Monday, March 3, 2014

Destin Mardi Gras

Sunshine Cindy and I had a wild weekend in Destin. Let’s get right to it.

Thursday evening we decided to head out for a while. Our plan was to stop at Cuvee Beach. Our friend Dominic is now bartending there and we have heard they have a good happy hour that goes till 9 pm. It must be good. The place was packed. We could not find a seat to sit at. We saw Dom, said hello and headed out to find someplace we could actually get a seat at. We decided to stop at Rupert’s which is in the bowling alley. So we went from the upscale Cuvee Beach to the blue collar crowd at the bowling alley.

Parrot Heads ready for the parade

There was a good crowd in there but we did find a seat at the bar. Folks who were bowling were making a steady stream to the bar too. One bartender, Ron, handled the entire bar himself. He did a great job. With the beers only being $2 each, it was a good deal. When we left we decided to stop in at Sago Sports Bar before heading home. My co-worker Maynard was there with some of his friends. Tommy was also at the bar. A good local’s group was there having a good time. Tommy and Sago will continue to advertise with us on Crab Island Mambo. Sago is a great place with cheap drinks. They were only $2 a beer there too Thursday.

Friday was a parrot head Phlocking night at Nauti Girls in Fort Walton Beach. We headed over a little early and made a stop at Fud’s on the island. I was hoping to talk to them about doing some advertising too but the folks I needed to talk to were not there that day. Oh well, next time I guess.

Nauti Girls Mermaids

Nauti Girls is in the old Fishlipz building under the Brooks bridge. I used to go there all the time when I lived on the island. It has not changed much since the Fishlipz days. They have some girls in mermaid outfits sit on the bar. You can get your picture taken with them. What a job. Sit on a bar and look pretty! lol  The Phlocking was a lot of fun. We had a good crowd show up. They had a band from Pensacola that rocked the house. A good group stayed till late into the night.

Saturday was the big Mardi Gras parade on the harbor in Destin. The weather was perfect with temps around 70 and no clouds. Sunshine Cindy stayed home to get some stuff done but I went down to the harbor about 11 am. Judie and Kelly were having some lunch at Margaritaville so I stopped in to sit with them. When they finished we went up to the Landshark Lookout Bar. It has a great view of the harbor and east pass. From there we made our way to the parade staging area. I was not going to march in the parade but they talked me into it.

Ready to march

By now the entire harbor area was getting packed with people. The parade started at 2 pm with over 120 entries in the parade. Thousands of people lined the parade route. I have never seen so many people down on the harbor. It was insane. The parade ended at Crab Island Cantina where I immediately ducked into. Several others joined me to let the crowd die down. A couple of hours later I headed home to get Sunshine Cindy. We went to Landshark Pizza to relax a little. Jason, Sue and a few new employees were working there. Many people who were at the parade showed up there. Plus Rusty also came in. He is heading back to Australia so this was a last stop for some good pizza.

On Sunday Jan Patton was playing at Crab Island Cantina. Sunshine Cindy and I got there early to partake in their Sunday Brunch. OMG the food was fantastic! Jan with help from Kenny played from 1-5 pm. The weather was even better Sunday than it was on Saturday. The Cantina stayed crowded the entire time. The first wave of Spring Breakers have arrived and many were around. It was such a festive atmosphere the entire weekend. Yep, spring is in the air. It was a great time at The Cantina with good friends.

Kenny and Jan at Crab Island Cantina

When Jan finished Sunshine Cindy and I walked down to Fishheads. Al was playing his sax and wowing the crowd. Melissa the owner was there. We talked to her about her plans for the upcoming season. They are in a perfect spot and will do great. At one point we see Dave and Marilyn walking by on the docks. It has been months since we have seen them. They were upstairs at Margaritaville watching the sunset. It was nice catching up with them. Finally we called it a day and headed home to get ready for the coming week.

One final note: While we were at The Cantina on Sunday we were given some raffle tickets to sell. There will be a drawing this Sunday for three prizes. One is for a signed guitar by Carlos Santana. (I would love to win that!) One prize is a trip to Mexico to tour a tequila factory. The last prize is tickets, lodging and limo transportation to a Carlos Santana concert in Tampa the end of April. Tickets are only $10 each with only 1000 being sold. Message me if you are interested in purchasing a ticket or two.

Okay, y’all have a great week. See ya Thursday!!!

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