarge the picture you can see the two kitesurfers in this picture.  They were really moving along the water, and it was amazing to see the wind pick them up out of the water and carry them along before they dropped back down, riding the water and waves again and again.

As we left here we were all quite hungry by now, so we headed to Pier 19, where we not only enjoyed our wonderful lunch but also the views from our table on the enclosed Pier.  We were able to watch two dolphins for a short while not too far from our table inside.  We also enjoyed the antics of the pelicans and seagulls.

On our way to eat, we passed this "Beach store".  Pretty unique and a great way to get the kids to stop here!

The Queen Isabella Causeway from Pier 19.

Pier 19 Restaurant

Boat on the water - just passed under the Causeway.

Entrance to Pier 19

Sign says "You hook it, we cook it".

The view from my seat in the restaurant.

My lunch - fried shrimp, sweet potato fries (with seasoning) and hushpuppies.  WONDERFUL!

Dean, watch out!  This guy was really sweet talking me!

We walked as far as we could on the Pier.  There were a number of pelicans sunning themselves on the dock.

Great sign!!

Pelican posing for me!

After leaving the restaurant we drove through the KOA campground (you actually drive through it to reach Pier 19) and the nearby County Campground.  We thought the county campground would be a nice place to stay for a few days.  It has pretty decent access to the beach.  There were not many people on the beach today due to the wind and the temperatures being in the high 50's/low 60's.  You can see they had a red alert for the beach today.

Red flag day - DANGER for swimming!

What a great idea to keep the sun from blowing everything away and enjoying the beauty of the beach.

The next picture is of "The Chapel by the Sea".  I love that it is basically for folks visiting the area.  Here you can read about it.
 

"Chapel by the Sea"

From here we took Highway 48 that took us by the entrance to the Port of Brownsville.

Entrance to Port of Brownsville.

Once 44 intersected with 77 highway we began the trek back to Dennis and Pam's Park.  What a great day - even though it was a little cold on the beach, it was a beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed it..

Sorry for taking so long in posting this.  Between the time it has taken to go through the pictures, making changes, etc. this post has taken quite a bit of time.  We have been very busy this week, so it takes me awhile to get the pictures reviewed and cropped, and the details written out.  Then I have to re-read it and hope I catch all of my grammatical errors before I post it.