by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Week before last the wife and I headed out to our yearly vacation. We started taking our yearly vacation in July to commemorate our Anniversary but we decided to change it to earlier in the year. July at the coast is way too hot and way too crowded. We moved out vacations to early May. This would serve a couple of purposes:
- Less traffic/people also on vacation.
- Cheaper rates at the place we stay.
- Cooler weather.
This year we went a little later than we normally do. My wife wanted to go the National Respiratory convention they had in Corpus Christi and it was in late May. We got there the week before the Memorial Day Weekend so we could at least avoid that.
We arrived at the condos we usually stay at: Executive Keys. We have been going there for four years now because its right on the beach and the price is good. This year was our last (I think). It’s time we tried something new. The room we got this time had tile only store and that really sucked when 90% of the time you come in with wet feet (either from the pool or the beach).
We started our trip the day before by staying at the in-laws house near Marble Falls. That’s almost half way there so it makes for a nice series of shorter trips. After the 2nd half of our trip we got into the condo and unloaded our stuff. We quickly made our way down to the beach and hung out for an hour or so. We got into the pool after that then went to eat. Eating seafood is one of the big things for me when heading down to the gulf. I love it. We went to Trout Street which is alright.
The next day we drove into Corpus and I dropped her off at the Omni hotel for the convention and I drive around Corpus and generally hung out (eating at Blackbeard’s down in the beach area). After I picked her up we drive around Corpus some more and made our way back the long way (via Padre Island) so we could stop by a couple of stores (2 Goodwills, HEB, and a toy/comic store). We ate at Castaways that night. It was OK. I have something to say about all our service in a bit…
The first half of the next day of the trip was spent on St. Jo’s Island. That’s a private island just off Port Aransas where you pay to get shipped over there (the only way to get there). I took my metal detector and the wife did a lot of reading. I think we were out there for probably five hours. We came back and ate at this Mexican place called Cancun Mexican. The food was really good and really cheap. The service… eh. We lounged around town hitting some souvenir shops then later that night went to Spaghetti and Seafood Works. The food was fine and the service… eh. The table next to us was a mess when the drunk patrons complained about the food they mostly finished off.
On the Friday we headed out a little late so we we wouldn’t hit the rush hour in Fort Worth. I drove us straight back and we only really stopped at Outback for dinner (in Burleson). We got home and everything was still in one piece and the cats were fine.
I wanted to talk about the service we received in Port Aransas. It was horrible! Every restaurant we went to had bad service. I am not being picky either. Me and my wife are VERY laid back and never complain but it was really REALLY bad. The big complaint was all the waiting we had to do. It was like everyone was out to neglect and forget us. Not only us but everyone else too. At Castaways a party that got seated before us eventually walked out because no one came to even get their drink orders. We waited for like twenty minutes before we were served. At Spaghetti and Seafood works the drunk party complained that the waiter (who I think was one of the owners) didn’t show up until they were completely done with their meal. The Mexican place never returned to our table after we were served our food and trout street was very slow too. I can understand if these places were busy but on the whole none of them were.
Other than the piss-poor service I still enjoy going there (as opposed to Corpus or Galveston) and I intend to go back again. This time I will just choose a different place to stay and different places to eat.