The drive is very flat. When you consider that Alamo is only 98 feet above sea level, that doesn't leave very much room for hills on the way. Port Isabel's claim to fame is it's lighthouse.
I understand it's one of the oldest lighthouses in the U. S. So they fixed it up, and there it stands. They don't use it anymore, but it has a long history. The rest of Port Isabel is restaurants, crafty little shoppes, and tacky stuff.
But, it was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the high 80's, so we enjoyed it. That bridge you see to the right is the causeway. It's pretty high, but it has to be to allow ocean going ships to pass under it.
This is a better picture of the bridge. Once you get over the bridge you have water
and more water, sand
and more sand, and hotels/motels.
Actually, South Padre Island and area was hit by hurricane Dolly. Several of the hotels suffered extensive damage. One we saw had parts of the brick side blown out. The papers say there are approximately 4500 hotel rooms on the island but only 3200 will be useable this winter season. The island is about 25 miles long. The populated portion is on the south end, and there's a road that runs about halfway up the island. We drove up to the end of the road
to look around. It was kinda cool, huge dunes on the bay side of the road and stuff. They use those big round bales of hay ya see in farmer's fields as windbreaks to start dune formation. There's signs all up the road warning to take care because of sand drifts on the road. Once you get to the end of the road, the beach goes on for miles.
We coulda driven up the beach, but the cutouts from the road to the beach were really deep loose sand and even though we have a 4x4 we decided against it. We didn't need all that sand getting jammed up underneath the truck, and if you don't make it, they want $800.00 to pull you out. Anyhow, it was a good, fun day and we'll certainly be back to South Padre Island again while we're here.
1 comment:
Sounds like you're having some fun and seeing some neat stuff. The pics are good too. Saw on facebook that Kristi is leaving for Texas in 3 weeks. I'm assuming they'll be meeting up with you. Hope you have a great visit. So, how are things going in the States - are prices still lower than in Canada? Things have gone up in price here in Thailand. Don't know what to expect here over the next month though. Take care. Keep having fun!
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