The week in between Christmas and New Year's Ryan had off, so we wanted to do some kind of mini road trip. Preferably somewhere warm since there was a cold front that had hit. We thought, let's go South, it's got to be really warm down there. It was at the beginning of the week when we planned it, but by the time we got there the cold weather was hanging out in the South of Texas too. So then we decided to make it more of a research trip for when we want to go to the beach in the summer, we will already know what a few of the towns are like. We drove to South Padre Island first and drove up North to the tip to check out the sand dunes, but man it was cold, so Ben and I stayed in the car. The town of South Padre Island is filled with cute little beach houses and souvenir shops, but we hear it's a Spring Break party town, so I think it would be fun to come here on the off months when the weather is better.
Jaws Souvenir Shop
We then headed further South, almost down to the border of the US and Mexico, to a beach called Boca Chica State Beach. We learned that around that area, the last battle of the Civil War was fought. The bummer was that the war had been over for three months, but they had not received word.
Some of the beaches in Texas you can drive straight on to the sand. Ryan loved this and was like a kid again driving in the waves. We parked and let the kids play in the cold water and collect shells. It was nice just to be at a beach again. I will say though, the closer you got to the land, the more buggier it became, which makes me worried for a Summer excursion there if it was already buggy in December.
After the beach we headed to San Benito to check out the Freddy Fender museum in San Benito. Mom did not take any pictures on this part of the journey. But it was a small museum and if you are into Tejano music like Ryan, you will love it.
The next day, we got on the road because it is a 6 hour journey back home. We headed by way of Corpus Christi, cuz if we are doing beach research, we might as well do more beach research.
Corpus Christi, we discovered, is home to the Texas Surfing Museum and Selena's hometown and where she met her untimely death.
The next day, we got on the road because it is a 6 hour journey back home. We headed by way of Corpus Christi, cuz if we are doing beach research, we might as well do more beach research.
Corpus Christi, we discovered, is home to the Texas Surfing Museum and Selena's hometown and where she met her untimely death.
Trying to get Benny to stand by this Benjamin board was no easy task.
Getting some history in at the Selena memorial.
The guy in the yellow jacket watches over the memorial so no one defaces it. He told us how he was neighbors with Selena (a couple blocks away) and even showed us pictures of him with J-Lo, he was an extra/bodyguard in the Selena movie. It was very interesting and I had to Google Selena on the drive home to learn more.
It was a really quick trip but it was fun to go check out South Texas. We will be back.
