Monday, May 29, 2017

Happy Memorial Day

Be sure to take time today to honor those who sacrificed their lives so we can live in this great country.

Last week was the last slow tourist week in Destin for a couple months. Even though the town was busy, it’s nothing like what we have in store for us. The weekend was crazy with folks coming to celebrate the holiday weekend. Next week starts the parade on the harbor on Tuesdays and fireworks on Thursday. Plus they are doing fireworks on the island again this year on Wednesdays. I might need to pack a lunch to get home from work!

Friday Sunshine Cindy and I went to her parents’ house. They were having a small party with their neighbors. The night was beautiful and the neighbors were all nice folks. It was a fun way to start the weekend.

Saturday we made a stop at Honey Baked Ham to pick up ham sliders for our friends Bobby and Darla’s yearly Memorial Weekend party. They boil crawfish and shrimp, had Jeff and the Camaro’s playing music and celebrate our service members. This was their 22nd year putting this party on. It is amazing.

When we left Bobby’s, we stopped at Buz and Brenda’s house for a while. They have a nice place in Harbor Breeze subdivision. It was a nice end to the day.

Sunday was spent working around the house. We had our tile floors cleaned this past week. So while everything was out of the way, Sunshine Cindy wanted to do a deep cleaning. The house is looking fantastic. Even Chaos stayed out of the way other than supervising us from time to time. lol

I made a trip to Landshark in the late afternoon for a pizza. Tashunda was working the bar with a new guy. I didn’t get his name but he was cool. Jason was working tables. Brian and Sue were watching the parking lot to make sure only patrons of Landshark parked there. They were doing fireworks on the harbor Sunday night and it was getting busy. Hwy 98 westbound was a parking lot. I got on the back roads as soon as I could.

It was a calm week after the craziness we had the previous week with the parrot head party.

Have a safe Memorial Day. See ya next Monday!

Destin Steve

Monday, May 22, 2017

It was a hectic week in Destin

Some weeks are busier than others. Last week was one of those busy weeks for us. Monday I flew back to Destin from Cleveland. Monday afternoon we had our final planning meeting for the Parrot Head “Tailgates Down” party. The board and committee met at O’Quigleys and hashed out the last of the details. It was a long but productive day.

Tuesday Sunshine Cindy and I stayed home but the planning for the party continued. She made a run to Publix to buy beer for the weekend. About 5 cases of beer later we were well stocked. The banners arrived on Tuesday and they looked great. Sunshine Cindy is the committee chairperson and she was working on the details into the evening.

Wednesday was our third anniversary. We decided that we would go out to a nice dinner after the party was completed so we stayed home, had a few cocktails on the porch and looked at the event tee shirts that were delivered that afternoon. They turned out great except for misspelling “Camero” for Jeff and the Camaro’s. Oh well, it is now a collector’s item!

Thursday was the last day we had to get all the final details in order. I stopped at Landshark Pizza on the way home from work and got a pizza to bring home. While at Landshark I had a chance to chat with B for a while. I have not seen B in several weeks. Paige was working the bar. It was a relaxing time before the craziness that was coming.

Friday morning Sunshine Cindy and I went to Asiago Skillet for breakfast. We saw Brian and Sue in the parking lot. They recommended we get the King Biscuit platter. Sunshine Cindy did and it was awesome. A huge biscuit covered in sausage gravy, eggs, bacon and ham. Wow, that was good. I had breakfast burritos that were just as good. Asiago is our favorite breakfast place. After breakfast we stopped and got 6 bags of ice. We have two big coolers that we were bringing on Saturday so we needed all that ice.

After we got back home Sunshine Cindy got a call that a new pair of prescription sunglasses we ordered for her was in. So off to Fort Walton Beach we went to get them. By the time we got home it was almost time to head to Crab Island Cantina for our friend Jim Asbell’s show. This was being billed as a pre-party for the main event on Saturday. We took Uber and got to the Cantina about an hour before he was to go on. Jim was already there setting up on the outside stage.

The Cantina staff took great care of us. Al was our server. We ended up with over 50 people and Al was on top of things for us. To make things easier we had Al find a bucket so we could keep our beers cold and save him from making too trips back and forth. Jim did a great show as usual. Many folks that were just there hanging out stayed and enjoyed the music. If you ever get a chance to see Jim live you need to do it!

After he was done several of us helped him load up. A group had gone to Landshark so we walked down there. We got to give Jim a tour of the harbor area. He had no idea there was so much to do down along the docks. At Landshark Mike, Brodie, Judie, Kelly, Leigh, Keith and the three of us sat around the bar. We had some food and enjoyed some good conversation. But we had to be up early on Saturday so we called it quits about 10:30 and got Uber back home.

By 8 am Sunshine Cindy and I were at the Mattie Kelly Cultural Arts Village starting to get set up. Stephanie was already there and the rest of the committee was showing up right behind us. By the time the tailgate part of the party got started everything was ready to go. We used the Parrot Head float as a stage in the field for the tailgating with a generator for power. That worked perfectly. At noon the party moved into the main grounds.


Jeff and the Camaro’s opened the show. Jeff did his usual fun show. He had people dancing in the grass. BT Turner followed and he entertained everyone with his fun and quirky songs. Our headliner was Jerry Diaz and Hanna’s Reef from Texas. We had a glitch with the power as the breakers kept popping. We determined there was a problem with the breakers on the stage. We remedied that by using the generator that was used in the parking lot. The show went on!

It was a hot and humid day. By late afternoon we started to get some cloud cover. There was a 50% chance of rain but we got lucky. It didn’t start to rain until we had the last of the cleanup done and everyone had long gone home. Saturday night we had hours of thunderstorms blow through with strong lightning and heavy rain. We are fortunate it held off for us.


Sunday morning I rode back to the venue to drop off a key and make one last pass to be sure we didn’t leave anything behind. We had volunteer help from our charity, “Children in Crisis” help clean up and they did a great job. We really needed that help after being out there all day. We should be donating a nice check to them soon from the proceeds of the party!

Sunday afternoon Sunshine Cindy and I decided to head to McGuire’s for our anniversary dinner. We had a nice varied meal. I first got sushi and Sunshine Cindy got a Ruben egg roll appetizer. They were both yummy. We had to have the Senate Bean Soup. You have to have it for just 18 cents! We then got one of their burgers to split. These things are like ¾ of a pound of meat. We had to bring a fourth of it home.

After eating we took a drive around old town Destin. Then when we got back home we sat on our front porch to close out the weekend. We were tired from the all the activities we did during the week but also satisfied that we were part of a successful event that folks enjoyed while we raised money for a worthy charity.

I think this week will not be quite so busy. But the summer tourist season kicks off this weekend so we have about 11 weeks of crazy traffic and congestion to look forward to. Have a great Memorial holiday. See ya next Monday.

Destin Steve

Monday, May 15, 2017

Happy Mother’s Day

The blog this week will be short and sweet. I flew to Cleveland on Friday to spend Mother’s Day with my Mom. Sunshine Cindy stayed back to spend time with her Mom. I flew Alligiant Air. It was a direct flight to Cleveland and it was a wonderful experience. The trip back home today was the same. I will not hesitate to fly them again. For my Cleveland peeps, they fly to Destin/Fort Walton Beach each Friday and Monday. Come on down!

This weekend is our Emerald Coast Parrot Head Club’s, “Tailgates Down…Phriends All Around” fundraiser. It is an all day party at the Mattie Kelly Cultural Arts Village in Destin to benefit “Children in Crisis.” Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 the day of the event. Music to be provided by Jim Asbell on Friday night at Crab Island Cantina (open to the public) and My Island Band for the Tailgate party Saturday morning. Then on the big stage Jeff and the Camaro’s, BT Turner and Jerry Diaz and Hanna’s Reef. Check out the Emerald Coast Parrot Head Clubs Facebook page for more details.

Hope to see you all on Saturday.

Destin Steve

Monday, May 8, 2017

Another good week in Destin

We kicked off the week on Tuesday with a Parrot Head BOD meeting at O’Quigley’s in Destin. The committee for the “Tailgates Down…Phriends All Around” party were also in attendance. It was a good meeting and we feel we are on track to have a fantastic party on May 20th. Charley, the owner of O’Quigley’s even signed up to be a sponsor. We are up to 24 total sponsors now. Our charity, “Children in Crisis” will be the beneficiary of all proceeds.

Wednesday on the way home from work I stopped at The Crust Pizzeria. I had to drop off some paperwork I forgot to give them when they signed up as a sponsor. Charley was not there but Mike was. I have not seen Mike in a few months and he had some free time so we got to catch up. I did get my Baked Ziti with sausage dish that I love. It was fantastic as always.

Friday the week kicked into high gear. Sunshine Cindy and I had to go into Fort Walton Beach to drop off information and tickets about the May party at the radio stations. After a stop at the eye doctor for Sunshine Cindy to order some sunglasses we decided to get into the Cinco de Mayo attitude and stop on the island at Rockin Taco. It was the middle of the afternoon and the place was almost full. They were gearing up for a big night with specials and prizes.

It was windy so we sat inside but the sun was shining and the Gulf of Mexico was beautiful as they had the windows and doors open. We had a couple brews then headed to the harbor and Crab Island Cantina to continue the party.

We went inside to Charley’s BBB Bar to get out of the wind. It was even worse in the wind tunnel between the Grande and the Cantina. Carlos, Mike and Stephanie all came by to say hello. There were a bunch of new folks working as the Cantina had a full staff on also. We had a drink each and decided to go to Tailfins as they were also having specials.

It started out quietly at Tailfins. We sat at the bar inside and had some dinner. The food was good. We both had pasta with fresh gulf shrimp. I think they were probably swimming in the gulf the night before! By the time we finished eating Ronnie was getting ready to start playing. We got a beer and planned to sit at a table on the boardwalk and listen to Ronnie for a while. Well, that was the plan.

When we got to the boardwalk, Johnny (the owner of Tailfins) was there and came over and talked with us. The wind was slowly dying down and we did have our Southern Drawl Band hoodies too to keep us warm. We were enjoying Ronnie’s music, watching the tourist walk the boardwalk and BS’ing with Johnny. He told us about his brother in law and how he owns the play zone area on the island, the pier and how he is planning to build something big on the bay. It sounds like he has his hand into everything.

About the time we were planning to head home our friends from Oklahoma, Steve and Becky came by and joined. Then some other friends of theirs from OK, Chase and Darcy came by and now the party was on. We had a great time and ended up staying for Ronnie’s entire show. It was a fun evening but time for us to head home.

Back home our neighbors Rhett and Becky were having a party in their driveway. We let Chaos out and we all joined in the fun. Chaos was the star of the night getting love from everyone. We finally went in about 11 pm. It was a long fun day.

Saturday was a slower day for us. We went furniture shopping but first stopped at Waffle House for breakfast. We went to J. Miller Furniture in San Destin. We were very impressed. We ordered a new sofa and two oversized chairs. They even gave us a couple beers while we were waiting for all the paperwork to be completed. How cool.

On the drive to the store we had the top down on Badass. The wind was barely blowing and it was about 80 degrees. When we left the store we went down old 98 to ride along the beach. Now the wind was blowing like a tropical storm again. It was amazing how fast it kicked up. I heard there were two different boats that were capsized in the bay. I could believe it. We went home and relaxed the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Sunday had me taking Chaos for her morning walk before Sunshine Cindy and I headed to Beals. We didn’t get anything there. Next stop was Target for some house supplies and toiletries. We then headed to the harbor to go listen to BT play at the Cantina. We get there and Steve and Becky were there so we hung out with them again. They are so much fun. James saw us and talked with us for a while. There were two tourist guys from Austin, TX at the bar. They were waiting for the rest of their family to get in later in the day. We gave them some ideas on places to go during the week they are here. We even broke in a new bartender. I didn’t get his name but he was good. Hopefully he will stick around.

One more stop when we left the Cantina was Landshark for some pizza. Jason and Sue were working. I got to watch the Cavs wrap up game four and move on. After the pizza it was time to head home. We sat on the back porch and enjoyed the end of the weekend.

The town continues to be busy even during this supposed slow time. It was Thunder Beach weekend in Panama City Beach but we get a lot of bikers going through and stopping in Destin too. There was a car show at the Commons that also brought a lot of traffic to town. Jason said Landshark was crazy busy on Saturday night. It’s just the way the town is now. 

The mystery of what’s being built where the old PMI building used to be in Fort Walton Beach is solved. It took them about 8 months to tear down the buildings and then the lot sat empty for many more months. Now there is a lot of building going on as a Holiday Inn Express is going in there. I believe a new hotel is also going in on 98 by the high school. This is on top of the new Hampton Inn by the mall. I wonder if there is enough folks to keep all these places full in Fort Walton.

I have decided that if I start a new business it will be to make “help wanted” signs. Literally every store and restaurant in town has one out. I find it hard to believe there is enough help to go around. We should be seeing the summer folks from Lithuania, Russia and other areas like that show up pretty soon to fill some of these jobs.

This weekend I am flying to Cleveland to see my family. It’s a short 3 day trip. Sunshine Cindy is staying home see her Mom on Mother’s Day and take care of Chaos. I will have a wrap up next Monday. See ya then!

Destin Steve

Monday, May 1, 2017

Another week in paradise

It was a relatively normal and quiet week in Destin. Wednesday was Sunshine Cindy’s birthday. We celebrated it at Osaka Japanese restaurant. Osaka has hibachi tables where the chef cooks the food in front of you. We were at a table with 15 military folks. They were celebrating a retirement. When you added Sunshine Cindy’s birthday we had quite the celebration. The chef was a blast, the food was great and we had a fun time with our new friends.

Friday night we had our monthly Parrot Head Phlocking at Margaritaville. It appears that Margaritaville is now reaching out to the Parrot Heads. The building and location are first class and we had a fun evening there. A bunch of tickets were also sold for our upcoming May 20th party, “Tailgates Down…Phriends All Around.” Tickets are just $25 per person for an all day party. All proceeds go to Children in Crisis.  You can still get your tickets for this fun event at Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tailgates-downphriends-all-around-tickets-32568153223?aff=es2


After we left Margaritaville we made a stop at the newly remodeled Waffle House. Sunshine Cindy has had a craving for Waffle House so we were able to take care of it. They totally rebuilt this location and it is nice. And the food was good as usual.

Saturday was a windy day. I took Chaos for her walk in the morning. It was humid but the wind helped keep up comfortable. In the early afternoon we headed to Sunshine Cindy’s parents’ house for her birthday. We had a nice visit. Going across the Mid-Bay bridge the wind was blowing big whitecaps on the bay. There was one small boat fighting the waves. They had to be getting beat up in that boat. When we went home the wind had finally died down a little.

When we got home there was a police car sitting in our neighborhood with a cop standing by a door of a house. We didn’t know what was going on. We took Chaos for a walk later and the cop was still there. We come to find out the boyfriend, of a lady who lived, there tried to rape her 8 year old daughter. They got the guy and the cop was there to make sure nothing else was going to happen. What kind of sick individual would try and do something like that to a kid? They need to hang him and save the taxpayer money on this dirt bag.

Sunday was a quiet day at the house. I did take Chaos on her walk. She looks forward to it when I’m home. She will follow me around waiting impatiently. She has even hit the door to the laundry room where her leash and collar are kept to give me a hint! When I start to get ready to go she goes nuts jumping up and down. She does love her walks.

I had a craving for Landshark Pizza. Sunshine Cindy didn’t have the craving so I went myself to take care of my carving a pizza. Paige was working and Jason came in later. I had a pepperoni and jalapeƱo pizza that was excellent as always. I watched some basketball and hockey and had a few brews. It was a nice relaxing afternoon.

This is supposed to be a slack tourist time between spring break and the summer crowds. But you would not know it looking at the crowds on the harbor and the traffic on 98. Destin is now becoming a year round destination. Even on Sunday there were crowds all around town. We are not a sleepy little fishing village anymore.

Another busy week is coming up. Friday is Cinco de Mayo and it will be celebrated at all the local Mexican restaurants with the biggest celebration at Crab Island Cantina. Also on Friday is the Rotary Club’s Crawfish dinner fundraiser. Our neighbor Rett is the one who cooks up the crawfish. He does a great job with it. This weekend is Burning up the Beaches car show at Destin Commons. The Commons will be packed for that. There is always something happening in Destin.

Have a great week. See ya next Monday!

Destin Steve