I’ll take the shrimp and the shrimp at Dirty Al’s

Dirty Al’s advertised the best friend shrimp anywhere. The Syracuse four plus brother-in-law Scott decided to take them up on their offer. First I made an executive decision to order a pound of peel-an-eat to set in the middle of the table. And peel-and-eat we did for a moment before I remembered to take the…

Sunsets and fireworks match well

Yes, The Longboard would have a table big enough to fit our big party. No, we never tired of taking our meals together! Or catching a beautiful sunset over Laguna Madre. Or posing for cherished photographs. Or mugging for selfies. And catching fireworks rising over the stage.

I can see for miles and miles

The Port Isabel lighthouse is a pretty thing. I looked up and imagined it welcoming old ships to new things. I looked up again and readied myself for a climb. First exit was an open-air landing some dozen feet from the very top. I tried to find the handful of our crew who stayed below…

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…