A walk around the little city on the other end of the bridge

On our drive to South Padre Island, we were so excited about starting the third edition of my dear wife Karen’s family reunion that we hardly noticed the near side of the big bridge. After we’d stopped at the supermarket sister-in-law Lynn told all about beforehand and stocked up with bottled water, other beverages and…

Sunsets are striking at the right spots

A dog walker on the beach early on gave me the name of a good spot to catch a glorious South Padre Beach sunset. The whole family reunion gang was in. Laguna Bob’s did not have enough space. Louie’s Backyard said certainly to our request for a table for 14. Maybe it was because one…

Movin’ on down to the west side

How narrow is South Padre Island, you wonder? In one swift morning my walk carried me from the Gulf of Mexico to the east to the lagoon to the west, all taking the block on which our rental house sat. It took me, maybe, five minutes to get from one body of water to another,…

I greet the sun at the Gulf of Mexico

I had to really greet the sun at the Gulf of Mexico at least once, right? So I looked up the exact time it would peek over the horizon at South Padre Island and made sure I’d take the stroll down the block in enough time to say howdy. The moon was still up outside…

Good day, sunrise

Every day during my dear wife Karen’s family reunion, I started my day rising early for a short walk down our street to the public beach access and a sun rising over the Gulf of Mexico. It was quite easy to find where to enter from the busy road to the beach. Find the garbage…

A house big enough for the whole family reunion

My sister-in-law Lynne did some digging from Arkansas. She found a tri-plex a short stroll from the Gulf of Mexico that could fit everybody traveling to South Padre Island for the third edition of the every-other-year family reunion. The three separate apartments had plenty of bedrooms for every possible breakdown of sleeping arrangements. In our…

A tasty little brewery on South Padre Island

As we proved two years back in Kona and four years ago in Estes Park, we four definitely like to test the local brewery during my dear wife Karen’s family reunion. In fact, we walked down the block to the South Padre Island Brewing Company our first night in. The place was way smaller than…

Now that is a big surprise

In the last weeks leading up to my dear wife Karen’s every-other-year family reunion, niece Stormy kept teasing us all on the group Facebook page about a big surprise. When we all pulled into the tri-plex on a Monday, her mom Lynne said Stormy and Brad would arrive by car a few hours later for…

Everybody needs to pick a good place for lunch

With at least four hours of flat and open road in front of the adventurous four between our first stop of San Antonio and the Family Reunion proper on South Padre Island, my dear wife Karen and terrific daughter Elisabeth took a deep dive into their devices. A diversion to Corpus Christi would add just…