Thanksgiving Day South Padre trip

Mom came to visit this year extra early, 6th of Nov, because her visa was expiring on the 10th. And Zoran is finishing his thesis these months, so we can't do a family trip until he is done. So, I decided to give him quiet time and take mom to South Padre Island. Zoran and I went there last year with couple of friends, and I really enjoyed it. We booked a room right on the beach, a one bedroom apartment.
It took us the usual 6 hours to get here, which was good considering it was the busiest travel holiday weekend. We left cloudy and drizzling weather in Austin, and came to an unseasonable warm and sunny weather on the coast. The room was really nice, right on the beach, with large living room and balcony facing the sea. Mom told me she can't remember ever staying in a room this close to the water (but later she remember the one time it happened).

We quickly changed and went to the beach. We ate dinner there that we brought with us. Then we went for a stroll along the miles long sandy beach. The waves were high, and there was breeze, which made a thought of swimming not very appealing at the moment. Since this side of the island is facing east, the beach is all in shade by 5-ish, so we didn't stay too long. Later we drove through the entire island, all the three parallel boulevards, and many sideways streets that are facing the bay. We saw many beautiful homes there, many for sale. Almost all stores and even restaurants were closed, and there were very few people on the street, probably because it was the Thanksgiving day.
The next day started early, since we didn't sleep well - I guess new bed is to blame. We had coffee and went for a walk along the beach,, again, together with many other locals and visitors. We saw a couple with their amazon parrot on the lady's hand, and had a little chat with them. After breakfast, we took our chairs and went to sit on the beach. The wind was really picking up that day, and I was too cold to sit in the swim suite. Even with a shorts and t-shirt I was still too cold when the sun was hiding behind the clouds. So, I went for a walk, to catch up with mom who went beach-walking half and hour earlier. We then went for a drink to a beach bar not far from our condo. I had a crazy idea that we can go for a swim in the 'chilly' water and then run for the jacuzzi. To my surprise, the water was really not that cold, but it was hard to stand, much less swim, because of all the waves. But we didn't need to run out because of the cold (I think it was around 70 degrees water temp). We actually needed more time to adjust to the hot jacuzzi, and I didn't really enjoy it that much. After cleaning up, we had coffee on the balcony, and then went to sit on the beach again for half an hour until the sun was behind the building.
Since it was still day light, we decided to check out the other side of the island to try and find beaches there that would probably have less waves. But, we didn't find any public access. There was a reason for it, we found out later at the visitor's center; the bay side is very muddy and shallow, and is only used by fisherman. The visitors center had a Christmas lights lighting 'ceremony' at 6, which turned out to be not more than flipping of a switch on lights in a small backyard-size park. They also had Santa come with his reindeer on one of those four-wheel, custom, open cars, and then picture op for many kids that were in line (I guess anyone could have had their picture taken). We also used that time to stop at nearby McDonald's that had internet connection (since our condo didn't, at least not the first day, but I was able to connect later to a weak unsecured network for couple of hours), and talk to Zoran, download pictures and Hayat news.
Afterwards, we went grocery shopping for few items we didn't bring with us.
I am glad we have one more full day here, and I hope the weather serves us well like it did so far.