Living the Best Beach Life at Mustang Island State Park, Texas

Texans know how to live the best beach life. There is none of this lugging your chairs, umbrellas, towels, coolers, and other accessories across parking lots, down paths, and across deep sand. No, you take a right at the stop sign, drive yourself directly onto that beach, park a safe distance from the surf, leave your shoes in the truck, and make yourself at home.

Our trip to Mustang Island State Park was seriously the least stressful beach trip in the history of beach trips. And that was with a toddler and dog in tow. Did I forget to mention that they are super dog-friendly, too?

The day was incredibly foggy, which made for a nearly deserted beach, but we were not deterred. Even though there was hardly anyone else on the beach, we obviously had to take the opportunity to drive the entire length of the beach, simply because we could, before we picked our spot.

Little Bird was ecstatic the moment we got out of the truck, and for the first time, she was not intimidated to go near the water (cue mama’s anxiety!). Since she has always wanted to play in the sand, we quickly realized she definitely needed to be in something she could get wet, as we had also made the foolish mistake of not replenishing our backup clothes in the truck (almost 2 years in and you would think we were still rookies!). Luckily, we keep her swimsuit in the diaper bag, so after a quick wardrobe change, she was ready to go!

There were not many shells to be found on the beach and the sand was very compact, both of which, I think, contributed to the lure of the water. Plus, when the waves rolled out, they left the best puddles and “mud” behind. Bird has previously been very hesitant of the water, especially when waves would sneak up on her, but on this trip, she could not get enough. We played in the puddles and mud until the waves started rolling in and then she would jump up, grab my hand (LOL, just kidding, she might have grabbed my hand but I was already clutching her so tightly and never gave her that opportunity), and we would stomp and dance in the surf until it subsided, then we would do it all again. Daisy even joined in the fun a few times.

When it came time for lunch, we grabbed the cooler from the truck and sat Bird in her chair on the tailgate, like we so often do on our adventures, and listened to the waves and watched the birds while we ate. And as soon as we were done, we were back playing in the sand and water until it was time to leave.  

We loved everything about our day in Mustang Island State Park and, as we so often do, left wishing that we had maybe another day or 2. I wish I could bottle up days like this—from driving on the beach to Bird’s shrieks of laughter and endless joy to the feeling of being the only people on the beach and having endless smiles on all our faces—so I could relive these moments forever. However, I would leave out the red faced screaming toddler that came at the end of our time at the beach, because who wants to remember that we ever had to leave?