Pre 4th of July week

Tropical Storm Debby came and went with barely a whimper here in Destin. Other parts of the state farther east got some flooding but Destin only had some rain on Sunday and some wind for a few days and that was it. The “Worry” Channel was making it sound like the entire state of Florida was underwater and getting ready to float away! I had family worried because of what they saw on the TV. I guess if the media doesn't sensationalize things they won’t get anyone to watch. Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program. lol 

The Pointe and the harbor

As I got ready to head home from work on Monday I got word the traffic was backed up on the island. I turned on the radio to hear about a wreak on the Brooks Bridge. I did not want to sit in traffic. I also knew Wayne was heading home about this time. I called him and he had just left his office. We decided to head to Friday’s in Ft. Walton and have a few brews to let the traffic die down. It was a good call. It took a friend almost an hour to get across the island. It normally takes about 5 minutes.

Tuesday was spent at home but on Wednesday Sunshine Cindy and I decided to head to the harbor. I am taking a few days off so it was the start of my weekend. We went to the Turtle. Matt was there behind the bar. Tourist were coming and going. We talked to some businessmen from Michigan who are in town. Matt got his picture taken with some lady who was going to tell her friends back home this is the Tiki Bar she plans to buy some day! We also learned that Matt was a fireman in Chicago for 13 years based in the worse part of town. What you learn about some folks. We left the Tipsy Turtle and decided to go the Palms almost across the street from our sub-division. A band was playing and it was ladies night so Sunshine Cindy got to drink for free. While there we ran into the real Turtle. He was out and about for the evening. It was nice chatting with him for a while. We also talked to Brian from St. Louis for a while. It's his first time in Destin and he loves it here. But why wouldn't he!

Sun and clouds over the Destin bridge and Crab Island

Busy weekend on tap. The town will fill up even more for the 4th of July holiday. Get out and enjoy it. A full report will be posted Monday! See ya then….

Debby does Destin

Here Comes Debby

We have our first tropical storm of the year in the gulf. Debby is just kind of spinning in the gulf. We are not sure where it is going. It will be a big rain maker and the Worry…I mean Weather Channel has something to do the next few days. We have already seen the master of doom, Jim Cantore show up in Pensacola. Time to run screaming from the coast.

But before this hits we were out and about the last few days. Thursday evening we joined thousands of tourist on the harbor to watch the fireworks show they do every Thursday. The people down to watch this show is amazing. Traffic was terrible. We watched it from the Turtle. Met a tourist from Cleveland, Larry, who is in town for a week. Fun guy who lives in the same neighborhood my Dad grew up in. Small world. We also talked to a couple from Atlanta who are staying on their boat. Cool.

Harbor fun!

Friday was going to be a laid back day. We went down to the harbor about 4:00. Headed to Crab Island Cantina for a drink and to talk with Dominic. We met a guy who is helping with a new venture where they rent out time on a jet pack kind of device on the water. It shoots you straight up 30 or 40 feet. Looks like fun. We might work out a deal for a ride in exchange for some advertising on our web site. We left the Cantina and went to Crazy Lobster. I wanted a Abita beer. We talked to the manager who we have not seen in a while. From there we went to Tipsy Turtle where we met Julie, Suzanne and dozens of new friends. Matt was in rare form behind the bar. It was a fun time there with Matt and Mindy playing.

Sunshine Cindy on the beach

Saturday was our beach cleanup. A good crowd came out to clean up and party the rest of the day. We had brief rain shower in the first hour there then it cleared up nicely. A new friend from Louisiana, Steve came out. He was joined by his wife Tami one of his son’s. Steve found out about us from my web site. I have a new reader! About 3:00 the skies darkened again. We decided to pack it in before we got soaked again.  Just as the last of us finished loading up it started to pour again. Wayne, Judie, Kelly, Steve and Sunshine Cindy and myself decided to go to KC’s Sandbar for some food. There was a Latin Festival going on at the Landing. With the rain, people were everywhere. It took us about 20 minutes to find a place to park. We had a nice time sitting upstairs with Bridget taking care of us.

Wayne and Steve on the beach

Sunday was a wash out thanks to Debby. Sunshine Cindy I did some chores around the house. I called my brother Ken and wished him a happy 93rd birthday. I am older but look really young for my age! LOL  Monday night was spent at Friday's in Ft. Walton Beach due to a wreck on the Brooks Bridge. Traffic was backed up so I called Wayne and caught him on the way home and had him divert before he was stuck. It was good having some time to catch up with him.

Debby is missing Destin for the most part. Sun out today and only wind to put up with. Enjoy your week. See ya Thursday....

Landshark Pizza

This week started off with a visit to a local pizza house I had not visited in several years. Landshark Pizza is in the Old Town Pottery shopping center. We met the owner Brian and his wife Sue at the Tipsy Turtle over the weekend. He is considering advertising on the Crab Island Mambo web site so Sunshine Cindy and I decided to stop in and check out their operation. Brian greeted us by name as we walked in. The place was pretty busy. It has a sports bar feel to it with the usual pizza, wings and sandwiches on the menu. We ordered some Wisconsin beer cheese curds and a pizza plus some cold beers. Everything was great. The pizza is really good. Turns out Brian and his wife are originally from Wisconsin. His brother went to the same college Sunshine Cindy went to. Small world. Brian and Sue are good folks. We will be back often.

Brian at Landshark Pizza

Tuesday we stayed in but on Wednesday Sunshine Cindy surprised me by showing up at my office in the late afternoon. She brought me a change of clothes and we decided to meet at KC’s Sandbar after I got off work. Mike was sitting at the bar and we chatted with him for a while. Renee was behind the bar and Matt was coming on. A new girl, Crystal was being trained. Jan and Loujean came in. Jan was going to lead the sunset sing-a-long. We had some food and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

Kenny and Jan at KC's Sandbar

Jan did some good Trop Rock songs from Jerry Diaz and Jim Morris. Terry and Michele came in. Kenny showed up to play his harmonica. Scott limped in. He hurt his knee and looks like he will need surgery. It was the usual fun evening at KC’s where you never know who is going to show up. One guy came in covered head to toe in tat’s. About the time we were leaving 6 bikers pulled up. They have their own parking spot next to the building. It was fun.

The weekend is shaping up to be a good time. Fireworks Thursday, beach cleanup Saturday and who knows what on Friday and Sunday! lol  Full report on Monday. See ya then….

Tipsy Turtle Weekend!!!

We had another great weekend down here on the Emerald Coast. Friday evening started out great. I took a new route home and was able to miss a bunch of the traffic saving about 25 minutes on my drive. That was a reason to go out and celebrate! LOL   We headed to Friday’s in Destin. We saw several of our Parrothead friends there. It almost looked like a phlocking was going on. From there we went down to the harbor to hang out at the Tipsy Turtle for awhile. We wanted to make sure all the details were covered for having Jan playing there Saturday night. We got a big bowl of Jambalaya from Royal Cajun who was there serving again. Matt took good care of us and everything was set for Saturday. We left the Turtle and decided to head to the American Legion for some karaoke. Capt. John, Julie and Suzanne were there. I sang “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and Sunshine Cindy did three songs. She has an amazing voice.  Brought the house down. It was fun.

Kelly doing his version of "Sweet Caroline"

Saturday morning was spent getting the Crab Island Mambo Mullet Wrapper published. I had to work through some issues with my Cox email service. About noon we went to Friday’s to celebrate Father’s Day with Sunshine Cindy’s parents. That was nice spending time with them. After that we got ready to go to the harbor. We loaded up our merchandize and off we went. Wayne was already there when we got there. Turtle (Yes, there really is a “Turtle” at the Tipsy Turtle!) gave us free reign on setting up our stuff. Jan and Loujean got there and we helped Jan unload and get set up. He did a great job performing. We ended up with over 25 total Mambo’ians come and go during the evening in addition to the normal traffic on the harbor. We sold some merchandize, Jan got in front of a new audience and Tipsy Turtle sold a lot of beer. We actually drank them out of Michelob Ultra! At the end of the evening everyone was happy!

Crab Island Mambo on the Harbor!

We were able to do some networking too on Saturday night. Matt introduced us to Brian, the owner of Landshark Pizza in Destin. He is thinking about advertising on our web site. We will go see him this week. We are also talking to the Royal Cajun folks about maybe doing some cross stuff too. Pretty cool.

Sunday we slept in late then hit the pool in our community. It was a perfect day and we enjoyed just relaxing for a while. We had made plans to go back to the Turtle Sunday afternoon to eat some more of the shrimp. We were out of the car for only a few minutes walking up to the place when we ran into Julie and Trish. The other Julie was on her way. A new father/daughter duo (Summer Breeze) were playing music. They sounded great. More friends were coming and going. Brian from Landshark and his wife Sue were there again. Eventually Capt. John, Dave, Marilyn, Sabrina and Alex all stopped by after spending the whole day on Capt. John’s sailboat. It turned into another fun afternoon/evening at the Tipsy Turtle.

Tourist coming back into the Harbor

The docks have been packed with people. Sunday was actually busier than Saturday but that is because Saturday is changeover day for everyone in town on vacation. As Russ used to say, “What Happens in Destin leaves on Saturday!” Have a great week. See ya Thursday…

Fun on the Harbor

The party scene is Destin seems to always have something happening even when you think it might be a laid back day. Last night was one of those times. Sunshine Cindy and I had stayed in the previous few days while everything dried out from the rains we had. On Wednesday we had a meeting set up with Matt at the Tipsy Turtle. We are working to get Jan a gig there and needed a face-to-face to finalize it. There was a small crowd around the tiki bar. We pulled up a couple of stools and after a few minutes and Matt making a few phone calls to Ben and Turtle we were able to agree on a gig Saturday evening starting at 7:00. Everyone is welcome so come on out.

Jan

I then walked down to our friend Steve’s Hawaiian Ice vending trailer. We had promised him we would drop off some business cards that he would put out for us. We had also previously gave Steve a T-Shirt that he said he wore Tuesday. He told me he got several comments and people asking about it. We might try and team with Steve to sell some of our merch there. Back to the Turtle where Matt told us about some drunk fool who tried to swim across the harbor to the Pointe earlier in the day. He got about halfway across and had to be rescued. Idiot.

We closed our tab and prepared to head to the Red Door Saloon to get some food. I looked up and saw an old friend I had not seen in years. This is where the evening started to turn into a crazy time. Sami and her husband Barry were talking to Matt. I told Sunshine Cindy I think that is Sami over there and it was. We all talked for a while and decided we would all head over to the Red Door. On the way we passed a new small open air bar that opened by the Burrito food trailer. People were singing and it looked like a good time so we filed that info away.

We had fun at the Red Door catching up. Sunshine Cindy and I ate some of their dogs/brats that are really good. There was a nice breeze from the gulf blowing in and as usual several bikers pulled in. It is a relaxing place. Sami and Barry left and Sunshine Cindy decided it was time to head home too. But as we passed the “Burrito del Mar” bar the good time was still going on so we decided to stop for one. As we walked up we recognized one of the staff from waiting on us at the Rotten Apple. He is working here now too. The first beers we got were on the house as the owner who was sitting there put up $100 for everyone to drink off of as long as it lasted. With beers at $2 each it went a long way.

Red Door Saloon

There was a young guy behind the bar playing with an I-Pod that was hooked into the outside speakers. Turns out there was an entire family from Oklahoma there. Mom, Dad, two daughters who were 20ish, a future son-in-law and the son behind the bar playing the tunes. They had pretty much taken over the bar and the staff loved it. There were all pretty drunk but having fun. The Dad was called, “Big Sexy” and he loved that title. He is a big ol’ guy that drives road paving equipment. He said it is funny when they are on a job and some of his crew calls him that! As much fun as it was there I had to get up early today so we had to head home. As I said, you just never know what will happen when you go out in Destin especially during tourist season!

Come out Saturday to the Tipsy Turtle to hear Jan if you are in the area. Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there. A full report on the weekend on Monday. See ya then…

Wet Weekend!

This weekend was quite a washout here on the Gulf Coast. Saturday alone the Pensacola area received over 13 inches of rain. Many roads were flooded and some neighborhoods were cut off. We are lucky with the sand here so once the rain stopped it did not take too long to run off but it was a big mess while it was happening. Sunday the storms continued but not as strong. I guess we needed the rain but enough is enough.

Tipsy Turtle with Jan, Sunshine Cindy and Loujean

Actually the rain started on Thursday. Sunshine Cindy and I were heading to Fort Walton Beach with the top down in BadAss when it started to drizzle. We could see the rain falling ahead of us so I pulled over and got the top up. It was just in the nick of time. We went to Anglers for some food and to ride out the storm. Justin was behind the bar and even with the rain, they were busy. We left Anglers and headed over to KC’s Sandbar. They do karaoke on Thursdays. There was a good crowd and things were drying up nicely. Rose, KC and Megan were all working to take care of everyone. Mike stopped by and gave me a contract to give to the ECPHC for a phlocking that is coming up. It was a fun time there as usual.

Friday was an afternoon lunch outing at TGIF. Pam and her girlfriends were meeting there. Sunshine Cindy joined them and I did too. I was the token male! lol Friday evening was a parrothead night. We started at Crab Island Cantina and rode out another rain storm. We then went up to Harry T’s where the meeting was being held at. We ended up with a good crowd of folks. Harry T’s gave out some great chips and dips. The highlight of the evening was Sunshine Cindy winning the $50 raffle. That helped take care of the bar tab!

Steve and Russ at Harry T's Phlocking

We finished up the evening at Tipsy Turtle. There were about 7 or 8 of us show up there. A perfect way to end the evening with Matt and Mindy playing and tons of tourist walking along the boardwalk. As I previously mentioned, it was a washout Saturday and Sunday. We ended getting a lot of things done around the house and on the computer. I guess we can’t be playing all the time! Have a great week. See ya Thursday!

Here come the tourist!

I feel like Paul Revere today, “The Tourist are coming, the tourist are coming!” Most schools are now out and families are starting to invade our town. It is that time of year where the locals have to do some planning before they decide to take a trip anywhere. If you can stay off Hwy. 98, so much the better. The problem is even some of our back roads are being taken over. Don’t try to get into a restaurant during the peak time either. But on the bright side the influx of tourist means jobs and the ability to pay bills to many folks. As Joe said last weekend as we all wandered around the harbor, “What recession?”

Tourist on the docks

Sunshine Cindy and I stayed in and did some Crab Island Mambo stuff the first couple of days this week. Sometimes there is not enough hours in the day to get everything done. But I was able to watch one of the Stanley Cup finals hockey games so that was a plus! Yes, I live in Florida but I am a big hockey fan. Sunshine Cindy also took Precious for a bath and haircut this week. She looks like a different dog with all the hair gone.

Wednesday evening we decided to head down to the Tipsy Turtle on the harbor to get some fresh air and have a few brews. We found a close in parking spot and headed over. Matt was working and there were several locals there. Over the next hour or so there were groups of tourist stopping in to grab a beer while walking along the boardwalk. The Turtle is a great people watching spot. There is a great mix of folks passing by. We ended up having a fun conversation with Matt and one of the regulars at the tiki hut about Howie Mandel’s germ fetish. I didn’t know Howie Mandel was so germ-a-phobic that he sleeps in a bubble and will not touch a door knob. Wow the things you learn at the Turtle. LOL

Hey, bring back the Tipsy Turtle sign!

After leaving the Turtle we decided to stop in at Hogs Breath to grab a bit to eat. There were only a few folks at the outside bar and Chris Jackson was playing music. We ordered some food. I had the Philly Cheese Steak and it was great. We ended up talking to a guy who has the Hawaiian Ice concession stand on the harbor. We told him we would give him a Crab Island Mambo T-Shirt in exchange for him promoting us. He is like us, just trying to get a foot hold on the harbor. We shall see how it all works out. As we left Hogs and headed out to the parking lot, it had started to rain. The top was down on BadAss but luckily it was light and didn’t get anything too wet. The risk of driving a convertible but I love it.

Let’s get ready for the weekend. See ya Monday!!!!

Crab Island Fun

The fun on the Emerald Coast and in Destin never seems to end. This weekend was no exception. Friday night was a blast. We met Wayne and Joe at Harry T’s. Joe is an old friend of Wayne’s from Cincinnati who was in town for a few days. We had a beer at Harry T’s then went to Crab Island Cantina. We got our usual bar stool spot. Dominick was behind the bar. He remembered us from serving us at Fud’s over the years. Good to see him here. Julie joined us and we all several drinks and ordered some food. Cindy decided she wanted a Margarita…a big Margarita! The fish bowl was almost as big as her. We all took turns having sips. A few more friends joined us and the party was on. I think Dominick was sorry to see us go as we were the life of the place.

Sipping the giant Margarita

We were heading to Tipsy Turtle when the kiddie train came by. No kids were on it so of course we took it over. Tourist were cracking up watching us. Off to the Turtle. Kenny was there and Matt was behind the bar. Matt and Mindy were playing.  A few weeks ago Sunshine Cindy put a couple of business cards in a slot in the tiki bar. Mindy came over and gave Sunshine Cindy her Friday’s Stripes card that she had put up there instead of business cards. Sunshine Cindy wondered where that card went. LOL We talked to some tourist from Gulf Shores and had a great time. It was a fun evening.

Wayne and Kenny at the Turtle

Saturday was a Crab Island day. We took the boat out with Wayne, Joe, Jan and Loujean. The weather was perfect and for the first time having the boat out this year it ran great. At Crab Island we met up with a bunch of friends. Kenny, Michele and couple of others came by kayak. Russ also came by kayak. Then we saw Mike, Corlee, Cliff and Sharon and they pulled their boat over by us. Food, drinks, sun, music, friends…we had it all. At one point Sunshine Cindy and Loujean ended up on the stage dancing. Never a dull moment. It was a great day on the water.

Crab Island Fun

Sunday the fun continued. It was going to be a laid back day and it started out like that. I did some computer work while Sunshine Cindy puttered around the house. About noon I went out and washed BadAss and give her a good cleaning on the inside too. I then received a text from Wayne saying he and Joe were down on the harbor and he asked if we wanted to join them. It sounded good to us so about 2:00 off we went. We met up with Wayne and Joe at The Red Door Saloon. We had a few beers there and enjoyed a nice sea breeze coming in. Sunshine Cindy and I were hungry so we all walked down to the Boathouse where we had some burgers. Kelly Byrd was playing and it was a fun time as usual. After eating we decided to hit the Tipsy Turtle. Matt & Mindy were playing and they had a shrimp boil going on. The restaurant “Royal Cajun” was doing the boil and selling it for $7 for half a pound. It was so good I had to get some even though I just finished eating. But I can eat shrimp all day and I proved it. There was a good crowd there, Matt behind the bar taking care of us and good music made for a perfect conclusion to the weekend. It’s tough living here but someone has to do it.

Have a great week. See y’all Thursday….