There and on the way to South Padre, there are tons of tourist shops all filled with the same seashell picture frames, screen print neon shirts and flashing lighters next to the rack of postcards.
But all of them have some special unique gimmick . OR try to.
This one shop in the town of Port Isabel, the last town before you hit the bridge to get to South Padre Islands, had hermit crabs. Not anything unique but the incredibly interesting ones were the poor crabs who looked like they were forced into handpainted homes on their backs covered with images of Hello Kitty and Spider man. The best part, there wasn’t a price difference between the “normal ones” and what appeared to be an attempt at “designer ones.” I am pretty sure that wasn’t a Marvel Comic artist who drew that Spiderman. It was all based on the type of “crab condo” you bought and the size of the crab.
(click on image to open gallery)

Is about ten miles north of the Mexican Boarder and about a five hour drive from the city of San Antonio, Texas.

I was there for the hottest day of the year.

Would I recommend it? Only if you have never seen or grown up on a Hawaiian Beach.

Got fireworks on a Friday night just like Waikiki. People party like it’s a small Cancun.

And it’s too damn hot to walk anywhere.