Living and Playing in Destin

This past week has been more of the same in Destin…Hot, humid and lots of people everywhere. I don’t want to sound like a broken record but every day it is temps in the mid 90’s, high humidity making it feel like it’s 110-115 and a 30% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. It will be this way at least till early September. Lol

Last week seemed to be the busiest week tourist wise so far this summer, especially in Fort Walton Beach. I had to take the backroads every evening as 98 was backing up through downtown Ft. Walton. We expect to start to see a slight slowing starting this week as many folks are getting their kids ready to return to school. In fact I believe our school system will be back in class on August 10th. That’s only two and a half weeks. The summer break seems to get less each year.

Sunshine Cindy and I stayed busy. Friday we had to take a trip to Pensacola for a routine doctors visit. As is par for the course nowadays we were in the office for well over 2 hours for an appointment that took about 5 minutes of time. Can you say “frustrating?”

After we were done we headed to Pensacola Beach. We ended up stopping at Flounders for lunch. Flounders sits right on The Sound with plenty of open air dining. We had a nice relaxing lunch sharing a shrimp platter that had 5 or 6 different types of fresh gulf shrimp. It was really good! 

When we left we put the top down on Badass and took the beach road to Navarre. Well, we got behind some folks driving real slow. The sun was baking us in the car. We like it hot but this was like being in an oven. We had thought about stopping in Navarre for a drink but decided to head back to Destin. In Fort Walton I pulled over and put the top back up. The air conditioning felt sooo gooood. Lol  In Destin we made a stop at the Rotten Apple. Tracy was working the bar. There were a few other regulars in there. By now we were sufficiently cooled down. So the top went back down and we went home.

There was a Parrot Head meeting at The American Legion that night. We got home about 5 and the meeting was starting about 5:30. We sat down and the next thing you know we decided to stay in as we were so comfortable. Sorry PH’s. We will be there next time!

Saturday afternoon we headed to the harbor and Tailfins for some dinner. We got our usual spot on the railing by the bar where we get some nice breezes. It was very relaxing there. Johnny the owner stopped by and chatted with us. He was lamenting how hard it is to get good help as many of the younger staff are just plain lazy. But we hear that from all the business owners in town. Rochelle is now working at Tailfins. She used to work at Landshark and always took good care of us. It was nice seeing and talking to her again.

We had our dinner then decided to stay and listen to Ronnie perform. Ronnie plays 6 days a week on the boardwalk. He does a good job and interacts with the crowds that walk by. I saw the next day our friend Sami and her husband Barry were there with some friends. They were down at some tables on the boardwalk and we never saw them. We ended up staying for Ronnie’s entire show. We had a great time listening to the music and people watching.

Sunday we were back down on the harbor. Sunshine Cindy, Tiffany and I went down and were surprised we could actually get into the parking garage. The girls went to Harry T’s to meet up with some of Tiffany’s co-workers and I went to Crab Island Cantina to listen to BT perform. BT had his son Jason playing the Cajon with him. Jason is very talented and you can see he has some of his dad’s talent. Sunshine Cindy joined after about an hour while Tiffany went on a pontoon with some friends to Crab Island.

BT’s parents and daughter showed up and sat with us. They are super nice folks. Jasmine took good care of us. The Destin Dome held as it looked like we might get some rain at one point. As we usually do we ended up talking to some other folks who were sitting around us. A couple from Ft. Walton, Christy and Steve were there with a friend having a good time. All in all another fun time at the Cantina.

We made one more stop before heading home at the outside bar at Jackacuda’s. Christy and Steve were there too plus a tourist couple from Texas. At one point we heard someone had hit several cars in the parking garage on the lower level where I was parked. I went and checked and didn’t see any issues. But when we left and pulled out of the garage there were cops and a damaged car in the parking area in front of the Grande. Hopefully no one got hurt.

The new pedestrian lights on Hwy 98 appear to be doing their job. We got stopped a couple times yesterday and the traffic gets backed up but then it was already backed up. It does make it safer to cross the road. It’s actually safer to cross there than at the intersections as you don’t have cars trying to turn with people in the crosswalk. I have seen an increase in traffic on the back roads though as folks try to avoid the madness of 98.

While we were down on the harbor we saw the charter fishing boats continue to bring in big hauls of fish. Red Snapper season is closed but there are still plenty of other species to give the anglers a fight and dinner later. Destin has the most charter fishing boats in the state of Florida and they are all busy this time of the year.

We don’t have any big plans this week other than working. Ugh… Have a great week. See ya next Monday.

Destin Steve

Brent Burns (the Trop Rock musician, not the hockey player) came to Destin…

It’s always a fun time when Brent Burns comes back to Destin to perform. Brent has been playing Trop Rock music for so many years it was not even called Trop Rock when he started. Brent has been playing music for so long he was actually a guest on the old Michael Douglass TV show way back in the day. Back then he still had hair too. LOL

Brent contacted Sunshine Cindy and I a few months ago to see if we could get a house concert put together as he would be passing through Destin. We were able to make it happen, our friend Julie offered up her backyard and pool for the party and we promoted it and ended up with a good crowd.

Brent does all original songs. As he likes to say, “Buffett does not do my songs and I don’t do his!” We ended up with a perfect day. It rained most of the morning but the skies cleared in time for us to get set up and it stayed nice (and very hot so the pool was heavily used) until well after he was done performing. Dean brought 40 pounds of shrimp from Louisiana and he did a shrimp boil. It was fantastic. Mike brought his Margarita machine, Clyde brought a “shot ski” and a good time was had by all. Just another reason we love living in Destin.

Brent actually got into town Saturday evening and stayed with Sunshine Cindy and I. Chaos loved Brent. She couldn’t get enough attention from him. We had a great time catching up with Brent. We usually only get to see him a couple times a year. He and his lovely wife Pam live in Gulf Shores, AL and Brent is on the road a lot. Brent was amazed by the traffic trying to get into Destin across the Mid-Bay bridge. I reminded him of the Saturday change over. LOL

Speaking of Trop Rock music…Last week we lost one of the best Trop Rock musicians. Jim Morris who had one of the quickest wits and ability to write songs that everyone could relate to passed away suddenly. It was a major shock to the Trop Rock world. Key West and MOTM will never be the same. We made plans where to go based on where/when Jim and his band was playing. There is a big void in our world now.

Thursday evening was spent watching my old Jim Morris YouTube video’s I had recorded at various events. It brought back many great memories but also sadness that we will never make new memories with Jim and his band. We will still get “Laid Back and Key Wasted” but it won’t quite be the same. RIP Jim…

I was off Friday with my normal off day. I could have gone out to Crab Island with some friends but I elected to get some things done around the house that I needed to do. I then made a Publix run to get some stuff for the weekend. I had a couple other stops to make then decided to go to Landshark Pizza for lunch. Sue was behind the bar. Tommy and Pops were there also having some lunch. They each had one charter trip for the day. So they were happy to be relaxing. Landshark had a good afternoon crowd too. It looks like they are doing well in their new location.

Tommy is a boat captain of a snorkel and scuba boat and Pops is a Charter boat captain. It’s funny listening to them talk about some of the people that get on their boats. Tommy’s boat take folks out to either snorkel or scuba dive. He had one lady ask if her hair was going to get wet. Umm, the only way to snorkel or scuba dive is to actually get into the water! Another time he said he had two guys who admitted to him as they were anchored and people were getting into the water that one could not swim and the other was afraid of water. Tommy told them to go sit down and when the trip was over they would get their money back. Geeze…

For Friday evening Sunshine Cindy and I were invited to Julies. Dean was making New Orleans style BBQ shrimp. It was awesome. We swam, listened to some good tunes and told a lot of jokes. There were about 10 of us there. A perfect size group for an evening party. We finally got home about 10 pm…in time to let Chaos out before we turned in for the night.

Saturday was spent preparing for Brent’s arrival and getting the food we were bringing on Sunday ready. We had snack food for Brent plus I went and picked up a large pizza from…wait now…Yep, Landshark Pizza! LOL

Around Destin the new pedestrian crosswalk lights on 98 were activated. I don’t get on 98 very much so I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of how there were affecting traffic but talking to some folks it looks like traffic is so slow already this is just another thing to slow it down a little more. A couple people said it helped them get out onto 98 from parking lots as it caused a gap in traffic so we have that going for us.

Living on the Gulf of Mexico we have some strange occurrences from time to time. Last week there was a fish kill on Okaloosa Island. Dead fish were washing up on the beach. There was no known reason like Red Tide or something like that. There are times it just happens due to something from Mother Nature and that’s what this looked like. I guess it was pretty smelly along that section of beach. I am glad to say this does not happen often.

It’s going to be another great week in Destin. The Parrot Heads will be meeting Friday at The American Legion. The weather continues to be hot and humid with a 30% chance of rain from now till the end of September! So keep your tank tops, flip flops and cold boat drinks handy to keep cool. See ya next Monday!

Destin Steve

Another Summer week in Destin

The holiday has come and gone in Destin but the Summer fun continues. Sunshine Cindy and I had a nice and relaxing 4th of July. Julie invited a few friends over to her house for a pool party and cookout. I was the grill master cooking up burgers and dogs. The water in the pool was a sultry 90 degrees but it was better than baking in the sun! lol  It was a nice end to the holiday weekend.

But it didn’t end there for me. I took off Tuesday too. Sunshine Cindy went to work and I was able to get some errands done and some work around the house finished up. I left the house about 12:30 to make my stops. The traffic was a nightmare. I decided to head to Landshark Pizza for some lunch. Sue was working the bar. We were amazed at the traffic backup. I don’t know why the tourist weren’t on the beach as it was a beautiful day. Oh well,  no telling about our traffic patterns.

Sue had told me her two sons were recently in Vegas. One of her sons went to an exclusive club on his last night there on a Sunday night. This just happened to be the club the Cleveland Cavs came to after winning the NBA championship. He got to talk and party with all the players. How cool!

Thursday evening some of the homeowners from our sub division met at the pool for a get-together. We rolled our red wagon with our cooler and some chairs down to the pool and enjoyed meeting some of our neighbors that we only wave too. This was also a prelude to a special HOA meeting we were going to on Friday.

Sunshine Cindy and I both worked a half day on Friday so we could attend the HOA meeting. The president of our HOA has made life miserable for folks. The homeowners are raising up to get her off the board. I could recite story after story about things she has done but they are mostly petty, vindictive and in some cases illegal. She is actually being sued by one of the owners. She has control of the board because her husband and a close friend are on the board but a new election will be coming up in two months. She will be gone. Then hopefully common sense will return.

The HOA meeting was contentious but no one got out of hand. After the meeting Sunshine Cindy and I headed to Landshark Pizza for a Parrot Head meeting. It was another fun meeting with Jeff and the Camaro’s playing for us. We had a good turnout despite the traffic and some folks heading to Pensacola to hear Southern Drawl Band perform. Our meeting ended about 8:30 pm. As we were finishing the restaurant began to fill up. It looks like most people don’t come out till later to eat.

When we left Landshark, Sunshine Cindy and I stopped in at the American Legion. Tony, John, Robin and some folks from the meeting showed up. Like always there were some good singers and some not so good. But we had fun and that’s what counts!

The rest of the weekend was kind of laid back. Sunshine Cindy and I went to the harbor and Brotula’s for lunch on Saturday. We had an interesting guy waiting on us. He was originally from the Ukraine. He worked on cruise ships for many years and then lived in Chicago for four years. He came to Destin on vacation and decided to move here permanently. His story is like many others. He was a nice guy and took good care of us.

As a public service announcement…If you want to save some money in Destin on your vacation make your lunch your main meal of the day. Prices are 30-50% cheaper than dinner and you get about the same amount of food. I had a big platter of fried Gulf of Mexico shrimp and fries for $8.99. That’s fresh gulf shrimp that was delicious. Your welcome…lol

Sunday was spent doing work around the house, giving Chaos a bath, some Crab Island Mambo work and just relaxing.

This week the new pedestrian cross walks will become operational. There are five up and down Hwy 98 to help get people safely across the highway. They claim they will be synched to the traffic lights but this will do nothing but make traffic move even more slowly. I know it’s dangerous to cross the highway but they should have spent money on some elevated cross overs. The city can spend 2 million on buying out a strip club but they can’t do the right thing on a pedestrian bridge or two. I don’t understand it.

This week our Trop Rock musician friend Brent Burns will be in Destin doing a backyard party for us. Julie is hosting the party so folks can get into her pool to keep cool. We are looking forward to having Brent join us as we “Embrace the Chaos.” If you have ever heard the song, “If it’s Snowbird Season, why can’t we shoot em” then you have hear Brent sing!

Have a great week. I will have a full report on our “Chaos” next Monday!

Destin Steve

Happy 4th of July from Destin

Sunshine Cindy and I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July celebration. Don’t forget to say thanks to those who keep us safe…our troops to the police officers and all our first responders. Thanks you!

It has been a crazy week in Destin. This is the busiest week of the year in town. The craziness started on Tuesday afternoon. There was a major power outage in Destin that affected the entire harbor district all the way to the Target shopping center. Traffic was a mess as you can imagine. It happened while I was on my way home from work and I was lucky to avoid most of the mess. 98 was a parking lot until they got the lights working again about 9 pm.

Thursday night is fireworks night in the harbor and it’s usually the worse night for me to get home. This week was a “normal” slow ride I am glad to say. Friday I was off. I got up early and saw Sunshine Cindy off to work and then I headed to Publix to get a few things. At 9:15 am the store was already crowded and when I checked out they had almost all the lanes open. The tourist were here! Then in the afternoon I headed to the Rotten Apple for a couple beers. Cars were everywhere. I thought it was going to be a crazy day.

At the Apple Tracy was working the bar. Tommy and a few other regulars came in. Tommy is the captain of a snorkel and dive boat. Earlier in the day he had ex-football player Kevin Greene and his family on the trip. Kevin is a former all pro linebacker who played most of his career with Pittsburgh. Kevin is being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year in a few weeks. Kevin and his family live in the area and I think he is a coach with Green Bay. Tommy said what a nice and down to earth guy he is and he has a son that looks like he can play in the pros right now he is that big. lol

Friday night Sunshine Cindy and I got out for a while and headed to Hogs Breath. We hoped to get a seat at the bar figuring the place would be packed. When we got there the bar was only about half full. Andy and a couple other parrot heads were there at a table and we said hi to them. Kevin was working the bar. They had the Cleveland Indians game on one of the TV’s. The tribe was trying to win their 14th straight game and set a new club record for consecutive wins. The game went 19 innings but they finally won! Yeah! At the inside bar were Steve and Ida with Cam behind the bar. We talked to them all for a while too catching up. When we left, Kelly was there with some friends. She was having a good time.

The bar never really filled up. We stayed till about 9 pm. Even highway 98 was not packed like normal. Harbor Docks across the street had parking spaces open in their lot. It was a strange night. Everyone I talked to said the same thing around town. I don’t know where everyone was at.

Saturday turned into one of those typical Destin days. Sunshine Cindy and I headed to the harbor. Wayne joined us. We met up about 12:30 at Crab Island Cantina. Josh was behind the bar and a nice crowd was there for lunch. The water in the Pass and at Crab Island was a beautiful shade of aqua. We could tell Crab Island was packed. Boats were coming and going everywhere you looked. The weather was perfect, hot but no clouds and a deep blue sky. We enjoyed a snack and decided to move on and start a mini pub crawl.

Next stop was Tailfins. We sat at the downstairs bar. There was a nice breeze blowing and a lot of folks at this part of the harbor were walking along the boardwalk. From there we went upstairs to AJ’s. They have done a fantastic job with the remodel after the fire. They added an overhang area and expanded the upstairs. We ran into Smitty here but this is a real tourist place. Next stop was right next door at Hooks on the Harbor. We watched as the American Spirit party boat unloaded and the mates were cleaning the days catch. A lot of Red Snapper were being cleaned.

From there we went to Margaritaville. Yes, we really were being tourist. The bartender used to work at the Apple. I recognized him but can’t remember his name. Anyway he gave us a locals VIP card good for 20% off all food and drinks. Finally they are doing something for the locals!!! It was time to move on and the upper deck at Harry T’s was the next stop. The owner Dan was there and we greeted him as we came in. Stephanie waited on us and later Lou came by and gave us all a big hug. It was busy up there as folks were wanting to see the sunset. Some of the best views in Destin are from the upper deck at Harry T’s.

Wayne decided to head home but Sunshine Cindy and I made one last stop at Charley’s Burger Bar inside Crab Island Cantina. By now getting into some air conditioning felt great. We split a burger (they have some of the best in town) before we headed home. We thought we would get home and relax but a bunch of our neighbors were outside partying so we joined them. We let Chaos out and she ran around greeting everyone. It was a nice end to the evening.

Sunday we were supposed to go to a party at a friend’s house near Freeport. We were moving very slowly. Plus we had some strange car in our driveway. We had no idea who’s car it was. We checked with all the neighbors and no one had a clue who it belonged to. There was just enough room to get Sunshine Cindy’s car out.

We were running late already but we needed some food so we went to Tailfins for brunch. Well, we got comfortable. Cheryl waited on us. She was running around like crazy. They only had two servers for the downstairs area and there were a lot of people there. Johnny the owner came by and told us the top deck was packed. Good for them. By the time we got done we were already so far behind time we decided to just stay in Destin. Sorry Steve and Dottie. We walked down the Cantina and listened to BT do a set. Then we went home and relaxed the rest of the day watching a CSI Miami marathon and watching the fireworks from Destin Commons! LOL

Around town the Shoreline Church is one step closer to its goal of breathing new life into the old Nightown building on Palmetto Street. The Destin City Council recently amended the city’s land development code to allow the church to operate in the old nightclub. Eric and Darlene Partin, lead pastors at the church, said they are focused on getting the church up and running by late January 2017.

And speaking of Destin Commons…Bass pro shops is expanding at the Commons. They are going to add about 16K square feet of space. They have been one of the anchors to the Commons from day one and they just keep getting bigger.

Again, we hope you all have a fantastic 4th and a great week. See you next Monday…

Destin Steve