Back into the Destin groove

Slow but sure, Sunshine Cindy and I are getting back into the groove in Destin. After being gone for over 10 days, it took us some time to get used to the cooler weather and having to go back to work.

Sunshine Cindy and Precious

The first thing we did on Tuesday was go pick up Sunshine Cindy’s dog Precious. She was being spoiled by a dog sitter who took great care of her. After we got her we stopped at Friday’s in Destin to meet Sunshine Cindy’s Mom, some of her lady friends and Tiff. We told some stories about our trip and got caught up with everyone. Then we went home. Precious was happy to be home.

Later in the afternoon I headed to Landshark Pizza. I was not ready to totally get off vacation mode yet! Brian and Sue were working then Stephanie came in to work. It was Stephanie’s cousin I met at our Welcome to the Island Party in Key West. We still can’t believe it. I had a taste for some wings and Landshark has some of the best. As I sat there my snowbird friends Alan and Jackie came in. They got into town Sunday and will be here for about 5 months. It was great catching up with them.

Jackie and Alan

They stay at the RV park on the island. They told me Fud’s on the island is basically closing down all of their rooms except for the lower bar area for the season. That is surprising. I would have thought the back Steamer Bar on the water would be open especially on nice days. Oh well, I guess they got to be as big as they are by making smart business decisions.

All the servers in town are talking about how slow everything is right now. The fishing rodeo is over so those folks are gone. Only a few snowbirds have come into town and all fall breaks at the schools are over. So it is basically a ghost town for a while. I am not complaining as it is nice to get around but then I don’t rely on tourist for my paycheck either. We will be on the harbor this weekend so it will be interesting to see how many people are there walking around.

Sunny Jim playing at Fuds steamer bar

Years ago when I first moved to Destin, almost every place in town would close for the winter. We had far fewer places then and you could roll a bowling ball down Hwy. 98 in the evenings and not hit anyone. It’s not that bad now and fewer places close for the season. I have seen several places that are closing for a couple of weeks to take a much needed break but not many will be shut down for the winter.

This weekend at Harborwalk Village they will have a “Blues, Brews and BBQ” festival. The weather looks like it will be good so I expect a big crowd to descend on the harbor. We will probably visit to check it out. Friday night is the ECPHC meeting at Harry T’s so we will get right back into our local Trop Rock scene pretty quick.

Have a great weekend. See ya Monday!