Ready for 2016 in Destin

Was Santa good to you this year? We had a good Christmas celebration in our household. Of course Sunshine Cindy cooked too much food. Chaos enjoyed her first Christmas with us. All in all it was a good day.

There has not been too much else going on. I did stop in at Landshark Pizza a couple of times. The first time was when I got off work on Wednesday. I am now off till January 4th too. Then I went back to watch the Browns game on Sunday. They lost again but played better. Other than that, we didn’t get out much due to the holiday.

It was announced today the Emerald Coast Parrot Head club will be holding their monthly meeting at Landshark Pizza starting in January. I think this will be a good marriage between the club and Landshark.

There were a lot of tourist in town for the holiday. I guess a lot of folks want to come to the beach. Our weather has been warm and humid. I know around the country the weather has been strange due to El Nino but I am not complaining about warm weather. We actually have had our air condition running and I had the top down on BadAss3 the other day. Alas all good things must come to an end and we will be back to more seasonal weather by the end of the week.

To all of our friends…Crab Island Mambo wants you to "Embrace the Chaos" but have a safe and fun New Year’s Eve celebration. Sunshine Cindy and I hope your 2016 is the best year yet for you!!! See ya next Monday with a recap of the week.

Merry Christmas!!!

Sunshine Cindy and I want to wish all of our friends a very Merry Christmas. We hope the holiday season brings you peace and joy.

It was pretty slow around Destin this past week. Sunshine Cindy and I went to Landshark Pizza Friday night for a while but that was about it. I did help Sunshine Cindy mix up about a ton of Trail Mix. It turned out very good too.

There continues to be a lot of new construction around Destin. The extended stay hotel by restaurant row is quickly going up. Same with the new condo on the beach on restaurant row. The other big condo project by Henderson is shaping up as well. This is going to be a huge complex.

There is a new building going up next to the new Goodyear Tire shop in front of Home Depot. It is a new Wendy’s. The original Wendy’s in Destin is old and outdated. This new place is going to replace the old one.

A few years ago a Dolly Parton owned company bought up a bunch of land in Destin off Commons Drive. There were reports a possible dinner theater was going to be built there. That all fell through and the land went back up for sale. This weekend I noticed the land is now listed as “contract pending.” I am curious as who might be looking at this land now. It is a big parcel that could become a major type of attraction. We shall see what develops.

Last week there was a big power outage in Destin. Something blew on a power pole across from Coyote Ugly. The traffic light at the Grande was out and there was no power all the way down to about Hogs Breath. Since the power trucks were taking up the inside lane on the westbound side of 98, the traffic backed up all the way past Big Kahuna’s. I was glad I was going the other way. All the places along the harbor had to close down. It was a weird sight not seeing any lights along that stretch of road.

We had a few days of colder temps but now it’s warming back up. We are projected to be at 78 for Christmas. I will take it!

Everyone have a good holiday. See ya next Monday!!!

Christmas season in Destin

Christmas time in Destin is one of best times of the year. This is small town living at its best. We have snowbirds in town and but it’s mostly locals that are now out and about. This past weekend was the Destin Christmas parade. The entire town turns out for this fun event.

The parade runs from the parking lot at Old Time Pottery west down Hwy. 98 to Stalman Ave. by Whataburger. It’s a long route running almost two miles. The sheriff’s office does a good job moving traffic to the east bound lanes of 98 with the parade going down the west bound lanes. With almost 100 different groups in the parade it takes almost two hours to complete.

Sunshine Cindy and I took Chaos and went to Landshark Pizza to watch the parade. We sat on the front patio giving Chaos a front row seat. One of the funny things that happened was early in the parade. There was a big gap between groups. We could see up the road it looked like a vehicle was having a problem. It turned out it was our friends with the Parrot Head club. They had Jan playing music but there was a problem with the inverter they used for power from the vehicle. So Jan ended up walking along with everyone else. He even took a seat with some of the folks watching the parade at one point. Jan knows how to work a crowd.

When the Parrot Heads went by Landshark, Bobby and Mike ran across the street dodging cars to give us beads. That was funny as everyone at Landshark got a kick out of it. The rest of the parade was a typical small town parade with marching bands, politicians, local businesses and of course Santa coming up the rear in a fire truck.

Sunday was the Destin Boat parade. Each December in the harbor dozens of decorated boats run along the harbor for crowds along the boardwalk and in the restaurants. This year they added a fireworks display at the end of the boat parade. This type of parade honors our waterfront location. It was a fun evening on the harbor.

After the Saturday parade Sunshine Cindy and I stayed at Landshark. Some of our Parrot Head friends came and joined us. Chaos was like a princess holding court on the patio. The weather was perfect. It was in the 70’s and the sun was shining. In fact, it was warm for many days. We actually turned our air conditioner on at home. I loved it.

Friday night we had a Parrot Head meeting at LuLu’s. The club announced the volunteer of the year award will now be dedicated to and called the Capt. John Gardner award. Debbie and Ron were this year’s winners. We lost Capt. John this year but his big heart and generosity will live on with this yearly award.

Yes, I went to watch the Browns again on Sunday at Landshark. But this week they actually won. Johnny Football is looking like a real quarterback now. We might have some light at the end of this tunnel yet. LOL  While I was there Brian and Glen joined me for a while. Glen had some smoked venison he let me try that was really good. A big crowd was there watching all the various games.

The rest of our week was spent with Chaos. She is growing so fast. It seems like almost every day we can see her get bigger. She is a sweet puppy that likes to play like most puppy’s do. Hard to believe we have only had her for a couple of weeks. It seems like she has been a part of our family forever.

There’s not much else new happening in Destin right now. This is a slow time where the locals can come out and play. Have a great week. See ya next Monday.

All Chaos all the time in Destin

Since we picked up our new puppy Chaos, it has been all about her. Chaos is really a smart puppy. She is already learning how to wrap Sunshine Cindy around her paws! LOL  Okay, me too. It is really different having her around the house. We have to keep an eye on her all the time as she is in the chewing stage that all puppies have. Chaos is getting better about letting us know when she needs to go outside so that’s cool. Now I am waiting for when she actually will sleep all night and we will have it made.

We don’t want to leave Chaos home alone yet but we did sneak away for a couple of beers at Landshark Pizza Friday afternoon. When we got back home she was fine and had not destroyed anything. We keep her in the master bathroom with all the doors closed and her bed in there. So far so good. We will see how she does if we have to go for more than an hour or so.

Sunshine Cindy took Chaos down to see our neighbors Saturday afternoon. They have a lab that Chaos has become friends with. Our other neighbors also came and brought their two dogs. It was like a doggy party. We are pleased with how good Chaos is with other dogs.

Sunday I made the mistake of going to Landshark to watch the Browns game. Landshark was fine but the Browns sucked. They looked as bad as I have seen them in a long time. All the beer in the world could not make watching that game bearable. Landshark had a good crowd watching the other various games. The new place seems to be a hit.

I don’t want to jinx anything but we have not had to turn our heat on yet this season. This sure helps the electric bill. The next 10 days look good too with temps about 70 during the day and in the 50’s at night. Even with this I am ready for summer!!!

This weekend is the Destin Christmas parade on Saturday and then the lighted boat parade on the harbor on Sunday. It is always a festive time of the year with these parades. I will say Destin does know how to throw a party!

Not much new around town except the new Dick’s Sporting Goods store should be starting construction soon. Wendy’s Kitchen has had to close for a few months as they relocate further down the shopping center. I have heard good things about Wendy’s Kitchen as they cook up and sell homemade meals to go. They are targeting reopening early February 2016.

And last but not least we are having a super special sale on our Crab Island Mambo tee shirts and tank tops. From now through the end of the year all shirts are 2 for 1 and we are holding the special $15 price. For just $15 you can bring home two of our “Embrace the Chaos!” shirts. http://crabislandmambo.com/Crab-Island-Mambo-Merchandise.html  Please be sure to email us before ordering to ensure we have what you want as we are selling out of some colors and sizes.

Have a great week. We hope to see our friends out and about this weekend and we will have a full report next Monday!