PADRE TIME AGAIN !

Updated 4/12/99
A feeling of excitement and anticipation washed over me as we drove south on I59 heading for South Padre Island. Gail and I were ready for some time alone at one of our favorite vacation spots in Texas. We were at the beginning of a three day weekend of fun and relaxation. I always love the beginning of a vacation because all the fun is just starting. Traffic was a bit heavy on the outskirts of Houston, but nothing was going to dampen my spirits.

Just before leaving the city we noticed a huge store called a “Hyper Market.” We made a few silly comments about that name. First we had “Markets,” then came “Super Markets.” Now they have both been trumped by the “Hyper Market.” It reminded me of some grocery stores in Virginia. First came “Farm Fresh,” then came “Super Fresh.” A friend of mine there said he wanted to outdo both of them by opening a premier grocery store named “Fresh As Sh_t!” I think he was on the right track.

We stopped at Dairy Queen to eat dinner. We always end up at the same one when we make this trip. This is a bit surprising since there are approximately 1,725 Dairy Queen restaurants between Houston and South Padre Island. A man and his two children pulled up in what he referred to as a "trike." The trike was a half motorcycle, half volkwagen beetle. I had seen trikes before, but none where the back half of the vehicle remained totally intact. I agonized over whether or not I should bother the man, who was busy maintaining control over his two ice-cream-eating sons, for a photograph of them in front of the trike. My laziness and shyness won out in this case, so you won't get to see a photo of the unusual vehicle here.

We traveled in the dark for some time, talking, reminiscing about previous trips to South Padre and generally enjoying each others company. This trip takes about 7 hours and much of it is through monotonous roadways. "Honey," I said, "Does I37 run with I77 in the area around Corpus Christi?" Gail rustled with the map for a minute or two. "No, I37 does not even show up on our map." The highway turned into a road called "shoreline drive." I had missed a turn. I had diverted us to a shoreline community in Corpus Christi. I pulled into a gas station to do the most non-manly thing, ask for directions.

"Yer in Corpus Christi Dude!" The idiot customer was grinning broadly, proud of his razor sharp wit. I had just told the cashier behind the counter, "I'll buy this map from you if you will just show me where the heck I am." My statement left me wide open for the idiot customer's clever comment. He stayed behind in the store, after making his purchase, just to contribute his humor. I responded, calmly through gritted teeth, "I KNOW what city I am in but I am just not sure of which street." "Yeah, you're a lot of help," the cashier said in my defense. Then she and I went about looking at the map and discussing how best to get back to I77. The idiot held his smile plastered on his face while his eyes indicated he was not quite as proud of his wit anymore. I had not really looked at the cashier until we got to the point when I paid her for the map. I hope my sudden surprise did not show too much. She looked like a young Joan Cusak, but that is not what startled me. What startled me was the amount, and method of application of her eye makeup. Her heavily eyeliner-rimmed eyes were up staged by the thick cat-like eyelashes which extended well past the sides of her head. Sometimes you have to get off the common roadways to absorb the true culture of a city.

About 45 minutes of stressful driving through unfamiliar streets brought us back to I77 south. I think that getting lost on a long trip is one of the tests of the strength of a marriage. The number of clenched-teeth comments, and exasperated "I know, dear" statements are the primary indicators of marital strength. Based on these indicators, our marriage is pretty strong. Next time we will try it with two whining, hungry and tired children in the back seat. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing we were once again driving towards our destination. I fretted for the next 70 miles over how I could have missed the turn and added approximately 1 ˝ hours to our trip.

We crossed the bridge to South Padre Island to see groups of college students flowing through the streets. We thought we had missed the spring break crowd. We had not. This would change the tone of the weekend. It was going to be a little wilder, louder and more action-packed than we had anticipated. I was glad we had not missed spring break.

We fell into bed, exhausted from the long day and long drive. Our sleep was occasionally interrupted by bursts of laughter, whoops and howls coming from the celebrating spring breakers. It sure beat the sounds of a three year old crying or a five year old telling us that he had wet his bed. We slept until we were ready to get up, what luxury.

We awakened to overcast skies and occasional misting rain. I did not care, I was on vacation. I was having fun no matter what. We decided to have a cholesterol and fat-packed breakfast and do our souvenir shopping since the weather was less than perfect for "catching rays."

The sun broke through the clouds. We raced to put on our swim wear and hit the hotel pool. It was windy and too cool to lay on the beach. Several others had gathered around the pool area and were enjoying a few beverages and the occasional bursts of sunshine. I was relieved to overhear another group of guys discussing how they got lost and ended up in Corpus Christi. My ego was somewhat restored to hear that others got lost in the same spot. I later noticed that one of those same guys had a very difficult time figuring out how to use his room key.

We spent the whole day by the pool along with spring breakers, several girls from Chicago and a few guys on leave in the Army. We met a neat guy named Jeremy. Went spent a great part of the day talking with him. He has plans to move to Los Angeles when he leaves the Army. His interest is in acting. One of the things that impressed me about him is that not once did he mention money (as a reason for his interest in acting). He wanted to perform and have the ability to entertain people, he was passionate about it. He is one of the people who made an impression on me during this trip.

We sipped drinks, lounged in the hot tub, and talked with people from around the nation. This was the kind of vacation event that absolutely forced me to forget about all my responsibilities and simply enjoy the moment. It was some highly concentrated enjoyment. Meanwhile, our military forces bombed and conducted heavy airstrikes on Kosovo. I find that contrast startling.

We were exhausted from the rigors of an entire day of relaxation so we decided to stay in the room watching movies and eating fast food tacos and burritos.

A storm front blasted through the island at about 1:00 in the morning. The wind whipped lawn chairs and a table around the patio. The thunder rattled the windows and rain poured down like a waterfall. The power went out and all the girls partying in the hallways screamed. I laid in bed, half awake, wondering if I had rolled up the windows of my car.

By 11:00 the next morning the weather had cleared to reveal blue skies and a few light puffy clouds. We visited Parrot Eyes, a bay front bar, grill and watersports center. We had another day of awesome relaxation.

We went back to our room and decided to lounge in the patio area just outside our bedroom. The bedroom has a sliding glass door which opens to a patio area, which is backed up to a canal lined with boats and nice homes. We slapped on the suntan lotion, adjusted the lounge chairs and settled in for some near-comatose relaxation. The warm sun and cool breeze coaxed me into dozing off for awhile.

That evening we went out for an outstanding meal at Amberjacks, located on the bay side. We watched the sun set and enjoyed perfectly prepared seafood. We headed down the road to check out "Tequila Sunset," a waterside club we had visited last time. We showed up and the last two people left, leaving us and the bartender as the sole occupants. She quickly unlocked the bathrooms for us (she was about to close), brought us a couple drinks and then settled into an interesting conversation with us. Her name was Wendy, she lived in Austin. She had recently sold her part of a business and came down to South Padre Island to get away for awhile. She found a place to stay and took the job as bartender and seemed to just really be enjoying life. She was a delight to talk with. Gail and I stayed there talking for about an hour.

We had decided we would go dancing that night. After some deliberation and advice from our bartender friend we decided to visit the hottest new club on the strip "Tequila Frog's." We pulled into the "Frog's" parking lot to see quite a long waiting line at the door. It had been a long time since we had waited in line for anything, we typically have two kids with us and waiting is a non-option. We decided to stand in line with all the young single folks who took this kind of scenario for granted. We paid our cover charge and stepped in to the huge club to find that it was maybe half-full at best. That long line out front was totally artificial! The long line was nothing but a marketing ploy to make the club look "hot."

The club had a good layout, half inside half outside, like many along the bay on the island. It did become crowded after an hour or so. I decided to snap a few shots with my camera and test out the new Fuji 800 speed film. One thing that struck me as odd, nearly each time I raised my camera to my eye, a handful of people would cluster in front of me and pose. They had no idea where these photos would show up, or if they would ever get to see them, but they sure liked having their picture taken. Some of the group that we had met the previous day by the pool showed up at the club. We hung out with that group and danced the rest of the night, and some of the next morning. We had a good time but it became apparent that we just don't have the energy level of the college crowd anymore.
Our drive home the next day was long and tiring. That is the only part of a vacation that I don't enjoy. It is a sad time. The vacation time is used up, a long drive is ahead and work comes early the next morning. But without work you would never know when you were on vacation. My mind always drifts on the drive back home. Typically I think about ways of slowing my life down and making a living in a resort area. I gave some serious thought to opening my own beachside hotel. I figured I would name it "hotel." Then I thought, it would be better to call it "super-hotel," "hyper-hotel," or maybe "relaxing as sh_t!"

Here are a few more photos, click to see a large version.

Rental Car, Island Style	The Avenger, Aimed at So. Padre
Sunset from Amberjack's Deck	Surreal Sunset

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