Kind of like Spring Break for old farts

I took last week off. I joked with folks that it was my Spring Break since Sunshine Cindy and I were going to Panama City Beach for a Trop Rock party called Rendezvous put on by the Panama City Parrot Head Club. We left on Thursday but I enjoyed a few days off before we left.

Monday I had an appointment with my eye doctor for a normal checkup. It was a quiet start to the week. Tuesday was more exciting. Sunshine Cindy had to work all day so I crammed a lot into the day. I went to Dr. Payne for a chiropractic adjustment. I always feel good after that. Then I hit the grocery store and liquor store for some provisions for the upcoming weekend. I dropped off the stuff at home then went to the harbor as I needed to see some folks about our May party.

My first stop was at Crust Pizzeria. They are a sponsor for the May party and I dropped off some tickets and flyers for them. I also had some pizza for lunch. It was great as usual. After talking with Brenda and Charley for a while I went to the Boathouse. I was hoping to talk to Jenn about the party but I missed her by ten minutes. I grabbed a beer and talked to Courtney, Kerby and a couple other folks that were there. Next stop was going to be in Harborwalk Village checking out a store that might have the perfect birthday present for Sunshine Cindy. But before I could get there I saw Melissa at Fishheads and stopped to talk with her for a while. They were busy for a Tuesday afternoon. The town was still busy.

I continued on to the shop but they had so many neat things I could not decide what would be best. I figured I better bring Sunshine Cindy there another day and let her check out the stuff. Heading back to the car I stopped at Tailfins. I had a couple beers enjoying the perfect day. Leaving the harbor I wanted to be by the water so I stopped at The Backporch for happy hour. I was worried about finding a place at the bar but I was lucky and there were several stools open. A half-pound of boiled shrimp and several beers later I headed home. Chaos and I spent the evening watching sports as Sunshine Cindy didn’t get home till almost 9 pm. She did a lot of shopping after work. LOL

On Wednesday I road-tripped to Ft. Walton to meet up with Mike and get some flyers that were going to be in the goody bags at Rendezvous. Also on Wednesday we had a guy come look at our AC. It was not cooling right. After several attempts he got it working but we will need to replace our system. Ouch! I did head to LuLu’s in the evening. BT was playing there and several friends were going to be there including Jeff and Robbin from Milwaukee. It was great seeing everyone.

Thursday we were off to PCB. We checked into the Reef at Seahaven about 1 pm. Saying the Reef is a dump is doing a disservice to dumps but it is on the water and right next to our venue which was Sharkey’s so we put up with the place. Checking in we had about 7 bikers checking in at the same time. These guys were retired firemen who all like to ride. We became friends with them and saw them all weekend. We shared more than a few drinks with these guys.

Music started at 6 pm on Thursday and went all weekend long on the beach. The weather was great. We got to see a lot of friends. The headliners were Drop Dead Dangerous on Thursday, Southern Drawl Band on Friday and Jim Asbell and the Tropiholics on Saturday night. A lot of other great musicians played too during the days. A lot of money was raised for Girls, Inc and everyone had a fun time.

PCB was busy with a jazz fest at Pier Park drawing a ton of folks to that area. At Schooners there was a Cajun Fest that had the east end of the beach packed. It took us a while on Sunday to get out of the area as we headed back to Destin. We made a stop at Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch as a storm blew through town. It dropped the temperature about 15 degrees in a few minutes.

There was one more final stop at the harbor to take Sunshine Cindy to that shop I had visited earlier in the week. Alas she didn’t find something that she had to have so I will keep looking. It was amazing how crowded Destin was. The harbor was teeming with folks. We don’t really have a down time anymore in this town. But we got home to Chaos. She was super excited to see us.

Spring Break for this old fart is over and it is back to reality and work. See ya next week.

Destin Steve

Easter Weekend in Destin

Destin filled up this weekend for Easter. It was the last week of Spring Break and then a lot of folks came into town for Easter. Friday night and Saturday traffic was as bad as a Summer day.

Sunshine Cindy works at Honey Baked Ham in their office. They were selling hundreds of hams this week. The hams are so good and folks come from all over the area to get one. Of course we got one too!

We had Easter dinner at our house. Sunshine Cindy's folks came over and we had a good time. Chaos enjoyed getting some scraps too!

On Friday night we had a parrot head meeting at Landshark Pizza. A huge crowd showed up to listen to Jeff and the Camaro's and party down. We had folks from Panama City and NC show up. A good time was had by all.

Saturday Sunshine Cindy was getting food and the house ready for Sunday. I took off for a while and went back to Landshark to watch some Cavs basketball and have a pizza. The Cavs won and the pizza was great. It was a win/win!

Saturday evening we spent it on the back porch as it was a perfect evening. It was a nice wind down to the day.

During the day on Saturday we heard sirens all morning and all afternoon. We were worried about folks in the gulf as the rip currents were bad. We didn't hear of anyone having issues and we don't know why there were so many emergency vehicles out there.

Otherwise it was a slow week for us. We both worked a lot of hours so we didn't get out during the week.

This weekend is the Panama City Parrot Head Rendezvous on the beach. Four days of Trop Rock music. They have day passes available for $20 per person if you want to go. It is a great music line up and you can bring your own cooler to the beach for the music. It is held on the white sand in front of Sharkey's. Come out and have a great time with friends from all over the country.

Have a great week. See ya next Monday!

Spring Break is winding down in Destin

Last week with a lot of the Atlanta area schools on Spring Break, it was a busy week in Destin. This week is the last week of Spring Break with LSU and some other Louisiana schools off and ready to party. Things have been pretty calm this year. I think the word is definitely out about underage drinking. Panama City Beach is still having some issues with 3 people shot this past weekend. I don’t understand why these kids can’t come down and have fun but have to try and cause trouble. At least it is not as bad as in past years.

On Friday, Sunshine Cindy and I headed to Hogs Breath for Happy Hour. Hogs is one of the neatest places in Destin. The outside bar is a perfect mix of locals and tourist. We always have a fun time there. We got there about 4pm. Just after we got there our friend Tom came in and sat next to us. Sunshine Cindy and I got some food and had a couple beers. We were about to leave when a guy sat on the other side of us and started talking to us. This was another Tom. He is from Cincinnati and was down doing some work on a condo he and his wife own. In about an hour we got his entire life story, the story of his kids and even friends that will be using the condo next week. LOL  He was a nice guy.

While talking to him, Wyatt came by. We could tell he was upset about something. We come to find out Rusty’s wife passed away the night before and Wyatt also lost a close friend the same night. He was not taking it well. We tried our best to console him. As you can tell, we were not leaving Hogs like we planned. Finally we had another guy sit next to our Ohio friend. Garrett is from Dothan. He was waiting for his girlfriend to get into town. She had to work so he came early to get their room and check out the surroundings. We had a fun time talking to him too. And last but not least some Parrot Heads who were on the Seablaster came in telling us how much fun they had. We finally left Hogs about 9 pm. Whew!

Saturday night we met up with Wayne and Beth to go to Mattie Kelly for a concert by Jersey, a Springsteen tribute band. We loaded up our red wagon and made the 15 minute walk over to the Cultural Village. Buz, Brenda, Brodie and Mike all joined us for the show. Mattie Kelly is a great venue where we will be having our May 20th Parrot Head party. Most of the people there were drinking wine but not me. I had my PBR! It was a fun show and we got a good idea how it will work for the May party.

Sunday saw Sunshine Cindy and I go visit a food truck vendor. Dottie’s nephew and a friend have gone in on a trailer. They do the usual hot dogs and burgers but also sushi. Dottie gave us the address in Santa Rosa Beach where he was going to be set up. When I looked it up it looked a residential neighborhood. When we got there it was a house and they were having a block party as a dry run. The food was outstanding. The sushi was some of the best I have ever had. There was also a shaved ice trailer set up. We have both of them coming to the May party. They will be a great addition.

When we left we went to Grayton Beach to check out the new AJ’s over there. They have a cool inside bar and they are building a huge deck that will be open in about a month. We made one last stop at LuLu’s on the way home to sit by the water and get a bite to eat. It turned out to be a great day.

Last Tuesday we stopped at The Crust for dinner. I left work a little early and it was a good thing. Minutes before I got to the Destin bridge an accident had traffic at almost a standstill. There were 5 or 6 vehicles crashed all over the roadway. It took me 30 minutes to go less than a half mile. While we were sitting in The Crust we saw a fender bender right outside the restaurant. It was the night for wrecks. I love the Baked Ziti from the Crust. Sunshine Cindy had their lasagna. It is all so good and not that expensive. Charley came and sat with us for a while. He is going to be a sponsor for the May party. Then they got real busy with a group of 10 and a group of 8 all come in about the same time. Their season is getting started.

Alas hockey season is over and the Lightning didn’t make the playoffs. They dug themselves too big a hole and came up a point short. Maybe next year.

It looks like we are going to have a fantastic weather this week. Low 80’s by day and low 60’s by night. I like it. Have a great week. See ya next Monday!

Destin Steve

AJ’s in Destin continues to grow

Alan Laird, the owner of AJ’s continues with his building spree. It started about two years ago after the fire upstairs at AJ’s in Destin. He was forced to rebuild the entire upper section. Then he bought the old Mangoes on the Bayou with Cash Moore. They put in a Cash’s liquor store in the front and a completely remodeled AJ’s on the Bayou in the back on the water. Next he bought the old Fud’s on the island. It is now a remolded AJ’s Oyster Shanty. Then the Pandora’s in Grayton Beach is now AJ’s at Grayton Beach. This has recently opened after another complete remodel. And last but not least they have done a complete remodel of the lower level at the original AJ’s in Destin.

Sunshine Cindy, Wayne and I went there on Sunday. The bar is now open to the outside as well as the inside. The entrance is new as well as they got rid of the old bleachers that faced the fishing rodeo stage. They have done a great job with all the work they have done.

AJ’s is one of the top 50 clubs in the entire country. This work is going to ensure they stay in the top 50. And with the other locations Alan is building an AJ’s empire now. All of the places are well run and have a fun vibe to them. The upstairs at AJ’s on Sunday was packed for Jones and Company. The outside with the giant screen TV had a big crowd too and we could see a lot of folks eating in the new section. Check out all the changes at AJ’s.

While we were on the harbor on Sunday we first stopped at Tailfins. Old friend Dominick was working the bar. We heard he was there but this was the first time we had seen him. It was great catching up with him. Sunshine Cindy and I split a Grouper sandwich and I had a cup of red beans and rice. It was all excellent. When you add the view it was a great way to spend part of afternoon.

After Wayne joined us, we walked down to Crab Island Cantina to catch some of BT’s afternoon show. Bobby was behind the bar. A good size crowd was there. Spring Breakers were all around. We briefly saw Carlos. He was leaving saying he had to catch a dinghy. The small dinghy was about a 60 foot yacht. It backed up enough so he could jump on board. I don’t know who’s boat it was or where they were going but it looked like a lot of fun!

Being at the Cantina and not seeing Alan and Jackie was strange. They left to head back to Illinois on Saturday. We didn’t get a chance to see them before they left with us being out of town the previous weekend. I hope they have a safe trip and we will see them again in a few months.

Back down on the harbor the old Hooks is going to be called “The Big Red Grill.” It is owned by the same folks that have The Big Red Truck. No date was given when it will open.

Spring Break is still in full swing. This week we have most of Atlanta here…or at least the ones that could fight the traffic to get out of town after the fire and bridge collapse on I-85 in the city. I went to Publix Sunday morning for a few things. It is always easy to get in and out on Sunday but not this week. The place was packed at 10 am. Most of the carts were gone, shelves were empty, people with overflowing carts were everywhere. It was a zoo. I can only imagine what Wal Mart was like.

Over the weekend a Spring Breaker from Kentucky was bit by a shark. She was way out on the second sandbar even though red flags were flying. She is lucky she was able to get back to shore. Shark attacks are very rare here in Destin. But when it does happen it becomes big news. I think it has been 10 years or so since the last attack we had. Jaw’s may be swimming in our waters but he tends to keep to himself.

The weather in Destin this weekend was perfect. Saturday Sunshine Cindy and I did some work in the yard. She replanted things and I drank beer watching her. LOL   Actually I helped and the place really looks good now. It is ready for summer. In the later afternoon I went to Landshark Pizza to get us a pizza. We sat outside with Chaos enjoying the evening, munching on pizza and resting our sore muscles.

Around town the new tee shirt shop going up next to Club Destin is starting to take shape as the steel frame is going up. The rest of the building should go quickly. I also saw where a scooter rental has popped up on Hwy 98 in the empty lot next to Joe’s Crab Shack. Riding a scooter on 98 is taking your life in your hands.

We are about a month and a half from the Emerald Coast Parrot Heads, “Tailgates Down…Phriends All Around” all day music festival. It will be Saturday May 20th at the Mattie Kelly Cultural Arts Village in Destin starting at 10 am with a tailgate party and then music on the big stage from noon to 6 pm. Tickets are only $25 per person. You can get information and your tickets on-line here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tailgates-downphriends-all-around-tickets-32568153223?aff=es2
Or come to any ECPHC event as tickets will be available at them.

Have a great week. See ya next Monday!

Destin Steve