This has been shark week on the Discovery Channel. Of course every week is shark week in Destin. My own personal experience with sharks was a few years ago. I was on the beach at Topsail. It was a middle of the week day and the beach was deserted. I was sitting in the water’s edge when I saw a fin coming towards me a few feet from the sand. I stood up and I saw a 8 foot Hammerhead shark just cruising up the coast. I took a step back and watched as this big guy swam a few feet from me. I felt pretty secure on the beach. LOL
Sunshine Cindy and I had a busy day on Friday. She had an appointment in Pensacola first thing in the morning. We got there early but had to wait as the doctor was running late. 2 hours later we were still waiting. The doctor had an emergency so they canceled the appointment. It was frustrating but we understand you have to take care of the emergencies.
We drove back and met her parents at the new Props in Niceville for lunch. This place is in the old Helen Back location. It’s a nice sports bar. The food we had was good and the craft beer is excellent. We all then went to 3rd Planet Brewing Company. They have a new building and have many great beers they brew. It was nice as they don’t have TV’s or WiFi and people were actually talking to each other. They do have a food truck and they even encourage folks to bring food from home if they want to.
From there Sunshine Cindy and I stopped at LuLu’s. We have not been there in a long time. We sat at the outside bar and enjoyed the breeze. A plane that could land on water came and went a few times while we were there. I’m wondering if LuLu’s gives rides on this plane. We thought about going to the Parrot Head meeting at the new Village Door but decided instead to stop at The Craft Bar to let the traffic die down a little. We had a big pretzel and some drinks before heading home where we spent the rest of the evening in the pool.
Saturday was spent doing things around the house. I made a grocery run but otherwise it was working outside and some more pool time.
Sunday I had to get my pizza fix from Landshark Pizza. Paige was working the bar and Renee was waiting on the tables. The place was pretty busy with families coming and going. The pizza was as good as always. I should be good for a couple weeks now.
Around town things were kind of quiet. We had the usual traffic and tourist to contend with but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of the year. I did hear about a new bar that has opened on the harbor. Next to Tailfins is a house. Tim owned this house and the land that Tailfins was built on. I saw Tim about a year ago and he said the noise and traffic from the harbor was so bad he couldn’t spend time in the house on the weekends. I then heard he sold the house/land to Dewey Destin.
Dewey was going to do some kind of restaurant but can’t get it approved. So they do what everyone does in Destin, they opened a bar on the back patio. We have not stopped there yet but we will soon to check it out.
Have a great week. See ya next Monday!
Destin Steve
Monday, July 30, 2018
Monday, July 23, 2018
Summer in Destin
Well let’s see, this past week was hot and humid with a lot of tourist around and some thunderstorms…yep a typical week in Destin in the middle of summer.
I got back home last Tuesday from my trip to Ohio to help move my Mom. Hence there was no blog last week.
Since I got back, Sunshine Cindy and I went out on Saturday for a while. We had some errands to run and then headed to the harbor. We could not make the Parrot Head beach cleanup due to some morning appointments so we decided to get out later. We went to Tailfins. Victoria was working the bar and Bernadette took care of us. One of our local friends Ken was at the bar. We had not seen him in months. Turns out he lost his wife’s mom and dad in a month span and then his own mom passed. He has had a rough few months but it was good talking to him.
Tailfins stayed pretty busy with a lot of folks coming and going from the pontoon rentals. It was probably the hottest day of the year for Destin but we had a nice breeze. Tony was walking the docks and he came and hung out with us for a while. It’s always fun catching up with Tony.
Sunshine Cindy and I decided to go to The Boathouse before heading home. We sat at the outside bar where old friend Cam took care of us. It’s been a few months since we last saw Cam. Rusty was playing inside and a lot of folks were there. Very typical for The Boathouse! We probably headed home about 5 pm.
We found out the next day it was at that time a 18 year old got sweep out of Crab Island by a strong current. A couple of folks tried to rescue him but they almost died trying. Unfortunately this young man drowned and his body was recovered the next morning. This was an unfortunate accident but it’s something I’m surprised does not happen more often. That current when it is going out is very strong. People who don’t know the water can get in trouble fast. Please be careful at Crab Island.
Sunday Sunshine Cindy and I went to Callahan’s for brunch. It was nice and sunny when we got there but within 15 minutes we could see it was pouring down rain. My windows were cracked but we got lucky as the rain was straight down and no water got inside. We had a nice meal then went to check out a new Cajun meat market. Hebert’s recently opened just down from West Marine in the Gulf Shores shopping center. They have a ton of good looking food with boneless chickens being their specialty. It all looked great. We know where we are going for food for our next party.
Speaking of local markets…Sunshine Cindy stopped in at Destin Ice Seafood market on Friday and picked up a pound of steamed shrimp. It was awesome! I love our local fresh seafood.
I heard a new Italian restaurant is opening up at The Commons. It will be in the old LaFamila location. Several years ago LaFamila burst on the Destin food scene and had a big local following. They were in the spot where Landshark Pizza is at now. They tried to expand by moving to the place above Crab Island Cantina. For a while they had both harbor locations open. Then they closed the original place and opened up at The Commons where Hard Rock used to be. Now all of the places are closed. Too bad because they had great food. I think they overextended themselves.
It was announced a new waterfront restaurant is going to be built and opened in downtown Fort Walton Beach next to The Landing. This is the continuation of the growth of downtown Fort Walton Beach. Our friends Mike and Bev from KC’s Sandbar has had a lot to do with this revitalization.
I saw this week where a familiar face down on the docks has passed away. Jimmy was always helping out on the boats or at some of the bars where he could make some money. You never saw Jimmy panhandling but instead he worked for his money. I don’t know where he lived but you could always find him on the docks. I heard cancer got him. RIP Jimmy…
Okay, one more week of tourist season and then it should start to slow down as schools prepare to reopen. We can do this!!!
The Parrot Heads are meeting this Friday at the new Village Door in Seascape. Come out and Party with a Purpose. See ya next Monday!
Destin Steve
I got back home last Tuesday from my trip to Ohio to help move my Mom. Hence there was no blog last week.
Since I got back, Sunshine Cindy and I went out on Saturday for a while. We had some errands to run and then headed to the harbor. We could not make the Parrot Head beach cleanup due to some morning appointments so we decided to get out later. We went to Tailfins. Victoria was working the bar and Bernadette took care of us. One of our local friends Ken was at the bar. We had not seen him in months. Turns out he lost his wife’s mom and dad in a month span and then his own mom passed. He has had a rough few months but it was good talking to him.
Tailfins stayed pretty busy with a lot of folks coming and going from the pontoon rentals. It was probably the hottest day of the year for Destin but we had a nice breeze. Tony was walking the docks and he came and hung out with us for a while. It’s always fun catching up with Tony.
Sunshine Cindy and I decided to go to The Boathouse before heading home. We sat at the outside bar where old friend Cam took care of us. It’s been a few months since we last saw Cam. Rusty was playing inside and a lot of folks were there. Very typical for The Boathouse! We probably headed home about 5 pm.
We found out the next day it was at that time a 18 year old got sweep out of Crab Island by a strong current. A couple of folks tried to rescue him but they almost died trying. Unfortunately this young man drowned and his body was recovered the next morning. This was an unfortunate accident but it’s something I’m surprised does not happen more often. That current when it is going out is very strong. People who don’t know the water can get in trouble fast. Please be careful at Crab Island.
Sunday Sunshine Cindy and I went to Callahan’s for brunch. It was nice and sunny when we got there but within 15 minutes we could see it was pouring down rain. My windows were cracked but we got lucky as the rain was straight down and no water got inside. We had a nice meal then went to check out a new Cajun meat market. Hebert’s recently opened just down from West Marine in the Gulf Shores shopping center. They have a ton of good looking food with boneless chickens being their specialty. It all looked great. We know where we are going for food for our next party.
Speaking of local markets…Sunshine Cindy stopped in at Destin Ice Seafood market on Friday and picked up a pound of steamed shrimp. It was awesome! I love our local fresh seafood.
I heard a new Italian restaurant is opening up at The Commons. It will be in the old LaFamila location. Several years ago LaFamila burst on the Destin food scene and had a big local following. They were in the spot where Landshark Pizza is at now. They tried to expand by moving to the place above Crab Island Cantina. For a while they had both harbor locations open. Then they closed the original place and opened up at The Commons where Hard Rock used to be. Now all of the places are closed. Too bad because they had great food. I think they overextended themselves.
It was announced a new waterfront restaurant is going to be built and opened in downtown Fort Walton Beach next to The Landing. This is the continuation of the growth of downtown Fort Walton Beach. Our friends Mike and Bev from KC’s Sandbar has had a lot to do with this revitalization.
I saw this week where a familiar face down on the docks has passed away. Jimmy was always helping out on the boats or at some of the bars where he could make some money. You never saw Jimmy panhandling but instead he worked for his money. I don’t know where he lived but you could always find him on the docks. I heard cancer got him. RIP Jimmy…
Okay, one more week of tourist season and then it should start to slow down as schools prepare to reopen. We can do this!!!
The Parrot Heads are meeting this Friday at the new Village Door in Seascape. Come out and Party with a Purpose. See ya next Monday!
Destin Steve
Monday, July 9, 2018
4th of July Destin style…
We survived another Fourth of July holiday celebration in Destin. Sunshine Cindy and I were on the go the entire time. I worked Monday and Tuesday but took off the rest of the week. Sunshine Cindy’s daughter Tiffany flew into town on Wednesday. Our trip to the airport took us across the island and through Fort Walton Beach. I was amazed at the number of cars parked along the side of 98 on the island. It must have been a half mile back where people were parking. And of course Crab Island was packed in like sardines.
We picked Tiffany up at the airport and hit the ground running. First stop was to the grandparents to say hi. Then we went home to get freshened up before heading to the harbor for the fireworks display. We went to Tailfins. They were charging $20 to park but we understood it was for this special event. They have not charged any other time we have been there. Even with charging we got one of the last spots.
BT was playing and Wayne joined us. Ken was cooking up a shrimp boil. The crowds were huge. By the time the fireworks were ready to go off it looked like a Seafood Festival type of crowd with people everywhere. It was a good display and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We hung around about 30 minutes then headed home. The roads were gridlocked but we managed to get to a side street and made the three miles to our house in about 20 minutes. Not too bad!
Thursday and Friday Sunshine Cindy and Tiffany did mother/daughter things. They went shopping, got their hair done, did some shopping, bought some shoes, did more shopping etc. I did some work around the house and spent a lot of time in the pool.
Saturday we back to Tailfins. I wanted to watch the Croatia / Russia World Cup soccer match. It was a great game with Croatia winning on penalty kicks. I didn’t know it but our bartender, Victoria who is someone we have known for years is Russian so we had a friendly back and forth. After Russia lost she joked that I would not be getting served again. LOL
After the game we walked the harbor to Crab Island Cantina. It’s been a while since we were there. Johanna was working the bar and was glad to see us. Korin was just getting off and saw us and gave us a big hug. Geraldo was working too and stopped to say hello. It was good seeing them all again.
We then stopped in at the top bar at Margaritaville. Landshark Lookout is a place we have not been to in a long time. We were surprised to see a musician playing up there. I was even more surprised to see it was Bob Cushing. Bob is playing for the parrot heads in September. The view is still awesome up there as you can see way out into the Gulf.
Our last stop was back at Tailfins to listen to BT play some more. He is now playing Wednesday through Sunday there. Johnny loves him and so do the tourist.
Sunday we had a cookout at the house with Sunshine Cindy’s parents. I grilled up some ribs and corn. We ate and swam and just had a relaxing day to wind down the holiday weekend.
This is the biggest weekend of the summer season in Destin. The crowds around town showed that many folks still have money to travel. I heard it took about an hour a half to get into Destin from Fort Walton on Thursday. Everyone we talked with said it was even busier on Thursday on the harbor than for the Fourth. All in all it was a typical summer holiday in Destin.
One incident that happened was Thursday evening. About 10:30 pm someone was shooting off firework at White Trash Beach on the west side of the Destin bridge. Something happened and a brush fire was started. It burned about one and half acres before the various fire departments got it under control. Same thing happened last year at this spot when a firework from the display misfired and started a fire. Maybe next year have a tanker truck sitting there.
One last thing I noticed from our wanderings this past week. The Destin City Council has some members who claim Crab Island looks like a “carnival” out there. I beg to differ…the real carnival is in Harborwalk Village from Margaritaville to AJ’s. This stretch has more county fair type vendors from kettle corn to dogs to fries. It’s no different than a real carnival other than the carny workers. I don’t have a problem with this other than the city trying to say Crab Island is out of control when this is going on.
I will be traveling to Cleveland this weekend to help with a moving sale at my Mom’s house. She has moved into an assisted living place so her house needs to be cleaned out. Any Cleveland peeps, come out to Strongsville Friday and Saturday as I will be selling everything.
Have a great week. See you next Tuesday after I get back.
Destin Steve
We picked Tiffany up at the airport and hit the ground running. First stop was to the grandparents to say hi. Then we went home to get freshened up before heading to the harbor for the fireworks display. We went to Tailfins. They were charging $20 to park but we understood it was for this special event. They have not charged any other time we have been there. Even with charging we got one of the last spots.
BT was playing and Wayne joined us. Ken was cooking up a shrimp boil. The crowds were huge. By the time the fireworks were ready to go off it looked like a Seafood Festival type of crowd with people everywhere. It was a good display and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We hung around about 30 minutes then headed home. The roads were gridlocked but we managed to get to a side street and made the three miles to our house in about 20 minutes. Not too bad!
Thursday and Friday Sunshine Cindy and Tiffany did mother/daughter things. They went shopping, got their hair done, did some shopping, bought some shoes, did more shopping etc. I did some work around the house and spent a lot of time in the pool.
Saturday we back to Tailfins. I wanted to watch the Croatia / Russia World Cup soccer match. It was a great game with Croatia winning on penalty kicks. I didn’t know it but our bartender, Victoria who is someone we have known for years is Russian so we had a friendly back and forth. After Russia lost she joked that I would not be getting served again. LOL
After the game we walked the harbor to Crab Island Cantina. It’s been a while since we were there. Johanna was working the bar and was glad to see us. Korin was just getting off and saw us and gave us a big hug. Geraldo was working too and stopped to say hello. It was good seeing them all again.
We then stopped in at the top bar at Margaritaville. Landshark Lookout is a place we have not been to in a long time. We were surprised to see a musician playing up there. I was even more surprised to see it was Bob Cushing. Bob is playing for the parrot heads in September. The view is still awesome up there as you can see way out into the Gulf.
Our last stop was back at Tailfins to listen to BT play some more. He is now playing Wednesday through Sunday there. Johnny loves him and so do the tourist.
Sunday we had a cookout at the house with Sunshine Cindy’s parents. I grilled up some ribs and corn. We ate and swam and just had a relaxing day to wind down the holiday weekend.
This is the biggest weekend of the summer season in Destin. The crowds around town showed that many folks still have money to travel. I heard it took about an hour a half to get into Destin from Fort Walton on Thursday. Everyone we talked with said it was even busier on Thursday on the harbor than for the Fourth. All in all it was a typical summer holiday in Destin.
One incident that happened was Thursday evening. About 10:30 pm someone was shooting off firework at White Trash Beach on the west side of the Destin bridge. Something happened and a brush fire was started. It burned about one and half acres before the various fire departments got it under control. Same thing happened last year at this spot when a firework from the display misfired and started a fire. Maybe next year have a tanker truck sitting there.
One last thing I noticed from our wanderings this past week. The Destin City Council has some members who claim Crab Island looks like a “carnival” out there. I beg to differ…the real carnival is in Harborwalk Village from Margaritaville to AJ’s. This stretch has more county fair type vendors from kettle corn to dogs to fries. It’s no different than a real carnival other than the carny workers. I don’t have a problem with this other than the city trying to say Crab Island is out of control when this is going on.
I will be traveling to Cleveland this weekend to help with a moving sale at my Mom’s house. She has moved into an assisted living place so her house needs to be cleaned out. Any Cleveland peeps, come out to Strongsville Friday and Saturday as I will be selling everything.
Have a great week. See you next Tuesday after I get back.
Destin Steve
Monday, July 2, 2018
Good times in Destin
It was another good week of Living and Playing in Destin. It started on Thursday evening when I got home from work. It was a hot evening so I got in the pool for a while. Sunshine Cindy and I saw some storms were heading our way but we didn’t pay it too much attention as they were far north of us. It seemed to only take a few minutes but these storms were moving quickly and we started to hear thunder. After another couple of minutes the sky was turning black. We got out of the pool as more thunder was booming. A big thunderstorm blew through but it was not much different from other storms for us.
But down on the harbor it was a different story. The wind really kicked up and there was even a water spout form in the harbor. Several folks got video of it. It actually went right over a small boat that could not outrun it. That had to be scary in that boat. That was enough excitement for one night!
Friday Sunshine Cindy and I went to the harbor and Tailfins to listen to BT play. It turned into one big party as about a dozen friends all came out to party with him. We even saw Jenn. It’s been a while since we last saw her as she is not working at the Boathouse anymore. Also saw our friend Ken. He is going to be doing a shrimp boil each Saturday and Sunday at Tailfins. He does a great job with his boils. Head down and get yourself a plate. You won’t be sorry.
Saturday we spent it around the house getting ready for a visit from Tiffany this coming week. Our friends Fred and Georgia were in town from Atlanta. They stopped over for a while. And they brought fresh shrimp that we boiled up. It was fantastic. I think the shrimp were swimming in the bay the previous night! It was nice catching up with Fred and Georgia.
Sunday was more work around the house. Finally in the afternoon I headed to Landshark Pizza to get me a pie and bring home some stuff for Cindy. Paige was behind the bar and the place was pretty busy because it was raining and folks were off the beach. The pizza was great as usual and it was a nice end to the weekend.
With all the tourist in town for the Fourth of July, this is going to be a crazy week. Traffic will be a nightmare. This is always our worse week of the year.
Some sad news last week…An Uber driver was killed on the Island by an ex cabbie who had a grudge against Uber and Lyft drivers. He said they were taking all his clients. What I don’t understand is this guy had two previous DUI’s and dozens of unpaid toll violations. How can you get a cabbie license with DUI’s??? This is the main reason these ride share companies are successful. I would bet this guy tried to become an Uber driver but was turned down because of his DUI’s. So their screening process worked if that was the case.
Around town The Red Door Saloon is starting to get some bad press lately. First they refused service to a person with a Service Dog. It used to be you could sit outside with your dogs but now they are not evening doing that and I guess they are being pretty rude about it. Then they were part of the Slacker .5K fun run a few weeks back. Part of the entrance fee was drink coupons from the sponsors. Red Door did not honor those tickets. That is pretty lousy. They had all this publicity and then don’t follow through. I hope they get their act together as we like stopping in there from time to time.
Have a great holiday as we celebrate America’s birthday!!! See ya next Monday.
Destin Steve
But down on the harbor it was a different story. The wind really kicked up and there was even a water spout form in the harbor. Several folks got video of it. It actually went right over a small boat that could not outrun it. That had to be scary in that boat. That was enough excitement for one night!
Friday Sunshine Cindy and I went to the harbor and Tailfins to listen to BT play. It turned into one big party as about a dozen friends all came out to party with him. We even saw Jenn. It’s been a while since we last saw her as she is not working at the Boathouse anymore. Also saw our friend Ken. He is going to be doing a shrimp boil each Saturday and Sunday at Tailfins. He does a great job with his boils. Head down and get yourself a plate. You won’t be sorry.
Saturday we spent it around the house getting ready for a visit from Tiffany this coming week. Our friends Fred and Georgia were in town from Atlanta. They stopped over for a while. And they brought fresh shrimp that we boiled up. It was fantastic. I think the shrimp were swimming in the bay the previous night! It was nice catching up with Fred and Georgia.
Sunday was more work around the house. Finally in the afternoon I headed to Landshark Pizza to get me a pie and bring home some stuff for Cindy. Paige was behind the bar and the place was pretty busy because it was raining and folks were off the beach. The pizza was great as usual and it was a nice end to the weekend.
With all the tourist in town for the Fourth of July, this is going to be a crazy week. Traffic will be a nightmare. This is always our worse week of the year.
Some sad news last week…An Uber driver was killed on the Island by an ex cabbie who had a grudge against Uber and Lyft drivers. He said they were taking all his clients. What I don’t understand is this guy had two previous DUI’s and dozens of unpaid toll violations. How can you get a cabbie license with DUI’s??? This is the main reason these ride share companies are successful. I would bet this guy tried to become an Uber driver but was turned down because of his DUI’s. So their screening process worked if that was the case.
Around town The Red Door Saloon is starting to get some bad press lately. First they refused service to a person with a Service Dog. It used to be you could sit outside with your dogs but now they are not evening doing that and I guess they are being pretty rude about it. Then they were part of the Slacker .5K fun run a few weeks back. Part of the entrance fee was drink coupons from the sponsors. Red Door did not honor those tickets. That is pretty lousy. They had all this publicity and then don’t follow through. I hope they get their act together as we like stopping in there from time to time.
Have a great holiday as we celebrate America’s birthday!!! See ya next Monday.
Destin Steve
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