Sunday, March 16, 2008

Trip Report Saturday 15 March 2008

At breakfast, we all met at Agua Java for the traditional coffee and treats. Freddy and I planned our brunch, while James and Jolyon braced for the long drive back to Florida.

Near noon, Freddy and I paid a visit to Hooters. We had (at least) two goals in mind: eating spicy food, and gathering intelligence on the nightlife. Valarie was able to help us with both. Sorta.

I ordered a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (hot) with bacon and cheese. It tasted OK, but I didn't feel that bacon and cheese really added to the flavor too much. Next time I'll skip it. Also, I found the "hot" sauce weak. I'll go three-alarm in the future.

When we asked Valarie about the nightlife, she asked us if we knew where Staples was. Freddy and I immediately laughed at her. Do the ladies dig office supplies? Nooooo, Staples is a street name.

At Worldwinds, the wind teased us. It frequently gusted me on plane, but never kept me there long. In addition, I noticed a second group of windsurfers sailing in a nearly perpendicular direction to my own.

I ran into Freddy and Randy just as Freddy's harness class ended. I mentioned the weird shifty wind, and Randy pointed out to me how further up the beach the wind came from a different direction and stronger. Strange!

I sailed out to the mystery wind and managed to get on plane for a bit longer than before. Quirky.

After using up the wind, Freddy and I returned downtown to desalinate. For dinner, we decided to try something new. We went to Havana to drink Mojitos and eat Tapas. We enjoyed "El Infidel!" sandwiches, some Cuban bread, Arroz con Pollo, and some tasty marinated steak.

After trying to get our waitress to laugh, we got bad directions to Club 21 and attempted to follow them. Freddy and joked as we walked how all directions in Corpus Christi have you go two blocks in "that direction", make a left, and walk two more blocks. Do the natives navigate by smell?

After proving the directions wrong, I asked some random girls how to find Club 21. "We're not from here. We're from Austin!" was the proud response. We responded the same, and learned that they were really from Georgetown or some such non-Austin place. Busted!

Eventually we found the bar -- really called Katz Club 21. The place was nice, but not the hive of women we were promised. The bathroom attendant explained that all the women were at some concert -- usually the place was packed with them! Hmm. I don't care much for the bathroom patrol or the ratio.

Freddy and I discovered another bar inside the Katz restaurant: a small, empty lounge. The general manager was hanging out here, and chatted with us for a while. Freddy and I returned to the main bar to watch the band and the dancing drunks.

As we chatted, some mystery admirer bought us some shots. Since no princess came to join us, we figured the GM sent them our way. We enjoyed club 21 for a while more before trying Bourbon Rocks, which felt even more gender imbalanced than club 21.

After the bars closed, we returned to the Best Western where we discovered three women chatting in the hallway. They didn't seem to want to chat with Freddy or I. Time to escalate.

When Freddy and I got to our room, we unveiled the ultimate weapon. As Gumbo ran towards me to lick my fingers, I took two steps into the hall. Missiles away...

Awwwww! Puppy!

We spent the next two hours chatting with the hall monitors, watching the spring break drama unfold in the other rooms. One room had an unintelligible argument concerning fidelity and slamming doors. Another had a constant train of odd characters intent on violating the hotel smoking policy. It lent a nice Spring Break atmosphere.

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