SPI or Bust!

Last week, work took me to South Padre Island for our trade industry's annual administrative conference. Now, I wouldn't say I did much working, but I thoroughly enjoyed the week day trip to the beach. I've made this trip almost every year for as long as I can remember and this year didn't disappoint.

The Beach

If you've never been to South Padre, it's the best beach and blue water you can find in Texas. I'm not knocking any of our other beaches, but SPI offers a nice beach with clear water, good sand and no seaweed. Now, if you've been to Destin or a Carribbean beach, you will definitely need to remember you're in Texas and remind yourself to not be a beach snob.

The Lodging

While there are plenty of places to stay on the Island, we chose to rent a condo at the Sapphire Towers, located on the South end of the island. For the past few years, I've used VRBO by HomeAway to find our rentals at the Sapphire. It's a great website to find vacation rentals all over the US and abroad, not to mention, it clearly provides the rates, dates available, pictures of the condos, and descriptions of what's included in the rental. Our condo was top notch offering beautiful views of the ocean, comfy beds, free WiFi and even NetFlix streaming. The Sapphire is connected with the Pearl Hotel (Formerly Sheraton SPI) next door which allows you access to the hotel pool, swim up bar, and Buddy's Beach rentals, offering beach umbrella/chair rentals, water sports, etc. We rented a couple umbrellas and posted up for a few days of sand and surf.

The Food

My favorite place, Dolphin Cove, closed a few years ago after Hurricane Dolly came through wreaking havoc with her high winds and rains. (Bitch!) I'm still sad that it's closed. This place was the best little dive bar & restaurant around...killer atmosphere ripe for chowing down on some killer boiled shrimp and fried shrimp tacos and knocking back a few cold cervezas.

With that being said, I do still have a few other favorites and "must eats" when I visit SPI.

-Da Pizza Joint: Tasty thin crust pizza and other Italian tasties! Try Da Pizza Special loaded with Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, olives and lots of cheese. If you like appetizers, the mozzarella sticks are solid and the fried zucchini is delish. On the weekends, the Joint offers a piano player rocking hits from the 50's to the 2000's...he's a little cheesy, but fun.

-Wanna Wanna: This bar sits beach side and offers wonderful atmosphere both day and night. The beers are cold and the food is fried. The kitchen slings solid fried fish, shrimp and oyster baskets, as well as a mean hamburger for you land lubbers. If you're over 21 (or have a good fake ID), check out the house specialty, the Turbo, a pina colada with a shot of Bacardi 151 on top. DELICIOUS!!! I love this place and can spend hours on the deck just drinking beer and hanging out.

-Dirty Al's: While it looks like a dive on the outside (and inside for that matter), it's delicious. You must try the fried fish, fried shrimp or blackened fish tacos! Throw on the magical wing like sauce on top and it's tasty seafood heaven. This local spot also offers a huge botana platter offering all types of fried goodies from the sea. Now there is usually a wait, but for me, the fish/shrimp tacos are totally worth it!

Now there are other places to eat and I'm sure people have their own favorites, but this is my blog and those are my favorites. :) If you have some suggestions for me, please feel free to share in the comments. I'm always up for trying new places and adding "must eats" to my list.

And finally I leave you with one of my shots of the sunset over Laguna Madre, the bay separating South Padre Island from the rest of Texas. Now you can sit at one of the many Bay side bars to watch the sunset, but on this night, I snagged this pic in the parking lot of the IBC Bank. The palm trees added a nice frame to the picture. As I watched the sun slowly sink into the bay, it was as if the sun was melting into the water. The big burning ball dissolved into the horizon and in a matter of moments it was gone. As a avid sunset lover, it was one of the most unique sundowns I've witnessed.

So as Tropical Storm Don brought in higher waves, big clouds, and a little rain, we started our road trip back home with another great beach trip under our belt. This trip a little different from the last, but still with the undertones of relaxation that can only be obtained from time spent with toes in the sand. As I drive north, I begin to think of where my final beach trip of the year will be to successfully complete my 2011 New Year's resolution of hitting a beach once a quarter. Destin, Key West, South Padre Island...what's next? As soon as I figure it out, I'll let you know.

Until then happy travels and many laughs...

2 for 1 Vacation: Florida Keys & Dry Tortugas (Part 2)

Last month, A turned the big 3-0! (Or XXX as we call it after A's more than proper Aunt innocently sent her a birthday card with XXX on the front of it.) Now while some of you won't get that, we loved the triple X connotation and while there were some adult only moments on the trip, those aren't meant for this blog. :)

The trip is two fold: Part 1 consisted of A, B and me heading to the Dry Tortugas for some serious deep sea fishing. Part 2 consisted of C joining us for a weekend of fun in the sun and some good times in Key West.

And now for Part 2...

We took the scenic route to the Key West airport passing by several places of interest that we would visit during our trip (Hemingway's House, Southernmost Point). As we rounded the island by the beach we saw a Italian Ice Cart. While it's just a fancy (and not to mention expensive) snow cone, it was a SUPER tasty treat after our days at sea. Plus it killed a little time before picking up C from the airport. The Key West airport as you can imagine is small, but it's really charming. We parked and the three of us all but skipped to the airport terminal to meet C. One of us likened it to picking up Grandma or a favorite relative from the airport...SO giddy to have all the Bitches together! Once we entered the terminal, guess what we saw??? A BAR!!! In order to kick off the weekend right, we each grabbed a beer and one for C too and waited. The people one by one strolled off the airplane and we looked and looked for C. Where is she? How far back on the plane did she have to sit? Come on!!! Hurry up!!! Get off the plane!!!! FINALLY, C hits the tarmac (not literally) and strolls into the terminal to be greeted by her three besties! Now I'm sure we didn't smell great, we did just get off the boat, but we didn't care, we hugged her anyway! We toasted to the fun weekend and headed off to the hotel to check in, clean up and start the weekend festivities.

Bags loaded and fishing stories rolling, we headed to Sunset Key Guest Cottages to check out our weekend digs. Sunset Key is a little island located a short ferry ride away from Key West and offers a wonderful experience in the island guest cottages. If you're interested in real estate, the island also offers residences for sale. I absolutely love Sunset Key and have been fortunate to stay here twice now. It's definitely on the pricey side, but it's worth every penny. After checking out the pool, beach and our cottage, we got prettified and headed back to Key West for dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. Yes, I realize this is a chain restaurant, but we were in paradise and definitely in need of a cheeseburger!!! A few drinks and a tasty dinner later, we strolled down Duval checking out bars for the next night's adventure. Our final stop for the night was at the Key Lime Pie Factory for the purchase of frozen chocolate dipped Key Lime pie slice for A's birthday. A & B love them some Key Lime pie and after this tasty treat, they were as happy as can be!

Saturday morning, we were up relatively early (in vacation terms that is) and decided to make this day our sightseeing & shopping day in Key West. After our quick breakfast of muffins and fruit (delivered to our cottage each morning), we headed back across to Key West and grabbed a cab to Hemingway's House. Now, admittedly, none of us really know a whole lot about Hemingway and hadn't read any of his works, but we felt this would be a nice cultural experience. It's a beautiful house, but it was HOT and humid as we walked through the house looking at Hemingway's stuff. We saw an original Guy
Harvey painting, lots of 6 toed Cats, and really enjoyed looking through the old place. While I think it's kind of odd to walk through famous people's houses, it is still interesting to see old stuff. Yes, I said it...old stuff. That's what it is. So after a lovely self guided tour, a couple pictures, and a look in the gift shop, we headed over to the Six Toed Cat Cafe for a lovely lunch. I highly recommend the Lobster BLT and the Fried Shrimp Sandwich. Both are delicious but pretty big, so if you're not SUPER hungry, I'd suggest splitting the sandwiches.

After our cultural stop, we headed to Duval Street for some shopping and occasional bar investigation. Duval Street is the most famous street in Key West and runs North and South from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. It is home to many famous restaurants and bars and is named for William Pope Duval, the first territorial governor of Florida. I liken it to a mix of Bourbon Street in New Orleans and 6th Street in Austin...little shopping, lots of eats and plenty of drinks. We hit up Key West Aloe for some body lotion and shower gel. They have delicious smells like Coconut, Lemon Eucalyptus, and Mango. We also stopped in Cocktails which had some seriously fun stuff, including the towel picture I've included. The towel pretty much sums up the attitude in Key West. This serious shopping called for a break, so we stopped in at Willie T's for a refreshing vodka soda and listened to some random dude play great hits from the 80's on his guitar. It's a great outdoor restaurant and bar, but I cannot attest to the food as we only had drinks. With a little more shopping, a stop in the Wyland Gallery to check out the art work, and a quick snack, we headed back to the hotel for a little break and get ready to celebrate A's Dirty Thirty on Duval.

Saturday night did not disappoint for A's birthday celebration! We started out later than we typically go out these days with us hitting Duval Street a little after 10 pm. Duval was buzzing with restaurant patrons and bar goers. We started out with a drink at Captain Tony's Saloon, the oldest bar in Key West. The bar is all that you'd want in a bar, dark, well used, smells like cigarettes and booze and a fun way to start off the night. After a drink there, we headed to The Bull Bar for some live music and a drink before heading upstairs to The Whistle Bar. This bar has a great balcony for people watching and we enjoyed a couple drinks watching the people pass. While waiting for B & C to use the Ladies room, A & I chatted with a few guys from a bachelor party and a few of them had just been upstairs to The Garden of Eden, a clothing optional bar on the top floor. A friend of mine told me about the bar a few years ago, and while we laughed about going upstairs earlier in the night, we decided it wasn't on the list of bars for the night. Until...the guys told us to just go, that it wasn't a big deal, so we went. (How easily we are persuaded!) Well, we were disappointed or not really. There were a bunch of clothed people doing what we were doing...checking it out. There was one very uncomfortable looking naked dude in the corner sitting on a chair and then in the far corner it looked like 2 people without tops on, but that was it. Oh well. We headed back downstairs and checked that one off the list. Next up was Angelina's Pizzeria for some sustenance. The pizza was good for 11:30 pm on Saturday night and the courtyard where we sat to eat had some amazing people watching. Our last spot for the evening was Sloppy Joe's Bar. The bar is one of the oldest in Key West and offers a fun atmosphere for all ages (well above the drinking age). We had a great time chatting with some nice Southern fellas, dancing (just don't stand on the chairs), and trying out the adult beverages. In case you didn't know, the bars in Key West stay open until 4 am...which I usually don't see unless I'm getting up at that hour...but that night, we closed down the bar.

Sunday proved to be much more low key and relaxing. We enjoyed Sunset Keys lovely beach for the afternoon. Now for those of you who haven't been to the Keys, let me tell you a little about the beaches. While the views are amazing, the water clear, the beaches are not sandy. They are made of coral and tend to be rocky. If you want to go in the water, you'll need really tough feet or a pair of water shoes. Sunset Key's beach is made of sand brought in from the Bahamas and makes for an enjoyable experience. Should you find yourself at Sunset Key beach, head to the far right large palapa structure for a semi-private, very quiet, relaxing spot. After several hours on the beach, we headed to the pool for a little swimming. The salt water lagoon style pool is perfect and large enough to share with other people.

Sunday evening, we walked over to Latitudes, Sunset Key's restaurant, for our final dinner and an amazing sunset viewing. (Mallory Square is also a great option to view the amazing Key West sunsets.) The restaurant is accessible to the non-cottage guests and reservations are needed to take the ferry to Sunset Key. While the menu is great and offers a variety, we took our Mahi (Friday's catch) with us to take advantage of the restaurant's Cook Your Catch option. The chef prepared our fish 3 ways: grilled, fried and blackened and served it with mashed potatoes and asparagus. It was AMAZING! I'm pretty sure the awesomeness of the meal had to do a little with where we were eating it and that we had caught it, but it was truly a delicious meal. During our dining experience, the sun slowly set. Now I've seen more than my fair share of sunsets, but the sunsets in Key West are breathtaking. It was amazing how the light changed, the clouds moved and my mind raced trying to remember it all. Our dinner was the perfect wrap up of a wonderful trip. The next day we would head back home, back to reality, back to our jobs, back to our regular routine, but for tonight, we watched the sun set, enjoyed our friendship and started dreaming of our next adventure.

Until then...Happy travels and many laughs!

2 for 1 Vacation: Florida Keys & Dry Tortugas (Part 1)

Last month, A turned the big 3-0! (Or XXX as we call it after A's more than proper Aunt innocently sent her a birthday card with XXX on the front of it.) Now while some of you won't get that, we loved the triple X connotation and while there were some adult only moments on the trip, those aren't meant for this blog. :)

The trip is two fold: Part 1 consisted of A, B and me heading to the Dry Tortugas for some serious deep sea fishing. Part 2 consisted of C joining us for a weekend of fun in the sun and some good times in Key West.

And now for Part 1...

A, B & I headed out early in the morning for our flight to Ft. Lauderdale. From there we grabbed the rental car and trekked to the Keys. I choose to fly Southwest anytime possible and flying into Ft. Lauderdale has been easy in my experience. The airport is simple and getting the rental car is a breeze. So after a mild detour, thanks to my taking the "Express Lane" (towards Miami) when I should have gone the other way (around Miami), we headed down Highway 1.

On B's recommendation, our first stop on our road trip was
Robbie's of Islamorada to feed the tarpon. The marina offers a host of activities, gift shopping, and a restaurant but the big draw is the Tarpon Feeding! For $1, you can enter the dock and see ALL of the tarpon swimming around and for $3 you can buy a bucket of bait fish. That $3 bucket was TOO much fun. One of the employees showed us how to feed the fish...lay on the farthest dock, stretch out your arm as far as possible down towards the water, and wait for the fish to jump up. It's kinda scary but tarpon are like big minnows and have no teeth. After the first one, I was hooked! It's a kick to see those big things jump up and take the fish from you.

Here are a couple of tips for a great experience:
-Robbie's can get busy, but our 5 pm arrival was perfect. There were a couple other people but we had the run of the dock. No waiting, fighting the crowds and the fish were hungry!
-Be careful where you lay on the dock to avoid pelican/sea gull poop. (First hand experience on this one!)
-Don't let the pelicans intimidate you and DO NOT feed them! Just shooo them away by running after them a little. They will bite...fair warning!
-Take off your sunglasses, empty your top pockets, put you camera wrist strap around your wrist, and secure anything loose. You don't want to lose it in the water!

After feeding the tarpon, it was time to feed ourselves! We jumped back in the Ford Edge and headed to The Island Fish Company Tiki Bar and Restaurant in Marathon. It has tasty food, great drinks and a beautiful view. Be sure to check out the conch fritters, Key West Pink shrimp, and various baked oysters and don't forget to tell Slash the Iguana hello.



With happy bellies and a setting sun, we continued our cruise to Key West. Excited about our upcoming 2 day deep sea fishing trip we made our way to our last stop, the Lethal Weapon, a 45 foot sport fisher docked in the Westin Marina. With our bags and selves loaded onto the boat, we put on our jammies and headed to bed. Captain Teddy Baier and First Mate Andrew would arrive at 1:30 am to start the 70 mile trek to the Dry Tortugas National Park. Fishing in the park is limited to a handful of permits and Captain Teddy owns permit #1. He's the man for Tortugas and any other deep sea fishing!

Our smooth ride to the Tortugas made for a wonderful sleep! The West current sped up our trip which had us fishing before 8 am. Captain Teddy is an amazing fisherman, but the water that day wasn't cooperating with his plan. It's funny to imagine, but the water was TOO clear for the drift fishing he wanted us to do that day. Why is that a problem? If the water is too clear, the fish can see the line and are much less likely to take the bait. We did catch a few fish including a whopper A caught. That strawberry grouper was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Captain Teddy moved on to Plan B to try for a little more success in our fishing day. We started trolling the waters in the park and hooked on to quite a few huge barracuda (great bait for our upcoming night fishing), a couple mackrel and several red grouper (our dinner). Once we caught our fill of both bait and dinner, we headed to Ft. Jefferson to walk around the historic site. The 19th century fort was never finished or fully armed and later served as a coaling station for warships. It's an amazing structure that can only be accessed by boat or plane.

After our tour of the Fort, we headed back to the boat for a delicious dinner prepared by our amazing captain. As he cooked dinner, Andrew prepared the lines for our fishing expedition in the anchorage. The anchorage outside the Fort is a popular spot for sailboats and other vessels and provides for amazing night fishing...and night fishing we did!!! Just as I fixed my plate, the first line started screaming. I dropped my plate on the table and grabbed the specially made fishing pole. The 3 poles Captain Teddy has for this type of fishing are specially made just for him and just for this type of fishing. Why is that needed? Well, in the anchorage, you're just that...anchored...and when you hook on to a big fish you cannot use the boat for assistance. It's just you and the pole. Stand up fishing. Talk about a workout! The only saving grace is the belt that the pole fits in around your waist. First up, we each caught nurse sharks, which put up a good fight and definitely prepared us for the fight we were about to encounter!

Up next...Tarpon and Goliath grouper!!!!!! First of all, let me explain about catching these fish. You cannot actually catch either fish, as in bring them in the boat and take them home, but you can "catch" them by getting the leader through the first eye of the pole. If you've never been deep sea fishing, let me explain a little about fish fighting. Dorado, Baracuda, Mackrel all put up great fights but nothing like the Tarpon or Goliath Grouper!! The Tarpon can breathe in and out of water which makes them extremely hard to catch, especially on stand up tackle. They do not like being caught and oh momma, do they fight! A hooked and caught a smaller tarpon while I fought (unsuccessfully) a Goliath Grouper and then the real catch began!!!! We hooked onto a HUMONGOUS 7 foot Tarpon and it gave us an amazing fight. For over an hour, A, B, Captain Teddy and I fought the Tarpon. It was exhilarating, tiring, amazing, awesome, and one of the most wonderful times of my life. We saw the fish jump and roll and I'm pretty sure at some point shoot us the fin. :) After our Tarpon adventure we hooked on to a 500 lb Goliath Grouper and man, it was all we could do to fight that fish. That night wore us out but overall we fought the fish and WON! (Not to mention we had no problem falling asleep that night...)

A's 30th birthday wish was to wake up in the Tortugas and she got her wish. Captain Teddy cooked up a killer breakfast before heading out for our day of trolling for Dolphin Fish (Mahi Mahi/Dorado), Bonito, Barracuda, Mackerel, and whatever else wanted to hook up on our lines. During our boat ride to the fishing area, we got to see pods of dolphins, Loggerhead and Green turtles (mating at that), and even saw a pair of Blue Marlin swimming past the current line. It was a great start to a wonderful day. While we didn't catch a ton of fish on our second day, we did catch some big 'uns! A & B hooked on to a Bull and Cow Dolphin at the same time. The fish jumped, fought and put on a good show. The water was quite a bit rougher which made for wobbly legs but great fishing.

As we wrapped up our final day of fishing, we chatted with Captain Teddy on the bridge and watched as Key West grew closer and closer. Team Texas Tarpon, as Captain Teddy named us, had an amazing 2 day fishing trip, caught some amazing fish and made even better memories. Then A made the best statement of all "Girls, this has been so much fun and it's just getting started!"

With that, we docked the boat, bid farewell to Captain Teddy and Awesome Andrew, and headed to the airport to pick up C. And with that, Part 2 begins in the next post.

Until then...happy travels and many laughs.