Sand, Surf and Sea (food)

I've talked about our visits to Port A. before. It's a relaxing, refreshing weekend at the coast for us. We stay at a condo right on the beach - takes all of 5 minutes to walk right into the surf, if you are so disposed. We seldom get wet however, content to just walk a mile or so along the beach a couple of times a day. Then we relax in the comfort of the condo, looking out over the ocean.

We bring a stack of books to read and this weekend we haphazardly kept up with the NCAA tournament. That means the TV was on. Truthfully, it was painful to watch TV - not because of the games, but because it was a small TV on the other side of the room and was a bit fuzzy. Good thing we really didn't care.

Tourism is the big dog in Port A, though there is considerable attention paid to fishing. We often go in the off season and a lot of the Tee-shirt stores and Pizza joints are closed then; this time we planned the trip to miss the big Spring Break crowds but things were still hopping. More people than we were used to seeing, but that meant that all the eating establishments on the island were available to us.

And yes, that's the other thing we do. Eat good sea food. We tried a new place (for us) this time, the Crazy Cajun. It's a butcher paper table cloth, order by the pound type of place. And pound is the operative word - they provide wooden hammers for you to break open the crab legs and shells on the table top, thank you very much.

But one place we never miss is Virginia's by the Bay, an open-air eatery right on the water (though this trip they had the garage-type doors down, thankfully; there was a stiff breeze putting a chill on things). The other must-visit is Trout Street Grill next door. Ask Ken and Bonna about Trout Street; we ran into them there one night back when they were living in Corpus. Drove over for the seafood.

So Saturday night we were enjoying a nice meal at Trout Street when a big group of Yuppie Motorcyclists pulled in. This was the "Blue Knights Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club" - more than 30 members. They finally got them all seated in our dining room, served them drinks and were busy taking food orders when the manager came out and said, "I'm sorry folks, We're out of gas, and the kitchen is going to have to close."

Barbara and I puzzled over this announcement, but since we were just finishing our grilled shrimp, it was merely a curiosity to us. However, to the BKLEMC, this was quite a blow; we gathered they motored over from somewhere just to eat here. Everyone was in an uproar when we left, but you have little choice when the kitchen is closed. As we were driving away we saw the group wandering out.

We finally figured out that there must not be any natural gas service on the island. Propane is your only choice and someone at Trout Street - probably an ex someone - forgot to order gas for the big weekend crowd!

I'm sure we had a better weekend than did the Blue Knights Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club. And the guy who used to work at Trout Street Grill.