"Trop Rockin Rocky Bayou"

What a fantastic, fun filled and somewhat exhausting weekend it was. It was our big Crab Island Mambo “Trop Rockin Rocky Bayou” Backyard party. Sunshine Cindy and I have been planning this for about 7 months now. This was the big weekend. It started out Friday with all the set-up in her parents backyard. They have a beautiful home that sits right on Rocky Bayou. It is the perfect backdrop for a party. Friday we had a tent, stage, tables and a port-a-potty delivered. We set up all the tables, put up 4 different pop-up tents and did all the pre-decorating. Wayne was a big help to us as was Jim and Pam, the hosts of the party.

Loujean and Pam

Chef Larry came by about lunch time to drop off all the food and his cooking stuff. Everything was getting in order. After working in the hot sun all day with very little breeze, Sunshine Cindy and I got checked into our hotel room at the Hampton. It’s right across the bayou and they take good care of us there as our host hotel. After getting cleaned up, we decided to head over to Schooners at Bluewater. We ran into some folks we knew, had a beer and moved on to Beef-o-Brady’s for some dinner. We love their dry rub blacked wings. After that we went back to the hotel, grabbed a few beers and went down to the pool. While there we met a nice couple from Michigan, Jack and Karen that we chatted with for a while.

Chef Larrry cooking his gumbo

Saturday was the big day of the party. Chef Larry was there at 6 am to start cooking. We got there about 8:30 to finish setting up. Guest started arriving about 11:30. Steve was helping Larry cook and the food was smelling great. Brent Burns was the first musician to get there with Jerry Diaz and his band right behind. The show started right at 1 pm as the crowd continued to flow in. The rest of the day was pretty much a blur. The music was great, the food fantastic, the weather perfect…yep, a great day. We had a special treat as old friend Eric Stone showed up. Jerry talked him into doing a few songs too. That was great.

Jerry and the band played on past 6:30. We hated to see it end. Over 120 people showed up to party with us. I believe they all had a wonderful time. We worked on getting some cleaning up done and then headed back to the hotel where we took over the pool for a party. Jeff broke out his guitar and did some songs for us. David ordered 5 pizza’s, the drinks continued to flow and the party went on till almost 1 am. Bud was telling stories and everyone had a great time.

Jerry Diaz and Hanna's Reef

Sunday was a tough day. We had to finish cleaning up at the house then we headed to Anglers as we had Bwana Ray playing for us. It was hard to get started but we had everything back to normal at the house by 11:30. We made it to Anglers about 12:45 for the start of the 1:00 show. We had a few of our friends show up and were able to sell some merchandize to some tourist. It was relaxing and we ended up having some dinner there with Ray, Loujean, Jan and Wayne. A perfect way to end the weekend. Exhausted, we were asleep early!

This week will be a little slower! Till Thursday….