Monoborracho

I was stationed at Ellington AFB and then lived in Houston in the 70's. I can't really tell you much about current Galveston, except to also recommend Gaidos. Galveston is going to be much more crowded than Corpus because of its proximity to Houston, but also has a walk and shop atmosphere in the Strand area, and a long sea wall for riding if you can rent a cruiser. When I lived there we used to fish over on the Bolivar jetty, across the channel with a ferry ride.

On the other hand north Padre Island, at Corpus Christi, is my favorite. I lived there for several years in the mid 90's and still go there several times per year but sold my condo on Padre Island some years back. I don't go there as much as I used to. I can highly recommend it for fishing. I caught the biggest red I ever caught while wade fishing on the north side of the bay with netted bait fish. There are several folks who guide out of the Laguna Madre. Check for guides out of Flour Bluff, which is part of Corpus. They'll probably either take you down the Laguna or down to Baffin Bay to fly fish.

There are several good party boats that run out of Aransas Pass for deep sea fishing. I once caught a 60# kingfish on a charter out of AP.

Try the Tarpon Inn in Port Aranasas, or Water Street in Corpus for dinner.

As far as biking, if you have a road bike you can go all the way down the Park Road to to the National Seashore. My office was on the Laguna and I made that ride many times. The roads out south of Corpus toward Chapman Ranch and Kingsville are also low traffic, but mostly flat and straight. I wouldn't plan on riding over either the causeway/ Intercoastal going toward Padre or the Corpus Channel bridges going toward Portland...you need to drive out to the island and then unload your bike from there. There is also a sea wall in Corpus but not nearly as good as Galveston for crusiing. You can, and I have, ridden an MTB with 2" nobbies on the beach, but you really have to stay in hard pack to do so. Be sure and rinse good afterward.