Hi, it's me, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut. So you want to visit Starbase and you wanna see the world's largest and most powerful rocket ever made. Well, I've got some good news for you. Unlike pretty much every other launch complex on Earth, this is right next to a public highway and people drive right up to Starbase and half the people that drive on this road don't even know what they're looking at, they're just trying to get to the beach. Now, I've been coming out here since 2019 when this place was empty, when there's basically nothing but a little tin can rocket named Starhopper. I've also been fortunate enough to go inside Starbase a handful of times, and I've even done a few video tours with Elon Musk himself. S`o I wanted to give you a full rundown on how exactly to visit Starbase, where to watch a launch from, where to fly into tips on when to book flights if you're trying to catch a launch, where to stay, and even a few of my personal recommendations on where to eat and things like that. And perhaps you're just a huge Starship and Starbase fan and you just want to get a better sense of what it's like. Well, you're in the right place. We'll help you understand this area better than ever before. But don't forget, even if you can't make it to this in person, we will have an incredibly high quality live stream with super low latency and amazing tracking assets so you can see the action as quickly and as clearly as possible. So be sure and join us; let's witness history together and like always, here's the timestamps for this video. We've got an article version up so it's nice and easy to find links and have a reference to use while you're planning your trip at everydayastronaut.com. And while you're there, head over to our shop and check out our incredible 1:100 scale metal Falcon 9 rocket models that are finally back in stock. You can get them while you can at everydayastronaut.com/shop. And if you do happen to find this video helpful and a good resource, consider dropping us a Super Thanks by clicking the heart icon below where you can send us a tip as a little thank you. So join me for a little How to Visit Starbase action because it's Starship time, my friends! 3, 2, 1. Okay. If you're watching this video, you likely already know what Starbase is, what Starship is and why it's so crazy. But just in case you don't know, SpaceX has been developing, building, flying, blowing up, tweaking, repeat the world's largest and most powerful rocket ever in South Texas. This place is now called Starbase, but it was originally a town called Kennedy Shores, which was wiped out by a hurricane. Then it became Kopernik Shores and most recently was known as Boca Chica Village. Only a few dozen homes are still here today, nestled inside what is now mostly a federal wildlife refuge and alongside a massively, mostly untouched beach far away from any other development. It's as far south as you can possibly get in Texas and it borders Mexico separated only by the Rio Grande River, it's about 20 miles outside of the nearest city Brownsville. Although Starbase is closer as the crow flies to South Padre and Port Isabel, those places are about twice as far to drive to. Thanks to a massive shipping canal that's home of the Port of Brownsville. For this particular video, I'll be using miles since it's the local unit, but I'll of course be doing the kilometer conversion for the rest of you up on screen. SpaceX began purchasing land in 2014 for a launch facility, factory, and test site for what was originally slated to be used for Falcon nine and Falcon Heavy. The site was mostly dormant besides some groundwork at the launch site until the end of 2018 when we saw what we thought was a water tower taking shape. It turns out this was a very basic and rudimentary Raptor test vehicle known as Starhopper. Since then, Starbase has grown like crazy and there's been some incredible tests that have happened and it really feels like we're witnessing the dawn of a new era. I know that's cliche, but imagine being able to watch the Apollo program develop like this in real time. These days we can literally just tune into our favorite 24 hour live stream and quite literally watch the building testing and flying happen from anywhere around the world. We're quite spoiled frankly, and I'm not sure how long all this will be publicly available to be perfectly honest. Now, I don't think SpaceX minds having people be this close to what they're working on, and the county definitely doesn't want SpaceX blocking the road and access to Boca Chica Beach, and I don't really think SpaceX wants to close the road anymore than necessary either, but I just honestly wouldn't be that surprised if someday this is somehow not accessible, at least to this degree by the general public. It's just so insane to me that anyone can just stand along the side of the road and watch the most advanced rocket ever be built right in front of their own eyes. I mean, my dad was an engineer for John Deere Tractors in Waterloo, Iowa, and I swear the average person can't even get this close to seeing tractors being built, let alone rockets. So this is definitely something you should witness if at all possible because it is amazing. Alright, now let's point out where and what exactly everything is at Starbase. First things first, as far as official tours go, sadly there are no options currently available to get inside and there likely never will be since it's a restricted space with state-of-the-art rocket technology after all. But the good news is it's super easy to see almost all of Starbase from the outside, and since the production bays are just open most of the time, it's easy to catch a glimpse of the action. Okay, let's do a little map tour of Starbase so we can point out what we're seeing and go over where you can and cannot go. Starbase is made up of three main areas, the production site, the launchpad, otherwise known as Stage Zero, and the structural test site at what used to be called Massey's Gun Range. On the way in, you might see a little glimpse of the structural test site, but there's not really much to see, you'll just see some stuff over the trees as you drive in. The production site, on the other hand, is what you won't miss as of the making of this video. It features three quite tall buildings, the Mid Bay, the High Bay, and the Mega Bay or Wide Bay as some people call it. There's a few large production tents, but those are being replaced by a more permanent building called Hyper Bay, or you might also hear it called Starfactory. Behind the Mega Bay, there's a few Starship and super heavy units in what's being called the Rocket Garden, which is a makeshift either monument or perhaps more of a purgatory holding place before being scrapped. The Rocky Garden is kind of in the back of a large storage area and it's just sort of a hold all of all sorts of things. There is an air separator unit or an ASU that will have the capability of producing onsite oxygen, nitrogen, and argon. There's also a shipping and receiving tent and a handful of just random test tools and spare tanks and machinery, et cetera, et cetera. This area is also where the giant Starbase sign is. It's the first thing you'll actually drive past at Starbase and it's one of the only pieces of Starbase property that you can actually park on, but we'll get to that in a little bit. The production site is also home to Stargate, which is a smaller office building that was actually here before SpaceX. It was originally built by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, but now it's home to launch control inside it. There's also an old Merlin and a Raptor engine, which is awesome. You'll also find a large solar farm. You'll find two big tracking dishes that were actually purchased from NASA. There's a non-public restaurant commonly referred to as "Flaps", but usually just the restaurant to employees as well as a few dozen homes that have mostly been renovated for SpaceX to house employees and it remains in Boca Chica Village. There are still a few houses that aren't owned by SpaceX and occupied by non-employees these days, but back in the early days there were a couple dozen publicly owned houses. Can you even imagine looking out your window and seeing Starships roll by? It's surreal. Over on this side of LBJ Boulevard, you'll see a fairly large payload processing facility. It's currently only being used for Starlink, but it might be used for other payloads in the future. This intersection is also where the road actually closes for everyone, including employees on test days like static fires and pressure tests. Only about 1.5 miles down the road from the edge of the village is the launch site, which is only a quarter mile or so from the beach. It's home to the orbital launch mount and orbital launch tower called Mechazilla and the whole thing is also known as Stage Zero. Then there's the tank farm where all the propellant is stored as well as two suborbital test stands that are really just ship test stands these days and the original Starship prototype, Starhopper. Starhopper continues to look over the site and these days has cameras, lights, radio antennas and all sorts of things mounted to it. Be sure and say hi and pay your respects to the grandfather of this whole program. Okay, now let's go over where you can and cannot go, where the best views are and just some general rules of the place. Number one rule, and I really don't need to say this, but if you see a SpaceX sign or property line or fence, do not cross it. Pretty obvious, but trespassing here is a serious offense and you could easily find yourself in prison if you're on the wrong side of a property line. The next rule is generally always stay on the opposite side of the highway from whatever it is that you're looking at. So if you're at the production site, pull off on the south side of the road and do not cross it by foot. And if you're up at the launch site, pull off on the north side and don't cross it either. Use extreme caution when pulling over and getting out of your car. Highway 4 can have really fast moving traffic and sometimes a lot of it, so pull over very far and be very careful when merging back onto the highway. As of the making of this video, there are a handful of public roads that weave in and around the production site. This includes Remedios Avenue. Now this is subject to change because SpaceX is working on closing this off, but if it is still public, you can actually walk right down and stand across the road from the Starship prototypes and the Rocket Garden. And again, be careful when walking because there can be a lot of trucks and machinery here, and when you get down to the end, don't go beyond the end of that road as the SpaceX property line is pretty much right there. The one exception to the opposite side of the road thing is the Starbase sign. There's a large gravel parking lot in front of that section of fencing, and it's generally considered okay to park there and take pictures with a sign, et cetera, but after that point, consider the opposite side of the road thing valid. Next, you can drive the loop inside the village. San Martin Boulevard. Weems Street and LBJ Boulevard are all still open to the public. There's not really much to see there, but you can drive through that area as part of your visit. Do be aware that the parking area around the flaps restaurant is not for public parking, so stay on the opposite side of the road from that restaurant area, which again is sadly not open to the public. Okay, so now down at the launch site. Again, like we've said, generally you always want to pull off and stay on the opposite side of the road. Now technically you're not even supposed to be pulling off of the highway because don't forget this is all federal wildlife refuge, but obviously people do. This parking lot here is for employees only. So don't park there, but you will see cars lined up along the road here. Parking across from the orbital launch mount entrance can give you a very good sense of scale and you can often catch bits of hardware moving about here. Now, since you're staying on the opposite side of the road, I don't need to say this, but the number one place to not park is in the propellant offloading lanes where the propellant trucks pull in to fill up the tank farm. If you are dumb enough to park here, you not only could actually delay the launch, but you'll certainly get in trouble. Further down the road, you'll see the sand dunes, you'll find lots of cars parked here, but huge word of warning here: This area can become extremely hazardous, especially on the weekends. Between Starship Gazers and weekend beach traffic, you can end up with lots and lots of cars traveling quickly on the slippery sand. Trust me, I know all too well, so sorry if I sound like a worried parent about road safety here, but Highway 4 has some crazy drivers and often there's locals trying to go super fast to get to the beach. So just keep your head on a swivel and use extra caution when things are busy, especially if you're traveling with children. And for those brave enough, you can drive up and down the beach. All-wheel drive is recommended, but just check the entrance before getting out there. The transition between the road and the beach can be very soft, deep and loose sand, and I've seen literally dozens of cars stuck at a time there. So just be aware, if you do want to walk the beach, you should just park your car on the side of the road and walk along the beach, which I highly recommend. It offers great views of the pad up from the dunes, and of course, it's just a beautiful natural landscape. It's surprisingly serene and it's really surreal to look back and see the launch site. There is a property line between the dunes and the actual Starbase launchpad that's lightly marked by some posts. It might not be as obvious, so don't go wandering too far towards the pad. It's probably best to just stay up on the dunes. While we're talking about the dunes, I figured now would be a good time to mention a few important things. First off, again, this is obvious, but do not litter, for the love of God, it's just so sad to see what people leave out there. If you care about the success and the sustainability of Starbase, pick up after yourselves and others. There's already pushback from locals and environmentalists, so please don't give them any more reason to dislike this project. The next thing is to try and avoid disrupting the dunes. There's a lot of brush and important vegetation that helps prevent erosion of the shoreline, so please just tread lightly or not at all and be very aware of the sensitive vegetation. Another thing to be aware of is the wildlife. Now, although I haven't seen any snakes myself, I've always been told to wear boots on the dunes because of venomous snakes from locals. So just keep that in mind. Mosquitoes and other bittey things like ants and no-see-ums can be horrible. Really some of the worst bug bites I've ever had in my entire life. So bring bug spray and cover as much of your body with clothing as possible. They can truly be the worst part of being out there. This should go without saying, but when you're on a beach in one of the most southern points of the United States, you should wear sunscreen. I mean, duh, but the sun is extremely intense out there. Almost every time I'm there I see someone severely sunburnt because they were unprepared and wound up spending the day staring at some shiny metal tubes for too long and getting absolutely fried. So don't be one of those people. Another thing to bring is water. There are no public amenities at all for literally 18 miles. This can be a good half hour drive, so keep that in mind. Food, water, toilets 30 minutes away and water is extremely important out there. It's just so dry and hot and it's quite easy to get dehydrated. It can sneak up on you in a hurry, so stay hydrated beforehand and bring plenty of water with you. On that note. Remember there again, no toilets at all. So definitely use the restroom before heading out. And for many people how long they can hold their bladder determines how long they spend out there. So as you can imagine, if the closest toilet is 30 minutes away, that's also how far the closest gas station is. So you're a long ways from being able to fill up and if you're in a Tesla, there's only one supercharger in Brownsville, so keep that in mind as you plan too. I'm sure you won't forget to bring a camera, but this is the Mecca of rocket hardware photography after all. Nowhere else can you get this close to hardware like this without working in the industry. But one camera you will want to leave at home is a flying camera, you know, a drone, the entire area around Starbase is a no-fly zone, so don't even bother. They'll come to you immediately if you try flying one. I don't know how they do it, but they do. So just don't even bring one. And lastly, this one is actually very, very important. Don't go to Mexico. Well, I don't mean in general. I love Mexico and I've been there often, but do not cross the border and go into Matamoros. I know it's close by. I know you could get fairly close to the launchpad from the Mexico border. I know it's the only place that has Indian food, but trust me, this particular place in Mexico is not safe for a lot of reasons. If you're trying to catch a launch, make sure you have a plan ahead of time. The number one rule is absolutely do not try and go down Highway 4 on launch day. You'll likely get turned around at 15 miles out just before the Border Patrol shack, or worse, you could get way down the road and then get turned around only five miles from the pad. Then you have to drive all the way back around and you're about 45 minutes to get to the next viewing point. We don't want you to miss the launch, so don't even bother with Highway 4 unless you have a special arrangement. Because a few people might actually have the ability to drive down Highway 4 and be about as close as you can possibly be, I think. Rocket Ranch has set up an outpost that's down Highway 4. Now, we'll talk about that more and Rocket Ranch in a second. They're awesome. However, I think they're currently sold out for the tickets for the first orbital launch attempt, so stay tuned with them. I think they might have one of the best places to view a future launch from by far. The next best place to watch a launch from would be the southern tip of South Padre Island in Isla Blanca State Park. This is the closest you can get unless you're on console with SpaceX, literally launching the rocket, or perhaps if you're at Rocket Ranch's Outpost. If you want to watch from Isla Blanca State Park, be sure and bring $12 cash for the entrance fee if you want to drive in and park. Now notice I said cash. That's important. Don't lose your place in line because you forgot cash. They only take cash, but exact change isn't necessary, so just having a 20 will do. The problem with the park is there's a limited number of cars permitted per day, so you might either have to park outside of it in a small holding lot or much further up the street in the South Padre Island Visitor Center, which has public parking. So plan on bringing some good walking shoes and an umbrella for shade because it is a full mile down to the southern tip. If for some reason the park is overly crowded and or you don't wanna walk that far, you can just head out to the beach. Although most of the beach likely won't offer a straight line of sight to the engine ignition, you will easily catch the launch just a few seconds after liftoff and you will have a front row seat to the rest of flight. But it'd be worth it to get as far south on the beach as you can on launch day. And in general, consider bringing the same things you'd bring to Starbase. So sunscreen, bug spray, and water, but at least there's restrooms and restaurants up and down the island. So that's one thing you won't have to worry about as much. If South Padre gets too busy, which can easily happen and that bridge can very easily get overwhelmed and backed up, which side note, please, for the love of God, do not stop on the bridge and try to watch from there. It's absolutely not capable of that. Maybe if you want a different view, consider viewing from Port Isabel. On that note, there is a free public transit up and down South Padre Island and even across the bridge between Port Isabel and South Padre. I'd highly encourage people to consider this option because the bridge will get very backed up and very quickly. South Padre itself can actually get very, very congested. In Port Isabel, you will have a harder time finding a direct line of sight to the launchpad. Most of the direct vantage points are on private land and behind gates. For instance, if you followed all the way down South Garcia all the way to the end of it, you'll unfortunately be met with a gate and a no trespassing sign, which is a shame because that would be an excellent viewing location. Another option that would be pretty great is just a little further west on Highway 48. There is a few turnoff points like the Jamie J Zapata Boat Ramp and a few other pull offs. Now these could easily get packed and they can also be very muddy areas, so use caution when pulling off the highway and of course when merging back on. Now the good thing here is that this is a Starship launch and because it's the largest rocket to ever fly ever, you'll be able to catch it much further away compared to a smaller rocket. However, because it is methalox, it won't have too much of a visible exhaust trail. So you do just have to spot the, you know, giant metal shiny skyscraper size thing that has a bright blue flame shooting out of it. And one more reminder, although Mexico is closer than the exclusion zone might actually be. Do not go to Mexico there, just trust me, trust me, it's not safe, not just from a launch standpoint, but also from general safety considerations. That exact area of Mexico directly south of the pad is very much cartel territory. So we've been talking a lot about what to do at Starbase when you actually get there, but we need to take a step back and talk about how you actually get there in the first place. Due to its remote location, you do have to drive a personal vehicle out there. There is no bus, train, or plane that will get you from Brownsville to Starbase. So we need to assume you are driving to Starbase or you're flying and renting a car and then driving. So obviously the first thing you'll do is navigate there. Your GPS should easily find either Starbase or Boca Chica or Boca Chica Beach. Just confirm it's taking you out. Highway 4 all the way to the beach. As you head out the Brownsville area and start to get out onto the 14 mile barren highway, you will drive past a border patrol checkpoint. On the way out to Starbase, you won't actually have to stop and do anything, but on the way back you will have to stop. In fact, everyone has to stop on the way back into town, even employees who are on that road every single day. Now, if you're a US citizen, you won't need anything special. Maybe just make sure you definitely have your valid ID on you just in case, which obviously if you're driving out there, you'll have anyway. If you're not a US citizen, make sure you have your passport on you. The only question they ask is, "Are you a US citizen?" If the answer is no, just be prepared to show the proper documentation stating that you are visiting legally. Now, of course you could potentially Uber or Lyft out there. There are rideshare options available, but you might wait a very long time. There really aren't very many drivers and it's such a remote and long distance area, it might take a long time to get anybody if at all, and it might be really expensive to have a driver get you all the way out there, let alone find one to also return. But I have heard of a few employees who have done Rideshare out there, so it should be feasible if you have no other option, but I would not rely on Uber around launch day. It's at best a potential option during a random visit when there's no launch campaign. One more thing to check out before you actually drive out to Starbase is to make sure there isn't a road closure. For this, I recommend you follow Boca Chica Road Closures on Twitter: @BocaRoad. Check this out before you go out there to make sure there aren't road closures for things like moving the rockets or a static fire or a test flight or any other test. There's tons of road closures for just random reasons. The worst thing is to drive all the way out there only did you get turned around. So definitely check there before you even get in your car. Flying down to see Starbase has a handful of decent options. The closest airport is Brownsville or BRO, and that's actually quite close to Starbase since it's right on the edge of Brownsville. It's certainly the most convenient. However, it might be more expensive and it doesn't have a ton of options nearby Valley International Airport or Harlingen, airport code HRL, tends to be a little cheaper and has a few more options. However, it does take an hour or more to get from Harlingen Airport to Starbase, but it might actually be closer or at least similar distances to some of the places you might be staying, which we'll talk about more in a second. Another option is McAllen International Airport or MFE. This is quite a bit further away, a good hour and a half or more from Starbase. But of course if you're flying long distance, say from overseas and you plan to spend a fair amount of time in the States, you might wanna look at flying into Houston, San Antonio, or Austin. Obviously these would require a rental car, which you kind of need anyway as we've mentioned. But if you're not afraid of a six hour drive, this is certainly a good option. Houston is probably your best bet if you're going to fly into one of these three for a few reasons. First, it has two major international airports, Hobby or HOU and George Bush International or IAH. Not only are these major hub airports with tons of options, but of course you'd be in Houston, home of Johnson Space Center and specifically the amazing Space Center Houston Museum. Well worth the visit if you're already making a trip out of the whole thing anyway. Another advantage of flying to the bigger cities is that rental cars won't be a problem. I guarantee the entire Rio Grande Valley will sell out of cars around launch time between SpaceX employees and people flying in. They likely will be gone and or really expensive, especially at Brownsville Airport. Be sure and check well before you plan your visit if the dates you're planning have cars available and maybe consider booking your flight based on which airports actually have cars available. Boy, do I have some recommendations on where to stay when visiting Starbase. I've got options for everyone, families, campers, adventure seekers, those on a budget, those looking for something nicer and there's actually a lot of options, especially since South Padre Island is already a vacation destination. So let's start there. South Padre certainly has a handful of great options, but staying on the island has some drawbacks. It's pretty much a good hour to get from most of South Padre to Starbase. So if you plan on spending absolutely as much time staring at rockets as possible, it might be worth staying closer. But if you're planning to make a vacation out of it and have a full week or something, South Padre is a great option. This is especially true if you are with family or a loved one that might not be as interested in rockets. There's always the beach, bars, and food on SPI that help make it more attractive. As far as hotels, absolutely the best one with a view of the pad and a potential launch is Margaritaville. This used to be called The Pearl, but in 2022 it's switched to Margaritaville. If you want a view of the rocket, you need to be about five floors or higher, and on the south side, this means that less than half the rooms have a view, but for those that do, it's pretty spectacular. In fact, this is where I viewed and live streamed SN8 and SN9 from. So yeah, it's top notch and even has Tesla destination chargers in the parking lot. Nearby Holiday Inn Resort is also a pretty great option, but doesn't have large balconies facing the pad. However, its general location is great. It's right on the beach, has Tesla supercharges in the parking lot, and like Margaritaville, it's right by the bridge, so it doesn't take any longer to get off the island. The only other hotel I've actually stayed at on SPI that I can recommend is way up north at the end of the island, and that's the Hilton Garden Inn. It's a ways further, but it's been fairly recently renovated and has some pretty nice amenities. Off South Padre, I can highly recommend the Lighthouse Hotel and Cafe right downtown Port Isabel. It's a beautiful little boutique hotel offering some gelato and snacks. It's lovely and in a very walkable part of town with plenty of restaurants, highly recommend. There's also Casa Rosa Inn in Port Isabel, which is a decent hotel. There also might be some Airbnbs in both Port Isabel and SPI. So definitely considered checking there too. Brownsville definitely has plenty of hotel options. It's got most of the major brand hotels. The worst part about staying in Brownsville though is most of these big hotels are right off the highway and they're not in a very walkable part or maybe a particularly fun place to stay, but the rooms likely offer a little better bang for the buck in Brownsville versus South Padre. And of course, you are a good 20 to 30 minutes closer to Starbase when you stay in Brownsville. Now this of course adds up if you're going out there over and over and over, but if you wanna stay even closer to Starbase, then definitely check out Rocket Ranch. It's a little less, let's say, luxurious than the big hotels and resorts, but the community there is amazing. If you wanna meet other rocket fans, Rocket Ranch is for sure the place to be. I really enjoy hanging out there personally, Anthony and the gang out there are very passionate and have hosted thousands of people. They also offer bus tours to Starbase, which is super fun. A lot of people will stay there for months, so if you're a little bit more of a nomad and want to be there for a long period of time, look no further. There's also some great camping options, but few beat camping at Isla Blanca Park on the southern tip of South Padre. Like we mentioned before, there's limited spots and it's almost always full, so book early if possible. Another option is just to camp on the beach in Boca Chica. Now, I personally can't vouch for this because it might not be the safest option, but people do, do it often. I'm also not entirely sure of the exact legality of it either. But one thing to consider is you'd better not get too cozy there around a launch campaign as the beach and the entire area will be completely cleared all the way up to the channel and down to the Rio Grande. Check the description below this video. We're talking to some hotels to try and put some links together for you guys for some deals for our viewers. So we'll try to keep that description section up to date with some awesome deals. So check there before booking. Catching a launch can be pretty hard, but catching the first few launches of a rocket can be hard squared. The schedules are completely up in the air. I literally can't tell you about five days in advance when I think Starship will launch. Now that being said, if you can afford to or have the luxury of booking last minute, do it. The closer to launch date you book, the better chance you have of catching the launch. In general, I'd say you pretty much should double most dates you hear for a new rocket like Starship, if it's a month away, it's probably more like two months away. If it's two weeks away, it's probably more like four weeks away. That's the rules that I tend to follow when I travel. So I try to book things absolutely as close to launch as possible. I'm talking like three days in advance. Now granted, I have a place to stay when I go down there, so I don't have those considerations. But I do book absolutely as late as possible. So the closer to the launch, you can book the better. But this is the same for the longer you can stay the better. Again, if you have the luxury of being able to stay for two weeks, go for it. I can't tell you how many people I've met who say something like, I came out here three weeks ago thinking they're gonna launch and now I guess I'm just here until it does. By the way, some of those people were saying this in the summer of 2021. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Nic ANSUINI from NSF. But for real, this happens all the time. So just book things as late as possible and or as long as possible to maximize your chances of catching a launch. Some important milestones you need to see before we see a launch and be an FAA license, the FCC license, and just an official statement from SpaceX. We also have an awesome Starship checklist website that will tell you what milestones are needed for upcoming rocket launches. So we'll do our best to try to keep that "no earlier than" launch date as current as possible. Some of these milestones can sneak up on you in a hurry though, so check often and be prepared to travel at a moment's notice. These first launches will be hard to catch. This is especially true of course for Starship and Starbase in the early days of these test flights and development. But if Falcon nine launches have taught us anything in the relatively near future, they'll be launching every few days. So catching a Starship launch won't be nearly as hard in the future. As you might imagine, since Brownsville borders Mexico, there are some incredible tacos all over the place. Street tacos are the specialty here, so relatively small with cilantro and protein. They're very greasy and yummy. You won't have a problem finding tacos anywhere, but maybe some of the best street tacos would be from Ultima Taco or La Villa Taqueria. There are some fantastic street tacos there. Downtown Brownsville also has two amazing restaurants that I just love. There's Terres Urban Kitchen and Dodici Pizza. Both are a little more on the high end, but both are fantastic. Now, I'm sure there's other fine restaurants downtown Brownsville as well, but I haven't yet really explored much beyond that small part of downtown Brownsville, which by the way, despite it being right on the border, downtown Brownsville is quite safe and cute and it is worth visiting. If you're on South Padre or Port Isabel get ready for some seafood. And in that world, Ceviche Ceviche is a must. It's incredibly fresh fish and veggies, which makes for just amazing ceviche. If you haven't had ceviche before, this is a wonderful place to try it with tons of options so you can customize it to your taste. Mahi Nics is also a cute little shop that has wonderful options. The Mahi sandwich is great, and the outdoor seating next to the marina is a nice fun view. If you're not much of a seafood person. There's Kohnami sushi and hibachi that's also pretty fantastic, has some good Thai food. There's also Russo's Pizza next door, which is always good too. There's a few wonderful acai places too, like Beach Bowls in Port Isabel and Berry Divine on the island. Other than that, there's many casual restaurants and bars up and down the island, and a lot of them are along the bay side, so they're facing west. So this makes them great places to watch the sunset, but perhaps my favorite place in the whole area is Hopper Haus because well, duh, it's already Starbase themed, it's cozy, they make good drinks, they've got great beers on tap, their food's good, and they have awesome outdoor spaces in front and back. They even have some Tesla destination chargers too. Okay, Starbase is great and all, but what else is there to do? Specifically, what if you're traveling with others who aren't as interested in Starbase? Is it worth dragging them along? The answer is yeah, absolutely, because don't forget, far before Starbase was a thing, south Padre was a popular vacation destination. So there's of course the wonderful beach to enjoy. You obviously know this by now, but for sure my favorite thing to do on the beach is surf. It's absolutely one of the most fun things you can do on South Padre. There's really excellent surfing there, and it's great because depending on where you are on the island, the waves hit differently. So if you are a beginner and you just wanna learn, it's great because you can surf in the nice and easy waves, but if you're an advanced surfer, you can go up north and it can just be a dream. Our very good friend Jean, who's helped us with all of our live streams and just generally helped out a ton on all sorts of things, is also an incredible surfer, and he's an amazing surf instructor who owns South Padre Surf Company, so definitely hit him up if you want to surf. There's also wave running and boat rentals, parasailing and all sorts of fun things to do in the water around the island. And if you don't want to get wet, there's Dolphin watching tours at Dolphin Docks and the Pirate Ship tour at Pirates Landing. Both of those are in Port Isabel. South Padre also has a small amusement park called Gravity Park with go-karts and mini-golf and a few other fun things. The Rio Grande Valley is also home to some of the best bird watching and fishing in the world. So if you're into either one of those things, bring your gear. You can also go on some deep sea fishing tours as well. And US Space fans are pretty lucky too because the Rio Grande Valley is actually home to some pretty dark skies. And our good friends at Star Society, the valley's Astronaut Astronomical Club, offer regular stargazing opportunities at the observatory, as well as weekly stem events for kids and even model rocket building parties for young adults. You can find their events at starsocietyrgv.org. There's also a cool art gallery on South Padre simply called The Art Lounge that has some great space themed art, including work from Inspiration four Astronaut, Dr. Sian Proctor, but they also do art workshops and music too. Brownsville has a great little zoo called the Gladys Porter Zoo. While you're there, you could also enjoy the bike trails and maybe grab a coffee at Seventh and Park. Well, that pretty much does it. I think that's absolutely everything I can think of to share from my past four years of coming down to South Texas. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Are you planning to try and catch a Starship launch someday or are you gonna go visit Starbase someday? Please let me know in the comments below. So as you may have noticed, I had a lot of recommendations in this video and I wanna let you know that none of these are sponsored. Everything I mentioned in the video between the places to to eat and stay and what to do around here, we're just places that I enjoy myself. I didn't do any sponsored content. So if you find this video helpful and if you want to help me continue to do what I do, uh, consider maybe dropping a super thanks or become a Patreon supporter at patreon.com/everydayastronaut. And while you're online, be sure and check out our amazing shop. We, of course, have those incredible Falcon 9 rocket models that are incredibly detailed. They're made outta metal, they're super durable. They're just, I think they're the best rocket you can possibly buy, and we hope to make a lot more in this collection someday. But we also have tons of other fun, cool stuff like shirts and our dress wear or even socks or other fun accessories at everydayastronaut.com/shop. I also owe really big thank you to my friends at Cosmic Perspective. So Mary this Bender and Ryan Chylinski, uh, definitely find their YouTube channel for a lot of extra stuff, kind of like this, but really artistic stuff. But the coolest thing is to find their Patreon page where they have VR experiences. They're working on an app, so look for that too, in the near future. There'll be a link in the description if that app is out, that will allow you to be able to visit Starbase. A lot of these places that we just showed in this tour, you'll be able to stand there and see it in, in an actual stereoscopic VR in the comfort of your own home, which is a really cool way to visit if you're not able to come down here to Texas. So find their stuff at Cosmic Perspective on YouTube, Patreon, and the app. Thanks to everybody that's gonna do it for me. I'm Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut bringing space down to earth for everyday people.
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