Let the sea and everything in it shout His praise!

It's about a three hour drive to Corpus Christi from San Antonio. Mr. Jones and I made that trip yesterday, through the pouring rain! We arrived too early to check into our hotel, so we drove over to Mustang Island and stopped at Port Aransas, took the free (and extremely brief) ferry boat ride across a small channel, and then drove around the coast and into downtown Corpus Christi to have a look around.
We're back in San Antonio tonight, the internet is working just as fine as fine can be ... so I wanted to post some pictures from our stay at Padre Island. The pink(ish) hotel in the distance is the Holiday Inn Sunspree, where we were last night.

I already explained how this hotel was quite old and in need of some remodeling; but the lobby was quite pretty and I really enjoyed the aquatic murals that were painted on all of the walls (over the cracks!).

The wind and the waves were absolutely beautiful, both yesterday and today. I couldn't help but think of the beautiful old hymn, "O the deep, deep love of Jesus." I have always loved the lyrics to this dear old song, and the music too.
" O, the deep, deep love of Jesus ~ vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty oean in its fullness over me.
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Your love
Leading onward, leading homeward, to Your glorious rest above." Samuel Francis (1834-1925)
This stretch of beach goes for miles and miles. Further south of here, you can drive your vehicle right on the beach! This is the Bob Hall Pier, which was closed for the season! I'm not sure why ... at 9:00 this morning, it was already 85 degrees, sunny and beautiful. There were tons of people fishing from the beach.

There are tons of birds here! I know my friend, Judy, would know what all of them are! I love to watch them interact with each other, and I especially love to see them glide through the sky.
This is one of the jelly fish I found stranded on the beach. I was careful only to touch it with a small stick ~ but when I did, it pulsated!
This one was alive too ... it looks a lot different than the first one ... all of these little tenticles were moving and I just had to feel the main part of this fish ... it was very slimy and cold! This morning I was up before the sun. It was forecasted to rain most of today, so I wasn't sure just what to expect about the sunrise ...
I was thankful there were some clouds out and about ... it was awesome to watch the colors change with the rising sun.
"Give to the LORD the glory he deserves! Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor. Let all the earth tremble before him ... let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice! Tell all the nations that the LORD is king. Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!" I Chronicles 16:29-32 NLT




About mid-morning, we drove south on Padre Island to the Padre Isle National Seashore. It was a completely beautiful drive. I was hoping very much to see some of the wildlife that is boasted about on this island!
There is a Visitor's Center here with some beautiful books and displays, so we looked at all of that for awhile ... And we walked the beach for a little bit to see what we could see ...
The clouds! The beauty was SO astounding ... such a paradise!

We also drove to Bird Island Basin, hoping to see some white pelican ... but none were found!
That's okay, though ... I have no complaints about our day on Padre Island! I would gladly go back anytime!
We took the scenic route home to San Antonio, back across the causeway and through Corpus Christi again. There are beautiful estates and villas lining Ocean Drive ...
And look what Grandpa Jones found!!! This little hotel is right on Ocean Drive, across the street from the bay, with a little bit of a view (not much) ... but it has a cute outdoor garden train that guests ride for free. Grandpa Jones was sad we didn't know this place was here before we had booked our other hotel ... but I know I would have felt pretty badly about no beachfront to walk out on.

We were back in San Antonio late afternoon, went over to Nick and Rachel's and gave them a date night ... which ended up being Nick, Rachel, and Baldwin ... whew! I was so glad when Rachel suggested they take Baldwin over to the pet park for a nice run! (I'm just not much of a dog person ... and Baldwin is BIG). We have another day to spend with the Jones family tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll show you pictures of our day tomorrow night!