Port Aransas 2008

As you know from my last post, Kimberly and I recently had a staycation. It was fine. But I have just returned from a vacation in Port Aransas, TX with my family and I can say with the utmost certainty that a vacation (even a modest one), trumps a staycation. Writing a full compare and contrast post would be cruel; it wasn’t even close.

We went with my mom and my step-dad, Bob, my brother Michael and his family: Vanessa, and their kids, Chase and Ashley. We stayed at the La Mirage condos, right off the beach. I have never stayed in the condos along the beach. I have always stayed in other hotels (or homes) and driven to the beach, or I have just gone on day trips. It was very cool. A two-minute walk down a boardwalk and we were at the beach.

This was good for me, since it turns out that I don’t like to go to the beach when my family does. They like to go out in the middle of the day, when the red flags go up and the skin cancer danger is highest. It also happens to be when the beach is most packed with people and the sun is straight up in the air, it’s hot, and photos look terrible. That’s just as well, since I couldn’t get my camera to work until the last evening (which is why I don’t have any family photos).

Instead, I like to go late in the afternoon when the shadows start to get long. It’s my favorite time of day anyway, but the beach empties out, it cools off, and sunglasses aren’t required. That’s also just as well, since I broke my shades halfway through the trip. Anyway, the afternoon light makes everything look pretty.

On our last afternoon, Michael and Vanessa went on a date night and Mom, Bob, and Kimberly watched the kids, while I went to the beach. It was nice to grab some alone time. I went and played around in the surf for awhile. I like to porpoise dive over the big breakers. I usually do alright at first, but eventually I get tired and the waves knock me around pretty good. It feels good.

What’s that sound?

Kimberly came down after awhile to get me. We went and got everyone some ice cream and then after the kids went to bed, Mom, Michael, Kimberly and I pulled out the dominoes and had a chicken foot rematch. As we had discovered the night before, I rule at chicken foot. Who knew?

Other highlights of the week included watching the Republican National Convention speeches (we are a family divided and let’s just leave it at that), having a very nice dinner at Marcel’s Restaurant for mom’s birthday (which is actually today), and watching cable, which is a novelty for Kimberly and me.

Maybe the best thing about the week was the weather. It was brilliant. It was really humid on the day we arrived and the day we left, but the rest of the week was clear and mild with low humidity. We didn’t see a drop of rain until the day we left. I can’t believe that we almost called-off the trip because we were worried about hurricane Gustav. He missed completely and Ike was still a week away. We hit the window perfectly.

Speaking of Ike, despite warnings of certain death, Rob has decided that he and Michelle are going to board-up the windows and lock themselves in their house with a box of wine. Fort Booth. I would applaud them for their courage, except that I’m not sure that they don’t do that every single weekend, anyway.

Ike? Is that you?

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