Back in the 1980s and through the mid-90s, my grandparents owned a three bedroom condominium at what was originally the Hilton, then the Radisson, and now the Isla Grand Beach Resort on South Padre Island, Texas. During the time that they owned it, we made regular use of it, going down there for Thanksgiving almost every year. We would also plan at least one, and sometimes two, multi-week trips down there during summer break. South Padre is where I cultivated my love for saltwater fishing - especially bay flats fishing for speckled trout and redfish. ANyway, their condo was on the 7th floor of the building and faced the Gulf, but being on the northeast corner of the building, we also had a great view of the northern part of the island and parts of Laguna Madre bay. With that arrangement, we could see both sunrises and sunsets, and the view was great. We always had a great and relaxing time while we were down there.
The last time anyone on my side of the family visited SPI was about 1996, right before the grandparents decided to sell the condo. The entire family is still pretty pissed at them for doing that! But without the condo, staying down there can be a little on the spendy side, so we hadn't been down there in years.
This last summer towards the end of July, dad and I were sitting on the back porch talking, drinking beer and tending some steaks on the grill. Our conversation meandered until he said, "You know what I've had a craving for and what would taste really good? Some fried shrimp from La Jaiba!" La Jaiba (which means The Crab in Spanish) is a restaurant that's been on South Padre for years and years - they were in business when I first visited the island back in 1982 - and they've got absolutely THE BEST fried shrimp in the whole wide world. Just the mention of it makes my mouth start watering. Well, that one comment led us down the eventually inevitable path of having to plan a trip down there.
A few days later, I remembered the comment and started surfing the Internet for condo rentals on SPI. I knew some were available down there, I just didn't know what. So after searching for a day or so I found several likely candidates for places to stay. After discussing with mom and dad, we decided on a 15th floor condo at Saida Royale, which happens to be the building right next door to the Isla Grand. We were familiar with the building, the price was resonable for the rental, and it was a top-floor condo with stairs to a private roof terrace where you could see both the Gulf and the bay. After checking availability, we decided to take the trip at Thanksgiving for the entire Thanksgiving week (Nov. 22 - Nov. 29) and made the reservation and deposit. By the way, for those that might be interested, we booked the rental through Padre Island Rentals, and the 7-day rental ran us $1,245. We stayed in unit 9154 - here's a link to the actual property if you'd like to see it.
With the reservation booked, we decided to see if my brother and his family would join us. Due to the expense of travelling from Lubbock (along with other expenses), they declined to join us for the holiday. A few weeks later, I was on the phone with my friend Derek. He and his son James live in Wyoming, and I got to telling him about the Thanksgiving plans. On a whim, I asked him if he and James would like to join us down there for the week. He paused a sec, then said, "Man, that sounds awesome. Are you serious?" Obviously I was, but when I made the offer I had no idea he would accept. I was shocked a few days later when he shot me an e-mail and said they had plane reservations made. Derek and James both are huge outdoorsmen and are constantly hunting, fishing or otherwise running around outside up in Wyoming. Derek really enjoyed saltwater fishing when he lived in this area a few years back, and James had never experienced flats fishing, so it was a perfect way to get some of that in as well as a good escape from the grind (and the friggin' COLD of the Wyoming November). My folks happened to overhear me talking with Derek about it, and were both extremely excited to find out that they were really going to join us. We were prepared to just have the three of us down there for the week, but with Derek and James joining us we knew it would add a whole new and great dimension to the trip.
With the major travel plans in place, we began to plan our outdoor adventures while there. We talked about doing a combo hunt and fish trip, where we would duck hunt then go fishing all on the same trip. With the airlines imposing so many fees for excess baggage (not to mention the first bag), we decided the logistics of trying to get two sets of waders and two shotguns to Houston would be too much of a hassle. So I threw out the idea of doing a bay fishing trip and then doing an offshore trip. Derek had never done a private offshore charter (just party boats, which suck), and James had never been on big water before. Derek loved that idea, so we went with it.
With all the plans in place and reservations made, it was just time to sit back and wait for the week to get here.