TO DO LIST

South Padre Island Texas

If you haven’t already figured it out here at this website, then let me cut to the chase: The Lower Laguna Madre, for all the physical abuse it deals out, is the best Texas Gulf Coast fishery ON the Texas Gulf Coast.

But it isn’t just the fly fishing and fishing that’s off the charts, it’s the things for your family members to do while you are here — doing what you want to do. I don’t ever factor this in when I say the Lower Laguna Madre is the best, because even if it were the primitive place it used to be – with absolutely nothing to do? South Padre and the Lower Laguna Madre would still be the best Texas Gulf Coast fishery.

The addition of so many entertainment and learning experiences in the last forty years is just the icing on this salty cake. Today, I am going to leave off the things I will, now that Fish Camp South is about to break, probably never get to explore. Things like horseback riding on the beach, parasailing, surfing (a pet passion of mine that I leave undone), snorkeling, go carts, food trucks, shopping, coffee shops aplenty, beach combing, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, Civil War battlefields, World-famous Gladys Porter Zoo, go cart tracks, SpaceX, the Sea Turtle Inc., dolphin watching … I will probably never be able to finish this list. 

I fully anticipated having another six months to explore all these things with you, but life and making an honest living gets in the way sometimes, doesn’t it. So you will have to make these discoveries mostly on your own. Besides, six months (the best six months of the fly fishing year) would never be enough.

– Go See the phone booth in Port Isabel Texas! –

However, I was able to see two places last week that are also worth a stop for your family, and if it’s windy? for you as well. Of course, when I have VIPs in town, I always want to tailor the sites to the person’s or group’s interests. Last week we were in a very natural state of mind.

We hunted sea beans on Boca Chica Beach, which also gave us a closeup perspective on SpaceX, the surge of space groupies around there, and an extraordinarily close look at the rocket still sitting on the pad today.

A Space Junkie’s dream come true – SpaceX Boca Chica Beach is where to send your future astronautical family! Check it out! And a launch day? Experience humanity – on Planet Earth – at a whole new crowd level! Then, go pick up some plastic trash on the beach to top it all off.

We shell hunted up north – parking on HWY 100 and walking across the sand to the shore – and found even more sea beans. There’s not much good documentation, but I believe that is not “National Seashore,” but is still the County Park beach of Andy Bowie Park. Feel free to correct that for accuracy!

And I finally had company in town, so we visited two places I had never been before – Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge and the South Texas EcoTourism Center. The EcoTourism Center was virtually empty on the weekday we were there, but just the vastness of the views was enough to make me think back … what were those first conquistadors and settlers thinking? Wide open nothing … nothing except the peculiar (head-flattening) Karankawa Indian who had a taste for the flesh of their human enemies. Interestingly, they were also a three-sex tribe.

And I finally had company in town, so we visited two places I had never been before – Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge and the South Texas EcoTourism Center. The EcoTourism Center was virtually empty on the weekday we were there, but just the vastness of the views was enough to make me think back … what were those first conquistadors and settlers thinking? Wide open nothing … nothing except the peculiar (head-flattening) Karankawa Indian who had a taste for the flesh of their human enemies. Interestingly, they were also a three-sex tribe.

As you see, there is plainly something for everyone to do here – within fifteen miles of the Island itself. If you broaden your circle, the options expand even more – fresh fruit and vegetables grown in the Rio Grande Valley, a fantastic brewery upriver in Mission, Texas – 5X5 Brewery, a Veteran Owned Business, more birdwatching than you could ever imagine, more parks and sights to see … Valley roads, at least some of them, seem to go on forever!

Have questions? Feel free to ask. Send me a text message, or e mail me today – while I am still here in the Borderlands!

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