By Shannon Williams
When one lives in a community that is a tourist destination, you often just stay at home when the tourists come or there are large crowds, and wait until the season is over to “enjoy” your community again. Well, in the past month, I have taken part in many things on the peninsula and discovered some new things and rediscovered some old things. Some of these were enjoyed with others, who are not from here and some by myself. It is easy to stay in a pattern or rut, but so good to change it up and look for new things or take the time to enjoy things that have been here for a while.

I took my 7-year-old grandson to the new petting zoo (Mom’s Petting Zoo) and it was great fun. The owners took time to interact with him and answer his questions and he had lots. We brought food for the animals, which was carrots for some and a mix of food for others. Well we went back several times to get more as we BOTH were having a great time feeding them all. We got to go into the pen with the baby goats and his laughter made my day!

My dear friend from California, who comes to visit almost every year, was here and we wanted some fresh seafood to cook, so off to JB’s we go! She too had several questions and just thought the whole experience was a ton of fun. The shrimp was great and we got Red Snapper and some shrimp cakes, which were to die for good! It is something, that I just take for granted being able to get FRESH seafood with such ease, but many never come close to getting anything like that.

I have been having some back issues (just old and sitting too much) so off to the new spa (Spa La La at the Beach) and Phoebe worked her magic on me! She suggested that I go see Lloyd at Crystal Beach Chiropractic and he had me good as new in no time.

We went to Camp Margaritaville to hear Kevin Fowler, listening to Texas music under stars is one of my all-time favorite things to do and all who went really enjoyed the experience, and we were home 5 minutes after it was over, what a joy!

To top it all off, one of my dear high school friends was asked to play a gig at Jose’s! He lives in the Houston area and called to let me know he would be down here to play. There is so much good live music here on Crystal Beach and I am a big believer in supporting the musicians who make their living doing it. To get to go and listen to Keith play again was just too much fun! He played some of my favorites and took me back to many memories.

So, if it seemed that I have used the word fun to much, I have because I have had a ton of it, just here in little ole Crystal Beach. So, get out there and support local business even during the busy time. Try out new and old places, for if we don’t think that this is a great place to live or visit, why would anyone else.

[SW: Jul-4-2023]