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The tagline is “Love where You Live,” right? From its beautiful downtown waterfront to miles of untouched beach, you don’t have to look far in Corpus Christi to find an inspiring view, mouth-watering seafood, and family-friendly activities.
When I imagine my perfect day in the Coastal Bend, I realize that I have many different versions of this perfect day– one with the kids, one with my husband, and one by myself. Since this is a post for Corpus Christi Moms Blog, I am focusing on the version with my entire family. Also, we live on North Padre Island, and I chose activities that reflect our normal day, just consolidated into a favorites list.
When my husband is off work, we love to start our day at Hester’s Cafe. I’ve already expressed my love of Hester’s coffee in a previous post here, but Hester’s is also our go-to breakfast spot. Every meal is delicious, the baked goods are incredible, and we can eat outside in the courtyard at the Lamar Park location on days that our boys are little wild (always a huge perk)!
After a quick breakfast run in “town,” we will head back to North Padre Island. Since we live on the island, we visit the beach several times a week. Our beach of choice is the Padre Island National Seashore. It’s only about 13 minutes from our house, and we love that it has less traffic and congestion than other beaches. My boys can spend hours exploring for crabs and jellyfish, boogie boarding in the waves, and digging holes and moving sand with dump trucks. We have also attended several turtle and hatchling releases at the National Seashore this year, as well as special events, like Kite Day and the Ridley Rendezvous.
After a fun, but tiring morning at the beach, we need a tasty lunch. We’ll stay on the island for lunch and visit Costa Sur Wok and Ceviche Bar. Between the fresh guacamole, ceviche options, and amazing seafood, Costa Sur is the perfect choice. After lunch, I’ll make a quick stop at Island Joes Coffee and Gallery before I head home and rest before our fun night in Port Aransas.
When we go out to eat as a family, we consider many factors- the length of time to drive to the restaurant (major concern since we’re on the island and 20+ minutes from most places in Corpus), kid-friendly space in the restaurant or nearby for before/after we eat, and obviously, the food. We often choose to drive to Port Aransas for family dinners and date nights since it is equidistant to many Corpus restaurants and has so many tasty options.
By far, our favorite restaurant in Port Aransas is La Playa Mexican Grill. It is possibly the best Mexican restaurant in the world, and we lived in El Paso, which has a million ridiculously amazing Mexican restaurants. It is impossible to pick a favorite menu item- the seafood enchiladas, queso, margaritas, fajitas, or fish tacos. You really can’t go wrong.
We always finish our night at Roberts Point Park in Port Aransas to play on the playground, look for dolphins, and watch the sunset. Since moving to Corpus last year, our most magical nights have occurred at Roberts Point Park. The view is spectacular, the breeze from the water always makes it seem cooler outside, and our kids can run and be wild until they’re worn out and ready for bed. We explore looking for turtles along the rocks, chase each other through the grass, and play pirate in the playground for hours.
