Wheelin' & Healin'

It’s been a pretty stressful week at work. Lots of projects, a major conference, even some piddly bullcrap tasks that won’t leave me alone.

So I took a brief but much-needed ride out to North Beach on my lunch break Tuesday. It’s only ten minutes from work.

Of course, I took the Harbor Bridge to get across. I used to feel terrified riding in the car with my mom and brothers while traversing the bridge. The highest parts of the U.S.S. Lexington are the same height as the bridge. A fall like that could kill a person. Or a car full of people if the bridge gave way. I had many fears when I was a kid.

I read a facinating column by Murphy Givens on the controversy of the Harbor Bridge. The mayor of Corpus Christi, at the time when the debate over building either a bridge or a tunnel got heated, abruptly resigned at a city council session in 1954.

Corpus knows a thing or two about mayors abruptly resigning.

I got off the first exit on the right to get to North Beach. And I swear, there’s a 90% chance you’re gonna have some ass clown tailgating you on this exit.

North Beach name has changed from North Beach to Corpus Christi Beach, and back again, a few times in the last few decades. Kinda like Lake Mathis and Lake Corpus Christi. Same lake, but it depends on who you ask on what to call it.

North Beach has some very picturesque landmarks. The Aquarium, the Lexington, the gift shop with the giant shark, among others, have been photographed and shared ad nauseam.

I didn’t have much time, so I got a nice pic of Daphne in front of Lady Lex. I still have never done a proper tour of the Lexington. I’ve only been there for business, servicing one of the vending machines below deck. I’ll tell you this: I do not —repeat, do not — believe in ghosts, but I always did get an eerie feeling when I went down there and the lights were off.

I was getting short on time, so I hopped back on my bike and rode back to work. The stress and anxiety from all the pressures of my job were momentarily forgotten in that hour. I felt full of vim and vigor, and I slayed the afternoon.