Happy New Year’s Eve!

It has been a fun filled few days here in Destin. We heard Chef Emeril Lagasse was at Harbor Docks on Wednesday. He is getting around town during the holidays. Thursday was one of those afternoons where we decided to head to the harbor and wander around a little. We stopped at the Boathouse and grabbed a beer. We headed down the docks past the empty shell of the Tipsy Turtle. It’s sad to see it sitting empty. We stopped in at AJ’s. A guy was playing music and a beautiful sunset was in process. There were a few people in there as some tourist had found their way in.

Sunset from AJ's

We continued walking down the harbor and ended up at Crab Island Cantina. By now the sun was down and it was getting colder. Greg was working the bar and we chatted with him for a while. Our friend Carlos, who is one of the owners and the head chef spotted us and came over and talked to us for a while. He said they had a great first year. We are happy for them. The Cantina is well run and they have one of the best spots on the harbor. Sunshine Cindy and I then decided to stop in at the Rotten Apple. Bobby, Woody and Dave were leaving until we turned them around for one more. Matt and Mindy were playing and it was good to see them again. We had a fun time there.

Bobby, Woody, Dave and Sunshine Cindy at Rotten Apple

Friday I had to work but Friday night the ECPHC had a phlocking at Sago Sports Bar. Most parrotheads had not been in there in years so it was good exposure for Sago to the parrothead crowd. A lot of folks showed up too. Jan played music and everyone had a fun time. When we left it was raining and blowing but some of us met up at The American Legion. The band Deep South was playing and it was a nice way to cap off the evening.

Dancing at Sago Sports Bar

Saturday the fun continued. I had to run some errands. As I finished I ended up at Hogs Breath for a while. I saw Cam and listened to some lady talk the ear off of a tourist. He listened very patiently. I then popped in at Sago where I had a bite to eat. The rest of the evening Sunshine Cindy and I stayed home and relaxed for the night.

Fun at Landshark Pizza

Sunday was a day to watch some football games. We started at Rupert’s in the bowling alley. There was a pretty good crown in there. We ran into Barry and watched some of the Falcons. We left there and headed to Landshark Pizza. The place was packed. We managed to get a couple of seats. Julie came and joined us. All the local crowd was there watching the games. Matt and Sue were running around like crazy keeping everyone in drinks and food. Then for the third day in a row we stopped at Sago again. There was also a good crowd in there. Sunshine Cindy ended up talking to girl from Memphis who was in town on vacation. That’s one of the neat things about living in a tourist town. You meet a lot of interesting folks.

Have a safe New Year’s Eve celebration tonight. See ya’ll Thursday!

Winter in Destin

Okay don’t laugh but winter has arrived in Destin. I know it has because the calendar says so. And this morning it was 37 degrees. For those up north fighting blizzards and ice this doesn’t sound like much but I can’t even put the top down on Badass. Of course the high today will be almost 60 and we will be back into the 60’s tomorrow so I can’t complain too much!

Sunshine Cindy and her Rum Jumbie

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. We spent it with family. Sunshine Cindy made enough food to feed the Atlanta Falcons football team. Between her and myself we received enough booze as gifts that I think we could open our own liquor store if we wanted too. The highlight was I found her some Rum Jumbie. Sunny Jim would be proud.

The holiday bar was set up

Wednesday we made a Happy Hour stop at Fisherman’s Wharf. I noticed they are advertising one dollar drafts from 3-6 pm so we had to go check it out. I am glad we did. The bar was not crowded and Sara waited on us. The drafts were poured in their usual ice cold glasses so you got a good beer. We saw Jimmy from the docks there. When the sun was setting we had a perfect view through the windows of the bright orange sky. It was beautiful. The best part of the evening was the $9 tab! “My bar tabs too low. I had more fun than that!” as Jim Morris sings about.

Fisherman's Wharf

The new Fudpucker’s on the Island is about to open. This is a big location with a traditional Fudpucker’s restaurant, a sports bar and a steam shack and raw bar. They will also have an arcade and being on the bay, they will be renting jet skis and pontoon boats. The Emerald Coast PHC has already scheduled their 2013 chili cook-off there on March 9th. It looks like Cash is going to turn the old Fud’s location into another of his ventures instead of leasing it out. I am not sure but I have heard it might become a Thai restaurant.

Get out and enjoy the weekend. It will be fun as we build up to New Year’s Eve! See ya Monday!

Merry Christmas

You would think that with Christmas coming up this weekend would have been quiet. Well, it was anything but quiet. On Thursday I stopped at Landshark Pizza on the way home for a few brews and some pizza. Sunshine Cindy didn’t want to go out but I needed to stop. The usual locals were in there. Matt and Sue were working and they kept everyone entertained.

Julie in the holiday spirit

Friday afternoon we went to Friday’s for happy hour. Mango Mike, Sherrie, Grady and Marianne were there. We talked to them for bit and got a table right next to them. A little later Suzanne came in and we talked to her too. Brittany was working some of the tables and was excited to be heading home to Michigan after she got off. It was funny that she was complaining about the cold as it was in the low 40’s. I told her she better get used to it as I am sure it’s going to be a lot colder up north.

Mike and Scott at KC's Sandbar

We left there and headed to the Legion. Turns out they didn’t have any karaoke but a band instead. Bobby and Darla were there and we sat with them. Capt. John came in and joined us too. It turned out to be a fun evening of storytelling, dancing and drinking. 

Saturday was spent getting food for Christmas. I gave BadAss a bath and took a bike ride. Saturday night we went to KC’s Sandbar in Fort Walton Beach. We invited our Crab Island Mambo friends to come out to celebrate the fact the world didn’t end! What a fun time. They get a wide range of folks in there. There were bikers, people inked up from the tattoo parlors, old farts like us…yes, diverse group. Owners Mike and Bev were there partying with us too. They are good people.

Renee getting ready to hose Jan

Sunday had Sunshine Cindy preparing food for Tuesday. I stayed out of the way. I went to Landshark to watch the Browns play and they put on another pitiful performance. Oh well, it’s almost over! I did see Julie and her son there. They have heard me write about the place and wanted to check it out. Cool.

And last but certainly not least - Merry Christmas from Sunshine Cindy and I to you and your family!

Preparing for Christmas

This week Sunshine Cindy finished her Christmas shopping. Me? I was done weeks ago but then as a guy I don’t put the time into it like the women do. We did get out for dinner on Tuesday. We went to Johnny O’Quigley’s. I had a taste for some chili and they have some of the best in town. I was also glad to see a special on Sam Adams beer. They were selling a 25 oz. mug for just $5. I had to have two! The food was good and we were able to relax.

Beach scene!

Wednesday on my drive home from work the traffic was heavy. It looks like the town is getting busy for the holidays plus all the holiday shoppers were out and about. Add the fact we are starting to get some snowbirds in town doing 45 mph across the island and you have a long drive home.

Each day I drive by the old Fish House and can see they are doing a ton of work on the place that will become “Boshamps Oyster House.” I have heard they are working on putting in a boardwalk behind the place that they hope to connect to the main stretch of the boardwalk farther west. The plan is still to be open by Spring.

"Head" in the sand!

I have also been reporting for a while the old Twisted Palm/Club Overboard building is under contract to become a motorcycle shop, pizza house/bar and indoor shooting/archery range. The deal is expected to close today and work should begin shortly afterwards. Yep, combine bikers, guns, booze and pizza for a fun time. Actually I think it will be a big hit. We will see.

Hoov on the beach

The expansion at Destin Commons is in full swing. They have still not announced who the new tenants will be but they continue to say a major theme type restaurant will be one of the new anchors. This expansion, that will add up to 25 more retail locations to the Commons, is planned to open in spring of 2014.

Get out and enjoy the weekend as you prepare for Christmas. We will be at KC's Sandbar in Ft. Walton Beach Saturday night. Come join us for a "World Didn't End Party! Check in Monday for our Christmas Eve blog!

To much work...

Work…work…work. My day job is getting in the way of my fun job. We were supposed to go to a retirement party for Tonya in Pensacola on Friday but I didn’t get off till late and then had to go in on Saturday so we could not make it. I did stop at Landshark for a few minutes to get some wings to take home. I ended up talking to Brian, Kirby, James and a few other folks. Thursday I published the Crab Island Mambo Mullet Wrapper for December. You can read it here:
http://www.crabislandmambo.com/Mullet-Wrapper-December-2012.html

Tonya getting ready to enjoy her new "Laid Back Life"

Saturday afternoon Sunshine Cindy and I went to Fuds for lunch. We had not been there in a while. One of the managers we know, Rich, was there and he welcomed us back with hugs and backslaps. Even our server remembered us. We had a great lunch and found out this Fuds is not going to have live music but instead dancing girls that will get the crowd up and going especially the kids. I bet that will be a big draw for the tourist crowd.

Sue at a previous Parrothead meeting at Fuds

Saturday evening we went to Julie's for a holiday party. It was a fun time. Everyone brought some food. Jan and Kenny played music. The weather was perfect with temps in the low 70’s for the evening. It was a great time with good friends.

Some of the crowd at Julie's party

Sunday I had to go into work again for a while. The afternoon we spent it at home getting some household chores done and I cooked up a feast of spaghetti.  Also in town the new Shrimp Basket restaurant has opened in the old McDonald’s building on Hwy. 98. We have been to Shrimp Basket’s in Gulf Shores and liked it. We will have to check it out.

This is also the time of the year we have cold water again in Destin. In the summer the ground warms up so much you get lukewarm water when you turn the cold faucet on. Now that it is cooled down outside we are actually getting cold water out of the faucet. That’s a little known fact about living in Destin! LOL

Have a great week. See ya Thursday!

Destin notes...

The weather this week in Destin took a turn towards winter. Sunday I was walking around in shorts and the top was down on Badass but Monday morning it was getting colder. We had some rain this week and it is now more seasonable. I am ready for summer!

Fun on the Seablaster

We only went out once this week. Tuesday night we hit Landshark Pizza. I had a taste for their pizza and it’s taco Tuesday. It's also the night they have $2 Corona beer. There was a good crowd in there. Deana was working. She worked at the Shark Shack last season. A bunch of regulars were there. I talked for a while with a guy who was sitting next to me who was originally from the Cleveland area. He is a Browns fan too. Small world. We had a good time there as usual. The rest of the week we have stayed in getting Crab Island Mambo stuff done.

There are some more changes coming to the Island. The vacant lot next to the Gulfarium is under development. A Holiday Inn Express hotel is being built there. It is a busy site so I expect it will be coming out of the ground pretty fast. Also on the Island at the vacant lot next to the Elks lodge they have started site work. A year or two ago they announced a major hotel/resort was going to be built there but apparently the financing never was completely secured. I have not heard of anything changing but just this week I have noticed they are grading the land and staking it out. Looks like construction might be starting soon.

The "Island"

It also looks like the old Fudpuckers location on the Island has been leased. A new restaurant is going into that location. It is a good spot on the Island. I knew it would not stay empty for very long. With all of this development, I am not sure how everyone is going to get around. The roads are packed now as it is.

And last but not least, our friend Sami ran into a celebrity over the weekend. She met Emeril Lagasse. Yes, the famous chef. They were at Rupert's which is a sports bar at our local bowling alley. Kind of a weird place to run into someone like Emeril. She said he was real nice. I copied a picture she posted on Facebook and here it is.

 

Emeril with Sami

Enjoy the weekend. Get that Christmas shopping done. See ya Monday!

Destin Holiday Weekend Celebration

What a fun, crazy and hectic weekend it was. It started on Thursday. I dropped my boss off at Docie’s bar in Staff’s Restaurant in Ft. Walton Beach as his car was in the shop. Since the traffic was backed up I went in to have a few beers. This is a real locals place. I had a good time chatting with the folks there including Art who used to own Art’s appliance for 55 years. I don’t get there often enough.

Santa Claus on a paddleboard

In the meantime Sunshine Cindy and her daughter went to Miller's Ale House where they ate and talked to some folks there. We all met up at Sago Sports bar later in the evening. As I walked in I thought I had been transported to some Disney TV show. There were kids all dressed to the hilt running around one of the ballrooms. Turns out Destin middle school was having a dance. You could tell it was Destin kids because of the clothes they were wearing. The parents spared no expense. We talked to Tommy and watched some of the football game. Sunshine Cindy and I then hit the Waffle House for some late night food before heading home.

Friday we met Sunshine Cindy’s parents at TGIFriday’s in Destin. Rick waited on us and was in rare form. He had us rolling with his jokes. Friday night we stayed in and I actually watched some college hockey games. Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day with temps in the upper 70’s. My company Christmas party was in the evening at the Emerald Grande. We got to the harbor early to have a few drinks at the Crab Island Cantina. As we walked up we saw Alan and Jackie sitting at the bar. We joined them. Craig was waiting on us and took good care of us.

Julie in the holiday spirit

While we were sitting at the bar it sounded like a war broke out across the pass at the AF officers club on the island. They must have been having some type of maneuvers as we heard all kinds of explosions and saw types of tracers flying around. It lasted about 10 minutes. We have not seen that activity there before. The party was fun and we ended up at Harry T’s for a while afterwards. The place was packed with a lot of younger folks having fun.

Saturday and Sunday I went out for bike rides. Saturday I went to the beach. I love living here! LOL  Sunday evening was the Destin Holiday Boat Parade. We met up with a bunch of friends at Harry T’s to watch it. Sunshine Cindy even brought Precious along. She had a great time. The boats were decorated great this year. It was topped off with a fireworks show. Again the weather was perfect.

Fireworks over the harbor

I have heard through my sources the plans for Margaritaville are supposed to be finished this week. They should be officially announcing it soon. The hope is to have it open before the summer season. From what I am being told is it will be a top notch destination restaurant. That will be a great addition to the Destin harbor party scene.

Have a great week. See ya Thursday!

Slow week in Destin

This week Sunshine Cindy and I have been laying pretty low but we did get out Wednesday evening to Landshark Pizza for their wing special. As we pulled up into the parking lot we could tell the place would be crowded as the parking lot was full. Sitting outside was Brian and Sue with another Brian. Kirby was also outside enjoying the balmy evening. We all chatted for a while. When we walked in the place was packed. We had never seen it that crowded.

Dreaming of Crab Island

Miss Norma and Brian (yes, a third Brian) were sitting at the first stools at the bar. Pops, Turtle, Mom, Missy, Schoie were all sitting at a table. Steve was there. Sunshine Cindy’s hairdresser and her husband were at the bar. James was there….you get the picture, the place was packed. Matt, Haven and Paige were working. Everyone was having a good time but they kept the crew busy waiting on everyone. We had wings, chips and Sunshine Cindy had a salad. It was a fun relaxing time in there.

Come on Summer!

The changes continue in Destin this winter. Two new places are going to open on the bayside of town facing Crab Island. Scallywag’s Pub and Grub and Yellowhouse restaurant will be opening in an area that currently only has the original Dewey Destin’s restaurant. They should have good views. La Famiglia has opened their new place at Harborwalk above Crab Island Cantina. We will have to check it out to see if it’s as good as the original.

A few weeks ago I mentioned there was a report of some type of celebrity backed theme place on a large track of land on Commons Drive might be in the works. The rumor has it Dolly Parton is going to open a mini Dollywood. She has sold her interest in the original so I don’t know how real this rumor is but you never know. We are also hearing a “Beers Around the World” is going to open someplace in town. And finally we hear some people are thinking of opening a comedy club in the old Calhoun’s. We shall see if any of this happens.

Destin's playground!

Finally I have starting hearing about a new trend in weddings that is hitting Destin. It is called, “Trash the Dress.” This is where brides destroy their wedding dress after the ceremony. Here in Destin it is usually by jumping into the Gulf of Mexico. The report said the brides would rather have a memory in pictures and video’s than try and hold onto a gown for years that might never get used. Okay then! lol

Have a great weekend. We have Christmas parades, boat parades and other fun planned in Destin. See ya Monday! 

Destin winter weekend

It was a fun weekend in Destin. The weather was perfect. Thursday night Sunshine Cindy and I stopped at Buffalo Jack’s in San Destin to check them out. The food was good and the beer was cold. They had a decent crowd in there for a Thursday night out of season. I heard they are getting bigger crowds now that Beef’s closed in San Destin.

From there we stopped in at Sago to catch some of the Falcons/Saints football game. A big crowd was there to watch. Tommy was there and we got to chat with him for a while as he ran around making sure everything was going smoothly. A Cajun guy named Kim started talking to us and ended up partying with us. The Falcons scored early and all the Saints fans were crying it was not their night. Turns out they were right! LOL

Sunshine Cindy and Kim

Friday Sunshine Cindy and her parents took Tiffany out for lunch at Harry T’s to celebrate her birthday. They had a good time. When I got home I headed to Landshark Pizza. Matt and Paige were working. I had some wings and a few beers. Tony and Amy, LD and Kirby were all there too. It was fun. I left and stopped in at Lucky’s Rotten Apple. Rose was working and there was a good crowd there too. You get all types in there. A young couple were decked out in Goth style. I don’t get it but to each his own. From there I went home to watch some college football. Sunshine Cindy was about to sleep so it was a quiet night.

Tiffany on her birthday

Saturday was a fun day. The weather was perfect. I went for a bike ride and in rapid order I saw Alan and Jackie as they were heading to the RV park on the island, Matt was a passenger in a car and Bob at the post office. I then stopped for a haircut at Tim’s place. The girl inside looked at me kind of weird as I rode up probably thinking I was one of the homeless drunks or something. I will be back. I love to give the local places my business.

The gang at the Crazy Lobster

In the afternoon Sunshine Cindy and I went to the Crazy Lobster to watch the UGA/Bama game. I had a taste for some Abita beer and oysters. I had both and they were good. Alan and Jackie, Julie and Loujean and Jan all joined us. We had a fun time. After the game Sunshine Cindy and I went up to Harry T’s for a while. They didn't have any live music, just football so we headed back home.

The Crazy Lobsters' Lobsters

Sunday Sunshine Cindy was not feeling so Sunshiny. She was coming down with a bug so we stayed in all day. The weather was perfect so we sat on the patio for a bit but most of the time she was laying down. She is doing better today.

Looks like a warm week here in Destin. We will enjoy it. See ya Thursday!