holy moldy condo, batman!

(about time i got around to this...)

On the 9th of this month, we got up e-a-r-l-y, packed ourselves and the entirety of our toddler's belongings (kidding, but it seemed like it) into my parent's old Explorer and we headed to Port Aransas. The Mr. was attending a Veterinary conference down there, and Liam and I went along for the ride.

We left on a Thursday. The Tuesday before? Oh yeah, we got a call from the resort we had a reservation at, letting us know that due to damage from the tropical storm (Hector?) they no longer had a room for us. But they had a place we could stay. If we wanted. Duh.

So Zach dealt with that and we headed into the unknown. Um... oy.

Our condo was owned by this lady:

One Gilda Cruz Romo, who is (check the link if you don't believe me) an opera singer who has been on stage with the likes of Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. No, seriously.

Can't make this up.

These lined the entry hall to prove it:

Yes, impressive.

However, the rest of this is like the start of a bad joke...

Just for the sake of my own amusement, picture in your mind what you think an aging opera star's beach condo would look like.

And... cue disaster:

Tacky gets a whole new form of definition when you're talking about the Romo's beach condo. They bought it in 1982 (I know, I saw a certificate) and probably have never updated. Not only have they never updated, I highly doubt they've every bothered to maintain it in any fashion. Consider exhibits A and B below:

And if you think that's bad, consider that I didn't even bother to photograph what the balcony looked like, the state of the kitchen (nightmares, really, I'll have them), or the bathroom with its bathtub that couldn't be any newer than 1975 and its paint that is quite literally cracked and peeling on every surface. OR the dead roaches all over the floor in the kitchen and dining area.

What else? Oh yeah, how about when we walked into the condo for the first time, we were bombarded by the smell of moldy, musty nastiness. Upon walking into that GORGEOUS living room, we found the love seat flipped upside down on top of the sofa, all the cushions piled up against the door, and the rug being propped up off the floor by various buckets, ladders and stools, with an industrial fan blowing under it to dry it out. Because apparently THIS condo building doesn't turn away people, even if they do have storm damage (oh, did I mention that when we drove up to the building for the first time, we noticed that half of the side's facade had FALLEN OFF? Seriously, is that not warning enough?!).

Needless to say...

When it was time to pack to go home...













We were all a little bit glad.