South Padre Island, Texas

 From Oklahoma City, we traveled to South Padre Island TX. We love beaches on the Gulf and the Ocean, and we have seen a fair amount in Florida, so we wanted to try a new area and that is how we ended up on South Padre Island in Texas. It did not disappoint. We loved our time there. We rented another Air BnB, nothing new there. right on the beach. It was a cute one-bedroom condo with a balcony overlooking the gulf. There were also two pools on the property which was an added bonus. Again, we were within walking distance of many bars, restaurants, and shops. I have been so lucky with my choices for rentals, I am praying that luck does not run out anytime soon.

We found that South Padre had a perfect mix of quiet Gulfside living for the times we wanted to just kick back and relax around the condo and a very lively nightlife that we could enjoy by taking a short walk to the other side of the Island. There were always bars with live music so close to one another that you could often hear the other bands/singers from surrounding bars. 

The beach was beautiful, and we could walk for miles in either direction. It was flat and wide and was walkable for all abilities. We were there in mid-April and the beaches were not super crowded nor were the businesses. There were so many souvenir shops that all had ocean sounding names and looked pretty similar on the outside. They are located every few blocks along the main drag. Once inside they all sell the same things so do not bother going in more than one or two because you will see all the same picture frames, shirts, towels, glasses, etc.in all of them.

We really enjoyed the South Padre Brewing Company for their tasty craft beers and food. We also really had fun at Clayton's Beach Bar which as its name implies is right on the beach. The specialty drinks were so good and the people watching is top notch. So many swimming suits on so many different sized people.\

We took a drive to the North End of the Island. There was so much sand blowing across the road. It reminded us of snow here in the North. We even saw a few cars that had parked along the road and were now stuck in sand! We also stopped at the County Park on the North End and took a beach walk to explore that area.We drove across the bridge and visited a lighthouse over there. It appeared that there was a cute area of shops and eateries there near the lighthouse, but we did not check them out.

The weather in April was absolutely perfect beach weather. 80's, sunny each day and just a touch of wind. Not sure if that's the norm or if we just lucked out.

One side note. The bathroom situation enroute to South Padre was not good. We found dirty bathrooms at the welcome area, gas stations that did not allow use of bathrooms, and broken or closed ones more often than not. Now I don't want to put down Texas bathrooms or say that this is a common thing, maybe we just hit an off time but since we said we would cover bathrooms in this blog, we felt it needed to be mentioned.

And they drive fast in Texas, average speed limit was 85!

We left beautiful South Padre Island and took the short drive to our next destination which was San Antonio. The drive to South Padre from Wisconsin is a long one but with our stops along the way it wasn't all that bad, and it would not prevent us from a return trip. South Padre appeals to all ages. We feel it is a great place for Seniors, maybe an alternative to Florida for snowbirds.'

See you in San Antonio on the famous River Walk!