What Do South Padre Island and Birch Bay Have in Common?

[Pat Anderson]

Not hurricanes, that's for sure!

Probably not fried clam dinners, but Jim will have to confirm that.

OK, the answer:

South Padre Island, TX, and Birch Bay, WA, are both featured in the August 2008 Better Homes and Gardens magazine article "Housing Hot Spots: What's the Best Place to Buy a Second Home?"

We could not agree more about Birch Bay, will defer judgment on South Padre Island for a few years until we can visit Jim and Joan, assuming they have not bailed before we can get there!

 

[JamesTXSD]

Well, it's all perspective. Our local housing prices have tripled in the past few years... and like most places, that's cooled recently. So, we think it's a great place to have bought/built a second home. If you like great beaches, the Gulf of Mexico (deep sea fishing, beautiful blue water) on one side and the Laguna Madre (shallow bay, good fishing, great windsurfing), warm water, a sub-tropical climate, a diverse culture, history going back centuries, great boating, a laid-back lifestyle (no tie zone)... then, yeah, we think it's a pretty neat place.

Yes, Pat, you can get fried clams. It's also the shrimping capital of the United States. You know I'm not a big fish-eater, but the restaurants there all offer fresh seafood. At some, you can bring in your catch and they'll cook it and serve it to you with a couple nice side dishes.

Our reason for building there was the great protection and wonderful access of the canal just steps from our door... the ICW, ship channel, Gulf, and Laguna - lots of great water to play in and on.

Hmmm... maybe a little house in each place would be an interesting idea? Cool summers up your way, warmish winter down ours. 8)

Best wishes,
Jim

 

[DaveS]

Cool summers up your way,
Best wishes,
Jim

Jim, don't forget we also have some cool winters up here too.....

 

[JamesTXSD]

Cool summers up your way,
Best wishes,
Jim

Jim, don't forget we also have some cool winters up here too.....

That's the trick, Dave: it's all in the perspective. When we went to pick up our boat, the Seattle area was in the middle of a "heat wave." You folks had temps in the 90s and, according to your local media, it was nearly unbearable. We had just come from south Texas and then Phoenix... and thought your weather was pretty nice. Then head out on that cool water... OMG, we needed jackets! :wink:

Down our way in January, when the daytime high is around 70º and the water temp is closer to 60º, we are bundled up... and the crazy-ass northerners are out playing in the water! :shock: Yep, perspective.

Up until our time in Yellowstone early this summer, we've done a pretty good job of staying where the weather suits our clothes. We did get to experience your "cool" winter when we went to the Seattle Boat Show to buy our boat. When we went out with Tom and Susan, it was 47º and drizzling... Tom was in a sweater and laughed at us because we were wearing heavy jackets... um, yeah, the same jackets we had on in this photo, from JULY in the Washington!



Best wishes,
Jim

 

[colobear]

Uhhh Jim,

Didn't you leave something out in your promo for the hurricane driven, tempest tossed, mosquito ridden, snake infested, full of alligators, jellyfish and shark infested waters of your local paradise? And... you have all those pesky northerners coming down to buy up the scraps left over after the houses have all been blown to smithereens (ancient term for made into a big pile of kindling.) Or worse, the hordes of "contractors" only too happy to try to put your kindling back into the shape of a house for the small sum of your first born child and left arm.

 

[JamesTXSD]

Uhhh Jim,

Didn't you leave something out in your promo for the hurricane driven, tempest tossed, mosquito ridden, snake infested, full of alligators, jellyfish and shark infested waters of your local paradise? And... you have all those pesky northerners coming down to buy up the scraps left over after the houses have all been blown to smithereens (ancient term for made into a big pile of kindling.) Or worse, the hordes of "contractors" only too happy to try to put your kindling back into the shape of a house for the small sum of your first born child and left arm.

Hi Barry,

Wow, one hurricane in 28 years and you make a big deal out of it. No tempest that I've seen, but one guy in town does have a nicely restored LeMans. Our mosquitos can be quite large, but I've never "ridden" one... we have the trained: they eat the tourists and leave us alone. Snake infested? I've seen more snakes in South Dakota than on our island... I think the alligators must eat 'em. We do have jellyfish, but not even close to what we saw for numbers in Desolation Sound... I'm working on breeding what I will call a "peanutbutter fish"... I think it will help with world hunger. And only one shark "attack" that I can remember in the last 10-12 years... hardly what I would call "infested." Now those contractors, that's a different type of bottom-feeder, and they aren't unique to south Texas.

We will be heading for home in the next 10 days or so. Those late October temps will be in the low 80s, lots of sunshine. Should be just right for the boat/trailer work I need to get done before we head out again.

Come to think of it, why do we have a house anywhere? :wink:

Best wishes,
Jim

 

[starcrafttom]

The bad thing about hurricanes alligators and sharks.. It only takes one if it’s you it happens to. :cry better to have to deal with....nothing. just fishing a boating year round.

 

[JamesTXSD]

The bad thing about hurricanes alligators and sharks.. It only takes one if it’s you it happens to. :cry better to have to deal with....nothing. just fishing a boating year round.

We can fish and boat year 'round, too, Tom... we just do it in shorts.