I ♥ Texas

The fam and I enjoyed some well-deserved R&R in South Texas last week. I'm not always happy with what comes out of Texas. It seems we're often the proving ground for bad policy. Despite that, I love this huge state of ours. My grandparents lived in Corpus Christi and until their deaths we made many treks between the Panhandle and the coast. This is the first time since I was in my early teens to make the journey as a whole and it held a fair amount of sentimental value for me.

No trip down south was complete without a stop at Opa's in Fredericksburg for some beef jerky. They're still there, after all these years. Drought and freezing weather decimated a lot of the hill country peach crops, but the fruit stands had shipped some in from east Texas. Not quite the same, but still tasty. Despite the many times we've passed through Fredericksburg this was the first time I've been to Enchanted Rock State Park. Enchanted Rock is just that, a huge, solid chunk of rock. The amazing views of the surrounding countryside make the climb to the top worth the effort.

I've been to South Padre once before, my last year of college, and let's just leave it at that. As an older and wiser adult I was glad to find the beaches there much cleaner and less crowded than what I remember before. There was, of course, plenty of Gulf shrimp consumed. Stop by B&A Seafood in Port Isabel if you are ever in the area. The smell of Old Bay in a steaming pot of water is one I have always found intoxicating.

We stopped in San Antonio on the way back. My wife and kids saw the Alamo for the first time and we took a trip to the zoo. When I was a kid the zoo had these cool machines that would mold wax figurines of the animals before your eyes. The Mold-a-ramas are still up and running and yes, I fed a dollar into one. I got an orange giraffe.



Enchanted Rock State Park, Fredericksburg, TX


Morning at South Padre Island


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