Beaches for days....

 Getting away from the hustle and bustle I call life was great for me. To be able to spend time on something as simple as finding shells that made me smile and picking up trash that made me sad about how people treat our world, was really good for me deep in my soul. All along the beach were bins with lids that said bags inside. We checked it out and grabbed the yellow bag in the picture and proceeded to pick up trash on every walk. Large sharp pieces of a broken bottle, small ziplock bags from drug deals, and way too many straws. We felt great to do something good for the world. I wish I could do that on the beach every morning after meditating. I do believe I will continue walking with a bag for trash any time I do walk around town, however. Living in the beach isn’t our future but we will take it as often as we can and continue caring for our world.

Days one and two....overcast along with the cold. Guess that’s our version of a season!  Regardless....excellent beach getaway.

Life's a Beach.....I wish

Our weekend in Corpus at North Beach in December means an entirely different kind of beach wardrobe.  Doesn't matter to me, though.  Just being on the beach and by the ocean is what is important.

I spent part of the morning sitting on the beach meditating.  On looking to my left, I found that I had company.  I haven't identified the type of birds that are here but definitely not the sea gulls with the yellow beak.  I believe these are some type of plover.  I had been all alone but think these guys showed up to hang out with me and see how close they could get.  They were probably five feet away.  They stayed until I decided to get up and then the picture I took of the entire flock flying away was beautiful (well, I thought so).

We spent hours walking the beach and collecting shells, looking at washed up jelly fish, sitting in chairs staring at the ocean, and just plain meditating.

To dream.....

Heaven defined: the roar of the ocean and your toes in the sand.

I tend to work, a lot.  I love what I do and it's hard to turn my mind off.  I'm great at telling my employees to take time off because your mental health days are important to stay fresh, motivated and emotionally healthy.  But me?  I'm the last to let work slip from my mind.  The older I get, the more determined I get to conquer this.  I talk a good talk sometimes, but.....

We discovered North Beach in Corpus Christi a few months back.  We have been to Port Aransas and North Padre for vacation often, along with the rest of the world.  Great locations, sure, but always expensive and lots of people.  I decided to try out Air BnB for our September vacation and it kept taking me to North Beach.  Fine.  We will try  it.  The prices were good and the promises of a nice beach were appealing.  I think we found our secret getaway as it's now December and we are back for our second visit.

North Beach Corpus Christi coastline on a rainy day.

We stay in an older condo complex that no doubt needs a LOT of work  The condos themselves on the inside vary.  We have been very fortunate to stay in two condos that are nice - the first was smack on the beach.  Jump off our balcony onto the sand on the beach.  The second still has a view of the ocean, but is as far as you can get from the beach in the complex, which really isn't bad at all.  It's much nicer than the first on the inside of the unit.  So.....excellent location and a complex that is needing and being worked on (oh....because of Hurricane Harvey a few years ago and some normal age repair).  Not shabby!

The "worst" view we've had in our escape condos.  Not shabby.

The best part?  The beach.  Clean, sand, shells.  People?  Not so much.  I constantly wonder why were are so fortunate to always be here when almost no one is around.  The locals are nuts for not using this beach and why more people haven't been here during our two visits I'll never know, but i will NEVER complain about that.  Even in December, we are completely enjoying our beach walks and sitting on the sand being mesmerized by the ocean.

For much of my life, I've lived near the water.  Elementary years were spent on the east coast near the Chesapeake Bay where we'd go get live crab to cook.  Newport News, Virginia Beach....memories of summer.  From age eleven through eighteen I spent an idyllic life in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. My mom insisted I get my lifesaving certification due to the amount of time I spent in the ocean body surfing, snorkeling and scuba diving (uncertified but shhhh!).  California in later life and now Texas.  Each time I wander away from the ocean I get involved in life and forget its magic.  When I'm back on the shoreline with my toes in the sand, I vow that I will never let that happen again.  We have made a commitment that we will be coming to the beach every three months minimum.  It helps to keep our souls in line, help maintain the connection to the call of the ocean, to find peace.

There definitely is something magical about the beach and ocean for me.  I find a true peace I've never felt elsewhere.  Weather doesn't matter.  Sitting with the rain spitting on me yesterday afternoon was breathtaking and emotional.  This morning as I type and listen to the waves, my heart is full and happy.  The music of the waves sings and makes me smile.  I don't want to leave.  Each visit makes me ponder giving up even more of the worldly possessions I have, which are not many, and doing everything I can to live on the beach.  Yes, in one of these tiny and somewhat rundown condos.  I've contemplated purchasing.  But for now, we will continue to visit and adore every moment here.  Will we end up on a beach or very close to some day?  No idea, I'd love to, but the cost isn't in our future I don't believe.  Is the desire enough to try and figure it out?  That is what we are dealing with now.  Until we figure it out - we will make the 2 hour drive often and pay for our weekend getaways.  That's a great compromise to our dreams at this point.

September is for Beaches

Third week in September. Time off. What do we do? Since we don’t have kids in school isn’t an issue, heading to the beach was a no brainer. We found a wonderful deal at a condo that was absolutely smack beach front property. Hop in the car Friday morning and we headed to Corpus Christi, North Beach, for a long weekend.

The weather forecast and said thunderstorms for our entire stay, so we were simply looking forward to some sunny patches in the weekend and would be very happy with that. As we set out on our travels beautiful blue sky with puffy white clouds was in front of us so we were quite excited. Upon arrival the weather was absolutely perfect and beautiful with no rain in sight. The weather forecast at this point had changed drastically, and there was no rain for the weekend.  We lucked out.

Arriving too early to check into the condo, we grabbed a quick lunch and went walking on the beach until it was time to check in.  We then checked in, grabbed our suits and hit the beach for real.

The ocean cleanses me and takes all that everyday stress away.  I relax like I can't anywhere else.  I spent the afternoon swimming in the ocean and laying on the beach....to the cost of a slight sunburn.  We need to do this more often.  The magic of Air B&B makes finding an affordable place to stay simple...here's our view!

The  view from our balcony.

The entire weekend ended up being beautiful.  We couldn't have asked for more.  At only a couple hours away, more weekends are in the future.  In my quest to enjoy life more and leave anxiety and stress behind, the beach always plays a big part.

Humphrey Pete's

Sunday night, not many offerings in the dinner line other than fast food chains. However, in the B&B's information book they recommended Humphrey Pete's and it's open Sunday nights. Guess where we headed?

Question....what the heck does "it's pig lickin' good" mean?  It's on that sign and was on the back of their tshirts. 

I got the 8 oz ribeye with a loaded baked potato and a Caesar salad. Poor Stacy had to listen to me moan in tastebud ecstasy for each bite. Truly one of the best meals I've had out in ages. Stacy had the salmon which he said was great as well. Smelled divine!  High recommendations on this one!

Star of Texas B&B

Love this place. The ambiance is right up my alley and exactly as portrayed by the website. 

Pretty cool welcome!  

Stacy at the door....

My kind of place!

Charming....

Our view from the porch. 

Front porch. Going to enjoy this tomorrow. 

And now, off to dinner...

A new adventure

Two years ago I met Stacy, sure never know what life holds. This morning we are setting out on a new adventure and I'm going to attemp to document along the way. 

We are headed to the little town of Brownwood, Texas. Just about three hours from out San Antonio home. Our first stop was at the Flagstop Cafe, a burger and way too many fries for me, breakfast for Stacy. Decent burger, surprisingly for a gas station restaurant. 

Back on the road to our destination, the Star of Texas B&B. 

Worth noting...when we filled up with gas today it was $1.76/gallon which is amazingly low. 

One last going to share that I don't think I have, my ring finger tattoo that I had done in September. Cute, huh?