South Padre Island, TX (Dec 19 - Jan 3, 2012)

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So here we are in South Padre Island (SPI) and paradise. I had read about SPI for months and all they say is true. The island is 113 miles long and the longest sand island in the US...maybe the world. We are out in the Gulf of Mexico just west of Brownsville. You have to go across a 3 mile bridge to get from the mainland of S. TX to SPI. Our motel. for 15 days, is right in the middle (east to west) of the small city of SPI which is on the very southern tip of the island of SPI. From our motel, we can walk 5 minutes west and be at the Gulf and 5 minutes east and be at the Laguna Madre. The water is beautiful and warm. The weather is great. Most of the time the temp has been between 65 and 75 degrees. The breeze is always blowing 10-15 mph from the south. If it were not to blow, it would be uncomfortable and muggy. Twice while we were there, the wind changed to a north wind and it got cooler with a little rain. But after a couple of days of that, it would switch around to a south wind and things would warm up.

This is the "off-season" for SPI. Spring Break is when things really get moving here and the summer is high season. So most of the people I see around here now are "winter Texans", retired and happy to warm up here. Most are from the states and provinces above TX, like from around Minnesota on down. Summer is when Texans come down here to cool off and those of us from more northern states stay home. One thing for sure, SPI is totally for tourists.

I really enjoyed SPI. Each morning I got up and was on the beach for my morning walk and sunrise photos. I would walk anywhere from 4 - 7 miles each morning. Then come back and have my motel provided breakfast. Susie and I would then decide how we would spend the day. There are wonderful birding areas here too. I thought I had seen all the birding hotspots while at Brownsville and Pharr. But was I surprised for there is a wonderful birding center just about 3 miles from our motel. I/we spent many hours and days there. It always had some new thing to see and photograph. Sightseeing, walks on the beach, or just sitting back and reading a book was how we spent much of our time. Of course, Christmas and New Years were part of our time that we spent here.

This is about as close to Hawaiian living as we can drive to here on the mainland. We had a good time here and plan to revisit after we have seen the other places on our "bucket list".

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