No Super Moon over Destin

The entire country was excited to see the Super Moon on Sunday evening but it was not to be in Destin. We had scattered clouds all day but by the time the moon was rising (no, it was not a bad moon rising either) the clouds were thick. We had about a five minute period where the moon was visible but that was all. It was impressive for that five minutes though.

Sunshine Cindy and I had a laid back kind of weekend. Friday evening we went to KC’s Sandbar in Fort Walton Beach for the parrot head phlocking. Jan was playing for us and we had a good time. It was good seeing Matt and Tia behind the bar keeping everyone stocked up on drinks. Steve, Dottie, Mark, Stephanie, Ann, Cajun Mike, Terry, the Linda’s…and a cast of dozens more were there having a good time.

The KC’s complex is adding a new establishment. TASTE Tapas & Wine Bar is going into the old Fokkers location. Fokkers has moved across Hwy. 98 so that opened the location for Mike and Bev to take it over. TASTE will be doing a soft opening this week. Mike let us tour the new place and it’s awesome. This will not be a highbrow kind of wine bar but more like your living room. When added to the Sandbar, the sports bar and Tapworks for craft beer the KC’s family of establishments has all the bases covered for your eating and drinking fun.

I started out Saturday with a relaxing bike ride. The beach was beautiful and the water was calm. What a great way to start a day. In the afternoon Sunshine Cindy and I went to Landshark Pizza. I needed to get my pizza fix taken care of. We watched the Ohio State game while others were watching various other games. Pop and Jenny were there. Glen came in and sat with us. Jason, Brian, Ryan, Hailey and Jeanette were all working. The place stayed busy.

We had a tourist lady from Mississippi come in and sit next to us. She was asking about the LSU game (they won) and enjoying a weekend away in Destin. She left and a couple of tourist from Atlanta took over those seats. This time of the year everyone talks college football and they were no different. It’s a fun time of the year.

Sunday we went to Sunshine Cindy’s parent’s house to watch the Browns game. We should not have wasted our time. They didn’t play good at all. Oh well, there is always next week.

We had a bunch of our friends go to Panama City Beach this weekend for Chasin’ the Sun music festival. Saturday night Alan Jackson was the headliner. Our friends all had a great time. They did remark how Margaritaville was closed by 10 pm when the concert was letting out. No wonder the Margaritaville chain is having problems.

Our friend Charley is opening a second Crust Pizza location. This one will be in Fort Walton Beach next to the mall by McDonalds on Page Bacon Road. Sunshine Cindy and I love going to the Crust location in Destin. They have great pizza and pasta dishes. I know the new Crust will be just as good. I will check it out and give a full report soon!

Down on the Destin harbor the old Electric Cowboy (and Capt. Dave’s before that) two story brick building will be re-opening this week. Harbor House Destin is a restaurant / bar / nightclub / live music venue that will feature New Orleans style cuisine and cocktails. They will have a soft opening this Thursday with Robert Wayne playing then Friday Ron Adams will be on stage. It will be interesting to see how another big club does in this town.

This weekend is the big Destin Seafood Festival. The entire harbor area will become the place to be with over 70,000 people converging there to eat, shop and listen to music. Our good friends, the Southern Drawl Band will be playing the main festival stage on Saturday night starting at 8 pm. Get there early for a good spot to watch SDB rock the festival.

Southern Drawl Band will also be playing at KC’s Sandbar on Friday night starting at 9 pm and at Crab Island Cantina on Sunday starting at 5 pm. Check these guys out. They are great!

We still have plenty of Crab Island Mambo tee’s and tank tops plus the three long sleeve shirts still on sale. “Embrace the Chaos” with your own Crab Island Mambo shirts!!! http://crabislandmambo.com/Crab-Island-Mambo-Merchandise.html

Have a great week. See ya next Monday with a full recap of the good times.

Destin Florida - Living and Playing Blog

Wow, what a great week Sunshine Cindy and I had. It started out last Monday evening at Crab Island Cantina’s new bar, Charley’s BBB. (Beer, Burgers and Bourbon!) You can add sports to that too as they have tons of TV’s and the sports packages. They were having a soft opening and we got invited to attend. Julie joined us for a fun evening. We tried some burgers that were great as well some of the other appetizers they have. With many different types of bourbons and craft beers, this place is going to be a big hit. Charley’s is the inside bar at the Cantina. Go check them out.

Friday night we went across the bay to visit Sunshine Cindy’s parents. They had returned from a trip to Minnesota. They had a good time visiting family and friends but they were glad to be back home in paradise. It was a nice visit we had and they had some fresh apples for us too.

Saturday was a typical Destin day down on the harbor. Sunshine Cindy and I started out at the Red Door Saloon. They have upgraded their menu at the Red Door. They used to only have hot dogs but now have a full range of bar food. It’s good and the beer is still some of the cheapest in town. Kyle was behind the bar taking care of us. We got to talking about football. Kyle is originally from Cincinnati so we had fun with me bring a Browns fan.

Wayne joined us. He had been in Cincinnati a few weeks before and promised to bring us a can of Skyline Chili. Everyone in Cincy loves Skyline Chili. Well, he had the can with him so I had to show Kyle what we got. He joked we better not turn our back or he would take the can…he loves that chili that much. LOL  While at the Red Door we saw some biker friends we have not seen in many months. We also talked to Bruce who is the weighmaster for the fishing rodeo. The rodeo runs the entire month of October and Bruce is there every day. He is ready!

Now this is where the typical harbor crawl part begins. We decided to walk down to Charley’s. On the way we talked to Jonelle who was working a charter booth. Then we ran into Missy who was also hanging out. At Charley’s we got “our” table and enjoyed some food and drinks. Carlos came out to see us and he made us some Enamine. It was really good. I will have it again. We watched some football and enjoyed being in air conditioning as it was pretty warm out.

As we left Charley’s Renee was having dinner at the Cantina. Her husband is now the chef for the Cantina. Good for them. As we walked back down the harbor we noticed Shark Shack and Hooks were both closed. Turns out they didn’t have any water. What a tough day to be closed as there was a lot of people walking the harbor. We went on and stopped at the outside bar at Tailfins. A lot of people were inside watching college football but we pulled up a couple of chairs to enjoy the fresh air.

As we sat there Bobby walked by. Bobby is a Cajun who was celebrating the LSU victory. Not too much later Skip and Brenda also walked by and talked to us. Wayne joked that is seemed like we knew almost everyone that was out on the harbor. And that’s what makes it a typical Destin harbor stroll day.

From there Wayne headed home and so did Sunshine and I. But we decided to make one final stop at The Palms to see what the bar situation was like now that Brink and Spoon was closed down. The inside bar was not open but the outside back bar was. A big crowd of regulars were there. Tommy, Shannon and others we knew by sight but not name were all there having a good time. Now we know we can still get a drink there if we want to.

Sunday was a little more subdued but not by much. I wanted to once again watch the Browns game. We went back to Tailfins to watch the game and had the same table as we had the previous week. The view of the harbor makes watching the game from Tailfins so cool. You have the water and boats on the harbor and the football game at the same time. You can’t beat that. And the Browns won too! That was icing on the cake. As the game was winding down Ken and his lady came to watch the Ravens game that was coming on next. We stayed for a while with them then headed home so I could be ready for the upcoming work week. All in all we had another great week in Destin.

I did hear some news about a new chain store that is coming to Destin. The shopping center that has Bealls and Bealls Outlet will soon have a Dick’s Sporting Goods store. This is supposed to be a 50000 sq ft store. The shopping center will undergo a major rebuild to accommodate Dick’s. Several of the retail outlets that are currently there will either move or be bought out of their lease. The Vietnamese restaurant will be closing. I don’t know what is going to happen to Wendy’s Kitchen. They seemed to be doing well. There is also a car rental and gulf cart place that I don’t know about either. The dentist is being relocated by Dollar Tree. Yep, more changes for Destin.

Don't forget we have our Crab Island Mambo tee's, tank's and long sleeve shirts on sale. Here's all the details and how you can order your own piece of Destin! http://www.crabislandmambo.com/Crab-Island-Mambo-Merchandise.html

Have a great week. See ya next Monday!

Cooler temps come to Destin

The Destin weather has turned to a more fall like situation. Saturday we had a front come down from the north dropping our low temps into the 60’s and lowering the humidity too. It really felt chilly Sunday morning as I went for a bike ride. I rode over 11 miles enjoying the lack of humidity.

There was a lot going on this past week. Labor day I went down to the harbor to hang out for a while. Wayne joined me. The first stop was Crab Island Cantina. I wanted to see if they had their new sports bar, Charley’s, open yet. It was not open but Judie let me go in and look around. It’s going to be a nice place to watch the games. They are going to have the three B’s…Beer, Bourbon and Burgers! The official grand opening is Tuesday September 15th.

Wayne and I then walked down to Tailfins. He had not been there yet. We sat at the downstairs bar. Johnny the owner came by and we talked to him for a while. It was a nice time there. We made one more stop at Harry T’s. Red was just finishing up behind the bar but I got to say hello.

Thursday night was a fun evening. We had our friend Jerry Diaz from Texas playing at LuLu’s. He had Mark and Bobby join him. Mary also came with Jerry. We had a big crowd show up with over 50 people there eating, drinking and dancing. I hope LuLu’s brings in more of our Trop Rock musicians. While there Sunshine Cindy and I ran into Rick and Jane. We have not seen them in over a year. They moved to Kelly Plantation and seemed to fall off the radar. It was great seeing and talking to them again.

Friday was a kind of laid back day. Sunshine Cindy and I went to Landshark Pizza in the afternoon. I needed to get my wing fix! Sue was working with Bryan. Pop and Jenny were there and we got to talk to them for a while. As it started to get towards dinner time Paige, Courtney, Austin and Ryan all came in to work. They are all like family now. “B” came in and sat with us then finally Steve also came in. Landshark is like our own Cheers! Oh yeah, I got the wings with a Cajun dry rub and they were awesome!

When we left Landshark we decided to stop in at The American Legion for a short while. Kathleen was working the bar. There was only one other couple there. Her name was Cindy but I can’t remember his. They are boaters who will be cruising down to Key West in a few weeks. We plan to look them up when are down there in November. It was fun talking to them.

Julie lives right across the street from the Legion. She came and joined us. We all sat around solving the world’s problems. LOL  We left as karaoke started and the place was filling up. Sunshine Cindy and I spent the rest of the evening on our porch enjoying the night.

Saturday was our last Crab Island Mambo / ECPHC beach cleanup of the year. Well that cold front that came through brought rain and wind so I had to cancel the cleanup. So Sunshine Cindy and I ended up staying home all day relaxing. It’s nice to do nothing once in a while!

Sunday was the first big NFL game day. Sunshine Cindy and I went to Tailfins to watch the Browns. We wanted to be someplace outside where we could enjoy the beautiful day but still have the games and other fans to interact with. We had a fun day at Tailfins even if the Browns sucked. While there Kelly came through then later Sheri also came through. It’s fun catching up with friends. As the second games started Ken and his wife joined us at our table to watch the Tennessee game. At least their team played well and won.

We made one more stop at the Rotten Apple before we headed home. Tommy was there and Traci was working the bar. All in all it was a great Sunday.

The new condo that is going up by Henderson Park just down from the bowling alley is starting to take shape. It’s going to be a big complex just steps to the beach.

Have a great week. See ya next Monday!

Holiday weekend in Destin

Destin had its last big tourist weekend of the summer season. The town was packed out again but this time it was only for a couple of days. Today, most everyone is heading back home and the locals will come back out of hibernation.

Sunshine Cindy and I stayed very active with friends and family. Friday Sunshine Cindy and Tiff went to Landshark Pizza for a while. They had some wings and talked to Brian and Sue. Sue was celebrating her birthday that evening at Harry T’s. A big party helped her get over the shock of turning 50. LOL 

Saturday was the yearly pool party that Julie throws. The weather was threatening but the Destin Dome held. Thunderstorms were all around but they would break up at they got to Destin. The party was a lot of fun as usual.

Sunday Sunshine Cindy and I headed to Hogs Breath in the afternoon to hang out for a while. Cam was working the outside bar. It was good seeing him again. We had some dinner, a few beers and watched the traffic on 98. It’s amazing what you see sometimes.  At one point a guy in the backseat of a car was waving a beer out the window toasting those of us at the bar. Okay, an open container is one thing but showing it off will get you in trouble. Lucky for him there were no cops around.

Then we saw a car stopped in the traffic when the driver got out to get something out of the truck. I don’t think it was a beer. Finally a group of 5 bikers decided to not sit in the traffic and rode on the sidewalk to get to Hogs. Granted it was only the sidewalk in front of the building and no pedestrians were there but again…something you don’t see every day.  But we had fun as it was mostly locals there.

Sunday evening we were home and got to listen to the concert from the Mattie Kelly Arts Center. The Heather Hayes Experience band was performing and we could hear them like we were front and center. Heather is the daughter of Isaac Hayes. It was a good show. Sunday evening was also the last fireworks show of the season at the harbor. We heard at Hogs Breath the fireworks barge broke free and ran into a sail boat and a couple other boats during the day. That must have been like trying to corral a semi-truck. No one was hurt and the fireworks went off as planned. 

It will be back to work for a few days this week then a big weekend of fun is planned. Jerry Diaz and his trio will be playing at LuLu’s this Thursday evening from 6-10 pm. The parrot heads will be back at LuLu’s on Friday night. And Saturday is our Crab Island Mambo and ECPHC last beach cleanup of the season on the island at beachwalk #2. Come out and join us!

Don’t forget we still have our special on Crab Island Mambo tees, tank tops and a couple long sleeve shirts. Any size or style just $15! Click here for all the details: http://www.crabislandmambo.com/Crab-Island-Mambo-Merchandise.html

Have a great week. See ya next Monday!