An old saying goes, “the devil is in the details” – meaning that small things get complicated.

But that’s not entirely true.

After a recent vacation to South Padres Island, Texas, I’d say there is magic in the details.

My wife, Celeste, and I wanted to have a beach vacation in February to someplace very warm but was in the U.S. It’s a lot harder than we thought it would be. We almost booked a spot in Destin, Florida but then we found out that the average high winter temperatures were just 60 degrees and the lows dropped into the 40s.

We were hoping for 80s. Who wants to be on a beach when it’s only in the 60s? A little more Googling, led us to South Padre Island (SPI) where it was supposed to climb into the 70s and the lows were 57. So we decided to go to SPI and booked a stay at Margaritaville Beach Resort.

This place was cool (but in a good way). Since the hotel was named after our favorite tropical rock singer, Jimmy Buffett, we expected there was going to be some bows to Buffett (who passed away too soon in 2023 at 76) but we were blown away.

Everywhere in the hotel was brimming with Buffett. There were nautical touches all over. Blue and white were the main color schemes, making it feel like you were walking on a beach no matter where you were in the hotel. Near the check-in was a big statue of a foot in a sandal, alongside a giant “pop top” – you know, like the lyrics in Buffet’s breakthrough song: “I blew out my flip-flop, stepped on a pop top.” It was goofy, funny and fun – just like Buffet.

A green lime-shaped pillow with the words, “If Life Gives You Limes, Make Margaritas!”

Fish netting around a light blue lamp.

A model of a silver seaplane, the kind of plane Buffet flew.

Paintings of very colorful parrots.

A bench covered by a those nautical colors of sea blue and foamy white.

Another pillow with navigational symbols and the destination, Margaritaville.

Stencils of sandals on the glass doors leading to the balcony.

A painting of palm trees, the beach, the ocean and a bicycle. (Buffet liked to ride bike and even wrote a song about it.)

Another painting of a hammock tied to two palm trees on a beach near the green-blue ocean.

A coat or hat rack below a map showing islands and roads.

A photo of a wooden walkway leading out to a beach under a deep blue sky, and again, the ocean.

An old wood boat, anchored close to shore, with a cloud in the background that looked as if it would begin to rain any second.

A pillow with the words of another Buffett hit, “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.”

Another pillow, dark blue, that included just one word: Escape.

A painting of a sea turtle making its way through the ocean.

Two bright green adirondack chairs on the balcony, with “Margaritaville” inscriptions on the front.

Even the handles of all the room’s sinks are designed to look like fins of a fish.

If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.”

“It’s Our Turn” is a weekly column that rotates among members of the Alexandria Echo Press editorial staff.