Road Trip 2008: Day 10 of 17 (Corpus Christi\South Padre Island)

Packing up on Mustang Island

Lunch at Snoopy's in Corpus Christi

Adam and his Herbie car

USS Lexington

Corpus Christi waterfront

Sunset on South Padre Island

Sunday June 1

After the refreshing sponge bath at Mustang Island State Park we headed towards Corpus Christi. We stopped at the Port Aransas vistor center where we were helped by a couple of really nice ladies. It's so nice when you "click" with a customer service person and there's a back and forth rapport. We told them that we were going to tour Corpus Christi before heading to South Padre Island. They gave us some great suggestions and told us that we would be able to cross over into Mexico without passports. They suggested to cross at a little town called, Progresso.

The visitor center ladies suggested a place called Snoopy's for lunch. It was a dive on the water. We were a little early for lunch so the place was almost empty. We were surprised to order at the counter and even more surprised that they didn't take credit cards. We scrambled to get just enough cash to pay. The restaurant opened onto the water, which made for a great atmosphere. It wasn't long before the customers came streaming in and the place was packed. Lucky we arrived when we did. It's mainly fried seafood, which isn't really our thing, but we thought it was terrific! All the seafood - fish, crab, shrimp, and oysters were big and fresh.

After Snoopy's we crossed the bridge to the mainland and Corpus Christi. Our van would have been dirty enough just from our normal travels, but after driving onto the beach at Mustang Island, we thought the van really needed a wash. We found a wash pretty quickly, but it was temporarily closed due to an electrical problem. We figured we would come across another wash soon, but when we didn't we got off our planned route and had to ask around. We eventually found one of the do it yourself places and got the van all nice and clean.

We went to the waterfront in Corpus Christi where the USS Lexington Museum and Texas State Aquarium are located. The area seems to be the major tourist area for Corpus Christi. There are a lot of restaurants and shops and the area is very pedestrian friendly. They also have a popular "water taxi" that takes you to the various attractions along the waterfront. We didn't actually tour the Lexington or the aquarium, although we walked in and around both and got a feel for the attractions. The aquarium looked really nice and we probably should have toured it, but we were in the habit of skipping the usual museums\aquariums. The Lexington was different from the other ships we had seen in that it was an aircraft carrier. It was huge.

There was a "wave breaker" rock pier that extended into the bay alongside the ship. We walked to the end of the pier and got great views of the water, the ship, and the Corpus Christi waterfront and suspension bridge.

We stopped and had some ice cream at a cute little shop where there just happened to be a vintage car show. Adam was excited to see the special "Herbie" car. He's always loved Volkswagen Beetles and points them out whenever he sees one.

We headed south for South Padre Island. On the way, we stopped by the King Ranch, the largest ranch in the United States at 825,000 acres. As usual, we were too late and the Visitor Center was closed.

The highway travels through the King Ranch for a long way. We drove for over an hour without seeing a town or an exit. It was definitely the most desolate feeling we had on our trip. We actually had expected more of those kind of stretches during our trip and were surprised at the general availability of services.

We reached South Padre Island at sunset and pulled over along the beach to watch the sun dip below the horizon. We drove around South Padre some before looking for a hotel room. We saw a really nice Radisson, but they wanted over $200 a night. We ended up at the La Quinta for $79. We had an ocean view room, the pool was nice and overlooked the beach, and a free breakfast. You can't beat that.

Supposedly, South Padre is a huge Spring Break destination for high school and college kids. MTV Spring Break has been there. We found the place to be just that - a Spring Break destination more than a nice family resort island. However, the beaches were beautiful, although different from the usual powdery Florida beaches that we're used to. The sand was a mocha brown color and much more packed - almost muddy but not and very pleasant to walk on. The water was nice and a very pleasing shade of blue against the mocha brown sand.