Easter in Destin

Easter Sunday is kind of the end of Spring Break in Destin. Last week the town was packed though. Friday night trying to get home from work was like a summer day. In Fort Walton Beach they had the Downtown Art Walk. KC’s Sandbar had music flowing from the bar when I passed it. That part of Fort Walton was hopping and slow. Destin was just as busy with cars and people everywhere.

Sunshine Cindy and I went to Landshark Pizza to see Alan and Jackie. They were leaving to head home on Sunday. They had a friend, Charley with them. Charley is from Louisville and was in town to drive a youth sports team from city to city. He was an interesting guy. Julie also joined us. We had not seen Julie in a few weeks. Landshark was packed from the moment we got there till we left. People have found out about our secret locals spot.

When we left Sunshine Cindy and I stopped in at the Rotten Apple. JD was playing again. Courtney was behind the bar. She had our beers ready as we walked in. That’s the sign of a great bartender! We hung out for a while then headed to the American Legion for Karaoke. Julie beat us there. Capt. John and Monica were there too. It was a fun time and I even sang a couple of times. It was not a pretty sight or sound! LOL

Saturday Sunshine Cindy and I went down to the harbor. Fred and his son Nick were back in town from Atlanta to go deep sea fishing. We meet them after their trip at Margaritaville for a few beers. They were happy as they had a cooler full of fish.

I have to say Margaritaville does not make it easy or cheap to stop there. We could not order two drinks each as we wanted to sit upstairs at the top bar overlooking the harbor. You had to be present to order and could only order one at a time. I understand kids at spring break but we don’t fit that criteria. So we got our one drink each and went upstairs. Then Sunshine Cindy and I wanted to buy a round but even though they knew who we were we could only get one drink each. I ordered one for me and Cindy, she took them upstairs then she came back ordered one more for me and her and we took them up so all four of us had drinks. I don’t blame the bartender, she was following directions and they have camera’s on them but come on, give your front line folks some leeway in making intelligent decisions. Finally when we were ready to leave Sunshine Cindy got a diet Coke to go…it cost $3.87 for one small ice filled glass of Coke. No wonder the locals stay away.

We decided to go to the Boathouse. As we pulled out of the parking garage onto Hwy. 98 we got a call from Alan and Jackie, they were walking up to Crab Island Cantina. So we turned around, got our same parking spot and joined them at the Cantina bar. We had a nice time visiting with them. We won’t see them again till June. They are great people and have become wonderful friends. The Cantina was busy. Judy and Mike came by to say hello. Ken walked by with his dog, Baby Girl. You could tell it was a busy holiday weekend.

When we left to head home, we saw blue lights up the road. Before we got to the blue lights we saw a car in front of AJ’s badly damaged. It turns out a drunk lost control, went up on a sidewalk and nailed a car trying to leave AJ’s, careened across Hwy. 98 and crashed into a scuba building, backed up and then crashed into a parking lot. Lucky no one was killed. This guy should be put away for a long time as he had no license for previous DUI’s.

We had a nice Easter Sunday with Sunshine Cindy’s parents at their house. The weather was great. We sat out on the dock for a while and had a couple of dolphins swim right by. One came up about 10 feet away from us. That was cool. I hope everyone had a nice Easter Sunday.

The old Fisherman’s Wharf is reopening this Wednesday as Brotula’s Seafood and Steamer. The Jackacuda’s folks are running this place too. It’s locally owned and operated. I will be interested to see what it’s like.

There were a lot of boats on the water this weekend. The Dolphin cruise boats were all full and many private boaters were out enjoying some nice weather. We also saw a bunch of pontoon rentals out in the harbor too. It’s getting closer to Crab Island time. I saw Brian on Friday. Brian used to have the Sinkin Weenie food boat. He still does catering and food on Crab Island. He is gearing up right now for the season.

This week will be a busy one around here. Southern Drawl Band will be in town playing at KC’s on Friday night, Juana’s on Saturday night and Crab Island Cantina on Sunday afternoon. I highly recommend you get out and catch one or all of their shows as these guys are great. I will have a full report on Monday!!! See ya then!!!