New Thing #82 - Everything is Bigger in Texas

So I just realized that I haven't blogged in a year. One year. One whole year. Dammit. I'm more than a little disappointed in myself, but life gets in the way sometimes, so what are ya gonna do? Not to mention it's been nearly two months since I went to Texas for the first time, and I'm just now getting to the blog about it. Looks like my new year's resolution to do more things has completely backfired. Well done, me.

But, back to Texas. Since I'm turning 35 soon, I wanted to take a trip with the same lovely ladies I spent my 30th with. But, instead of a crazy Vegas adventure, we wanted something a bit more tame and the complete opposite of Vegas. Our search was narrowed down to one thing: a beach. More specifically a beach with nothing else to do. All three of us, Meredith, Lisa and I, just wanted a few days of simple relaxation to ring in the back half of our 30s.

Since Lisa lives in California, the thought of flying to Florida seemed like a bit too much (AND I've been to Florida numerous times), so we all settled for the Texas side of the Gulf, namely Corpus Christi and North Padre Island. Before you ask, no, we did not go spring breaking, nor did I participate in any spring break shenanigans/wet t-shirt contests. As long as you don't count Mexican night. But, I'll get to that. North Padre is nothing like South Padre. In fact, it's a 3 hour drive from teeny bikinis and inebriated coeds. Just wanted to clear that up.

All three of us would be arriving from different places, but surprisingly our flights matched up pretty well. Meredith and I both flew in to Houston, where we shared the same second plane to Corpus. And Lisa arrived later that night.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. You know me, I like a good story.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

My flight left at the butt crack of dawn, and this time I had no one to drop me off at the airport. Getting up that early was brutal enough for me, I didn't want to add to anyone else's pain. And the more I realized it, this was the first time I've ever left my own car, by myself, at the airport for a trip. Any other time has been for work with a group (and paid for by the boss man), or a friend has dropped me off. Wow, I have amazing friends if I've never had to leave my car before.

Because of that tidbit, I wasn't really sure how early I needed to get to the airport. In my experience lately, early morning Southwest flights are jam packed with people. The security lines can be stupid long at 6am. To be on the safe side, I figured I would leave fairly early. Of course, I didn't anticipate my excitement, because I was wide awake at 2:45, and couldn't go back to sleep. I just went ahead and got ready and left my house at 3:30 for a 6:00am flight. Ridiculous, yes, but I wasn't getting any more sleep, so I might as well get there early.

Zero traffic that early in the morning helped me get to the parking lot in record time. I noticed a sign that said $7.95/day weekend special, so I was pretty pumped about that! I immediately found a spot, and by the time I was out of my car with my suitcase in tow, the shuttle pulled up right alongside me. I was anticipating a big wait, so this was pretty sweet. She even marked down my spot, so I could remember where I had parked at the end of the week.

(I realize this is nothing special, but I was pretty damn happy about how smoothly everything was going.)

We immediately left for the Southwest terminal and made it there in the blink of an eye. There was only one other person checking bags in front of me, so I sailed through that too. Only the security line awaited me, and I headed inside to see just how bad it was...

…only to find that security wasn't even open yet. Yep, I had managed to get to the airport so bloody early that TSA hadn't even arrived. I ended up being the THIRD person in line. I don't think that's ever happened in the history of life. Nor, do I think I've ever managed to get in to an airport and through to my gate that fast. So, basically, I was already to my flight at the time I had anticipated being picked up by my shuttle.

Figures.

Good thing I had a good book to read.

The flight to Houston was uneventful and mostly empty. I don't think I've ever had a flight with so few passengers before. Guess this is a vacation of many firsts. Apparently no one really wanted to see Houston that day. I had an hour or so to kill while I waited for Meredith's plane to arrive. We would be on the same flight to Corpus. I get pretty bored in airports, so I spent most of that time walking back and forth or people watching. It always amazes me what some people choose to wear on a plane.

Meredith arrived without incident and we left a short time later for the last leg of our journey. It was a ridiculously short flight, and all I had on me was some trail mix and a few granola bars. I sailed through two granola bars by the time we landed, figuring we could stop for lunch after we picked up our luggage. No luck there, since the CC airport is so tiny we had a 30 second walk from our gate to baggage claim with zero restaurants in between. Luckily our car rental desk was right across from baggage claim, so we had a relatively easy time picking up our car.

But that's when the hunger pains started. If you've ever met me, or been forced to hang out with me when I'm hungry, you know that I eat all the time. Pretty much throughout the entire day, you can find me eating. Granted, I usually eat small snacks that are pretty healthy, but I'm eating nonetheless. I've found that my body craves constant fulfillment, and I function better when I stick to this rule. And trust me, it's better for everyone around, if I stick to this rule. At this point, I had had very little to eat since 3am, and even fewer things that would fill me up.

Usually I just start to get hangry (hungry/angry), but this time I was having sharp stabbing pains to my stomach that were a bit unsettling. I told Meredith that we needed to find a restaurant pronto, and our rental guide assured us there were restaurants a short distance from the airport. I tend to want to eat only local when I go on vacations (not chains), but due to the overwhelming urge to rip my stomach out, we quickly stopped at a Buffalo Wild Wings where I not-so-patiently ordered and waited for my food.

Can I just say that I do not wish for that experience ever again in my lifetime? E-VER! Meredith seemed pretty concerned with me, because I couldn't sit still, and I was breathing like I was going through labor. I'm sure the waitress and anyone walking by thought I was about to pass out. Meredith even thought about taking me to a hospital, but I assured her I just needed food. I've never eaten a chicken wrap and fries as fast as I did that day. It's amazing I even took the time to chew it. It took another 20-30 minutes before my stomach started to settle down (so I could finish my beer), but eventually all was right with the world, and we were able to enjoy our vacation.

But, seriously, that was absolutely horrific, and I do not want to ever go through that again. Which is why I'm currently eating an apple while I type this. And I'll be headed to dinner in about an hour. Don't judge me.

Meredith drove the rest of the way to our condo which was only about 20 or so minutes from the airport. It was easy to find and was in a complex a block from the beach and away from the hubbub of the city. In other words, it was perfect for us.

Our condo!

The awesome pool that was too damn cold to get into.

The hot tub. We did partake in this. Hell yes we did.

The little eat in kitchen which we only used as a place for our towels to dry.

Cute kitchen. This came in so handy so we could save money on making our own food instead of eating out for every meal.

Front door/living room.

Living room. The couch folded out into a bed, but Lisa just chose to sleep on it as is since it was so huge.

Doors leading out to the little porch/patio area.

Bedroom with king size bed.

Walk in closet door and bathroom door.

So proud of ourselves. We never turned the TV on.

After a quick look around, we decided to see just how far away the beach was (we couldn't see it from our condo because of the sand dunes). It was a mostly easy walk, despite the uneven path and the damn thistles on the sidewalk. It was hella windy though, and I had forgotten just how windy it is at the beach.

It's amazing how calming the ocean can be when everything else in the world is hectic as hell.

I've never been on a beach that people can drive on. And I'm used to beaches full of people. This was a nice deviation from that.

We didn't stay on the beach for very long, mainly just long enough to get some quick sun and look around before we headed back to the condo. But, it was long enough for me to get a wonky burn around my v-neck t-shirt. Stupid me didn't even think about applying sunscreen before we WALKED TO THE BEACH. Ugh, so stupid. And I had been so good at bringing some with me to make sure I didn't get burnt.

Since we had a few hours to kill before Lisa arrived, we headed back to the pool to start our vacation off right. And it was magical. There's something so peaceful about lying outside with nothing but the wind and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore to make everything right with the world again. (I did manage to put lots of sunscreen on before hitting up the pool, but by then the damage was done.)

I'm really missing this view right now.

This guy kept hanging out on our patio, totally freaking me out every time he'd fly up. He didn't seem too bright though, because he spent a solid 5 minutes trying to serenade his reflection in a hub cap.

Oh God, he's looking directly at me.

After we picked Lisa up later in the evening, we had dinner at Cheddar's (it was close to the airport, and we were all hungry!), and then headed to H.E.B. for groceries. We planned on making our breakfasts and lunches, and going out for dinners. Fun fact, H.E.B. stands for Howard Edward Butt, the first owner of the grocery store chain, and the current CEO's name is Chuck Butt. Go ahead and giggle. I did, and I'm not even sorry.

Instead of taking photos of my food (which was nothing to write home about), I opted to take pics of my drinks of choice. This time, it was a Painkiller. Made with Pusser's Rum, cream of coconut, pineapple juice and orange juice with a toasted coconut rim, this thing sure packed a wallop. So much so that the menu states that no more than 2 are allowed per guest. Damn. But it sure was delicious! 

After our trip to H.E.B, we proceeded to try to get the groceries in the back of our Volkswagen Golf. And we couldn't figure out how to open the hatch. I've never had a VW before, and for the life of me, I couldn't see any way to get the dang thing open. Nor could Meredith or Lisa. So, we just threw everything in the back through the back seat and hoped for the best. On the way back to our condo, Meredith read the manual and realized that the release is actually part of the VW logo on the back.

Because of course it is. I wonder just how stupid we looked banging on the door while we were in the parking lot.

Tuesday, August 9, 2014

The beauty of a vacation with nothing to do is that you can sleep in knowing you're not going to miss anything. I was still in my same time zone, so I was on the same schedule I normally am. Awake at the crack of dawn. But, at least I was fairly able to get back to sleep with little difficulty. Lisa, on the other hand, is two hours behind me, and three behind Meredith, so she got the short end of the stick all week.

After a lazy morning, we decided to drive around for a bit and see what the island had to offer and maybe do some shopping. A few people mentioned going to Port Aransas, a short drive up the coast, for shopping, and a ferry boat ride was apparently mandatory. I'm not sure what these people were thinking, but we only found a handful of places to shop, and they were all the big tourist stores with every trinket and trash under the sun. We were kind of hoping for something a bit more eclectic and decidedly local. We were wrong. Or at least we were looking in the wrong places.

So, instead, we thought we would take the ferry boat (none of us have ever been on one) to the other side, and then back across. We had no idea what to expect, so I drove us up to the entrance, which had 3 or 4 lines of cars all waiting to board. The ferry patrol (that sounds funny), waved a few cars from each row onto the boat where we were jam packed one right next to the other. Per the ferry instructions, we shut off our engine, and awaited this glorious experience everyone was talking about.

Due to our current position (aka a big ass truck in front of us), we couldn't really see across the channel, so we had no idea how long it would take to get to the other side. No one was getting out of their cars either, so we didn't think that was allowed. A few minutes later and we were under way and then a few minutes after that we docked. Really, that was it? This was supposed to be a must see attraction? That channel was so short, I'm not sure why they didn't just build a bridge across it. Surely that would be cheaper in the long run instead of paying the ferry patrol (hee hee). Not to mention the gas in each ferry. And the maintenance. Yadda yadda yadda

Wedged in here pretty well.

Can't really see the sides either.

Yay for ferry boating!

Watching another ferry boat pass us.

Our maiden voyage on the Arnold W. Oliver.

Zooming in to see yet another barge.

Coming to the other side.

Waiting for them to release the gate at the front.

This guy tried to befriend us on the ride back over.

And by befriend us, I mean he tried to steal my soul.

Our ferry back across was a bit bigger than the first one.

We were at the very back, so they put blocks under the tires to make sure we didn't go rolling out into the channel if the back gate were to fail. Well, that makes me feel safer.

Needless to say that was the biggest letdown since Microsoft Vista. Once we got to the other side, we thought we'd explore a bit more, but there was nothing there except a place to fish, so we turned around and went right back over the channel. I timed it this time. Three whole minutes from start to finish. I guess it's a good thing it wasn't any longer, because Lisa was about to tinkle all over the Golf, and one of the ferry patrolman was doing his best to make conversation. He did inform us we could get out though. But, hell, by the time we all got out, we'd have to get right back in our cars to drive off. Definitely not the exciting ferry ride we were all expecting.

After a quick potty break, we headed back to our condo to enjoy the warm day (it's still fairly chilly in the mornings in early April!) and alternated between the beach and the pool. I know, rough life, right?

Beach bunnies.

Hotties!

Enjoying the gorgeous weather!

Later that evening, we headed to dinner at La Palma, a local Mexican restaurant a few blocks away. Since we were that close to Mexico, we knew we would have to get Mexican at some point on our trip. Some delicious quesadillas were paired nicely with a few margaritas. And clearly we are not the drinkers we were ten years ago, because after two margaritas apiece, we were a giggly joyous mess. (In our defense, there was a whole lot of tequila and not a lot of anything else going on in those margaritas.) Because of this, and the hair/sugar taco fiasco, a group of people at the next table asked us if we were on spring break.

Sure, yeah, we'll go with that. Spring break, right.

And this is one of the reasons I love these girls. We can be utterly ridiculous with each other, and have the best time. It's been a stressful year so far, so being able to cut loose and not worry about anything was complete heaven.

The strawberry margaritas at La Palma are hazardous to your sobriety. But oh so delicious.

And you know what else was complete heaven? The hot tub in our condo complex. Yep, that's right. Let's cap off a super relaxing day with a soak in the hot tub. Genius. Except for the fact that it wasn't a whirlpool hot tub. Well, most of the jets weren't working anyways. But, it was still pretty damn nice.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Another late start to the morning (but this time we each worked out in the fitness room first), followed by another scenic drive down the coast, this time driving on the beach. (Count that as something I've never done before. And also, it's not all that exciting.) We stopped at Bob Hall Pier to take a walk out over the water, but there was a fee, and we were all too cheap to want to pay to walk down a damn pier. Instead, we took a stroll along the shoreline, with Lisa hunting for seashells for her son, and me taking pictures of dead jellyfish.

Yeah, you read that right. Dead jellyfish. No, I'm not some weirdo who takes pictures of dead things, but there was something hauntingly beautiful about them. They were very small and looked like little balloons, but the sun made their skin (?) shimmer, and I found something strangely serene about the whole thing. So, I became oddly obsessed with taking photos of just about every one that I passed. I finally had to stop because people were looking at me like a freak. Or maybe I was just starting to feel like a freak.

Sorry Bob, not today.

Bob Hall Pier

More Bob Hall Pier

Panorama Pier

Um, it's a bit windy out today.

This is not nearly all of the photos I took, but I had to cut it down.

This one looks a bit phallic.

I think this picture is my favorite.

We saw a few brave surfers trying out the waves (it was sure windy enough), but I didn't see a whole lot of surfing going on. They had more cojones that I did, since the water was stupid cold, and judging by the amount of dead jellyfish in the sand, I'm pretty sure there were lots more live ones in the water. No thank you. I didn't really want to have one of the girls pee on a jellyfish sting. And I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have wanted to either.

First surfer I saw.

Let's just say I didn't see a lot of "surfing" going on.

We drove a bit further south and ran into a Nature Preserve that also cost money to visit. Since we weren't feeling very nature-y, we turned around and headed back to the beach. Which lasted about 10 minutes. It was so windy, I was doused in sand each time I tried to roll over. I guess that's why they call it White Cap beach. Instead, we went to the pool for some sun sans sand, and ended up with 3+ hours of sunbathing time. It was glorious.

Dinner ended up being at The Boathouse, which again, was really close to our condo, and also right on the water. Had we gone fishing, they would have cooked our catch of the day for us. I guess they can't make anything from the body of a dead jelly. My diet went completely out the window when I ordered the chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes smothered in decadent gravy. Good thing I worked out today. My drink of choice was a blue moon, and another fabulous dinner with good friends rounded out our evening. Well, not before another quick dip in the hot tub!

Mmmm. Blue Moon. One of my favorite beers!

We were a bit concerned with the sign, but fortunately, we avoided any spring breakers this time around.

This place was huge with a few levels, and lots of room for shenanigans.

Our condo complex in the distance.

Great view with dinner.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Ugh, our last day of paradise. We meant to make the most of it though, starting off with another work out in the gym, followed by a little shopping in North Padre. We ended up acting quite the tourists and headed to the massive souvenir shops to get a few tidbits for home.

Sadly, I did not buy these. I totally should have though.

This souvenir shop had a shark at the entrance. Naturally.

Goofballs. Always.

We started the afternoon at the beach, but it filled up pretty quickly, so we headed back to the pool for one final day of sun. I'm assuming the crowd had a lot to do with being a Friday afternoon. But, we made the most of our afternoon at the pool, soaking up as much Vitamin D as we could muster. I was determined to have some kind of tan line when I returned home to the last remnants of our cold Midwestern winter. Our final dinner was at Island Italian, a few doors down from the Mexican restaurant we went to earlier in the week. Our waitress's name was Heather and we had a lovely gentleman serenading us with some tunes, so it was destined to be a good night.

I don't think she was too excited for this selfie.

Love this girl so much.

A little Lambrusco to go with my baked ravioli, and we were in a seriously good mood. I'm not sure why since we were leaving the next day, but all the wine may have been to blame for the giggles.

They gave me a little baby bottle of it. How adorable! I may or may not have had more than one of these bottles...

Last night out!

Lovely ladies!

Getting silly.

Our "mean" faces. Lisa didn't get the memo. Some random lady walked by when we were reviewing this picture, stuck her grubby fingernail on my phone and pointed at me and said, "what's wrong with that one?" 

Sign in our restaurant: "Life is too short to dance with ugly women." You stay classy, North Padre.

Random side note: Our condo came refurnished with towels, linens, etc., as well as toilet paper, Kleenex and sunscreen (which was called Supergoop, by the way). We never assumed we would need to get any of our own since there looked like enough in the cabinets, including the toilet paper. Well, we underestimated three girls staying there for a week, and started to run out the last day we were there. Me, being the thrifty gal that I am didn't really want to pay for more tp when we thought it would be stocked. Apparently, I can't part with $5 for a four pack. So, during dinner, the three of us started talking about how we really only needed a half a roll or so to make it through the night and into the morning. We tried to borrow some from the condo clubhouse, but there wasn't any extras lying around. So, instead we found the jackpot in the restaurant bathroom. Long story short, Meredith may or may not have smuggled a roll of tp out in her sweater when we left Island Italian. Don't worry, I made sure the tip would cover it! But, hell, you would think we were trying to smuggle diamonds out of Africa with the "stealthy" way we were trying to do it. A few bottles of wine made us think we were Pierce Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair.

We worked hard for this tp.

This might be one of my favorite pictures of Meredith. :)

One more stop before we headed back home, and that was to fill up our rental car. Somehow during the night we started talking about doing a gas dance…I assume that's similar to a rain dance? Anyways, this is Lisa's rendition of a gas dance. It was quite the sight to behold.

If you pump it, the gas will come. Wait…..

The next morning, we were up bright and early (5:00am) to finish packing and head back to the airport. We dropped off our rental car, and headed inside to check our bags and pick up our boarding passes. Only to be greeted by 100 or so teenagers and their chaperones about to embark on some kind of field trip. If you know me, you know I don't like stranger teens, so my hackles started to rise at the sight. It didn't help that the self-service kiosks were down and not one single employee was standing behind the Southwest counter. A few minutes later and they had someone working, but the line in front of us was daunting. Luckily, those of us who weren't part of the field trip got to use another line, and we were quickly on our way to security.

The three of us would be sharing a flight to Houston, where Meredith and Lisa would go their separate ways, and I would be staying on the plane headed straight for Dallas. My connecting flight back to St. Louis would be from there. I wished I had snapped a picture of our flight attendant, because he's what your mother warns you about when you go out into the world. A sauve, slightly greasy man with a bit of an accent, and his shirt half un-buttoned. There's a small chance he was drunk, but more than likely he was just a bit nutty. At least he was entertaining though, and kept us laughing during our 50 minute flight. (And, because Lisa signed up for early check-in, she was on the plane pretty early, so we got to sit in the third row. After the passengers in Houston got off, the rest of us were able to move seats, and I made my way to the first row. I've never sat in the front row of a Southwest flight before in my life. It was really nice not having to wait for the entire plane to deboard before I could get off! I ended up in the second row on my flight back to St. Louis too.)

The three amigos headed back home.

Our 35th bday adventure had finally come to a close, and I'm so happy I spent it with these lovely ladies. While we did little exploring/adventure seeking on this trip, it was absolutely what each one of us needed, and I don't regret one minute of the time I spent lying on the beach/poolside. It was totally worth it!