Happy Hour Pals......The LIQ.... (formerly Beach Bar and Package)

Jennie from Tennessee

Lovely Lauren our bartender

Jan and I share the same birthday.... June 7th!

Jim and Dom

Judy, Ray and their niece own behind the LIQ

PCB With Patricia, Lauren and Keith

I had a lovely 10 days on the beach.  Last Thursday, my pal Patricia arrived.  We feasted on lobster tails Friday night.

We were joined by dear friends Lauren and Keith on Saturday.  Played on the beach all day and had a pizza delivered for dinner.

Went over to Beach Package (now called "The LIQ") for happy hour and stocked up on 30 packs of beer.  Only $15 each.  At that price, I couldn't afford NOT to stock up!

When we headed back to the condo, Keith made me a "Throne".  Too funny!

In the morning, we had a good breakfast and hit the beach at 9:30 in the morning.  Drank beer, played "ladder golf", and had great fun.

Lauren and Keith left late afternoon, Patricia headed out Monday morning.  (She remains my FAVORITE roommate. We're extremely compatible and I'm so happy that we've become dear friends!)

For the rest of the week, I cleaned up the condo, spent time on the beach and just "chillaxed" as my niece says.

I've got something GREAT to report-  I've been bitching and whining about the beach service chairs taking up all of the prime shoreline spots for a couple of years.  Apparently I'm not the only one.  The rental service now must move BACK to open up spots for guests.  (I'm feeling kind of smug right now).

Headed back a week from today for a couple of weeks.  Dear high school pal is flying in on Monday for a week.  Can't wait to see her!

EMERALD COAST CRUIZIN

We had a grand time last week at the beach.  The highlight of the visit was the Emerald Coast Cruizin car show.  A wonderful venue, great cars and great music.

The water was gorgeous.  Unfortunately, too cold to swim.  Other Novembers in the past have been great.  Not this year.

There were oodles of stingrays visible because the water was so calm.

                             

 As usual, we had a fabulous meal at Dee's Hangout.  We both had our favorites.  Himself had a shrimp po-boy and I had a pork belly burger.  Unreal.  The absolute BEST on the beach!

One day we put a couple of hundred miles on the Corvette for a drive through Florida's "Forgotten Coast"

http://www.forgottencoastline.com/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Coast

It's a lovely, basically undeveloped area.  Just single family homes and rental homes.  No high rise condos.  Nor much entertainment to speak of.  It's a nice, nice area, but we prefer the action in Panama City Beach.

Our last day on the beach was Veterans Day.  I love that Emerald Coast Cruizin has always been the weekend prior to this holiday that means so much to me.  Dom is a Vietnam Veteran.  Dad was a WWII Vet.  God Bless 'Em!

As usual, this Veterans Day was a total PIG-OUT.  Lunch at Hooters consisted of a pitcher of beer and 10 free wings.  (we could only eat 4 each).

Dinner was at Applebee's where Dom got a free steak and I ordered off of the menu.... 2-For-1 beers, too!

It was great to see our pals at Beach Bar and Package, too!

Would love to convince The Dom to move to PCB permanently, but he enjoys being a "Gentleman Farmer" here in the middle of nowhere.

Wicked Weather in Panama City Beach.....But Still a Great Time.

I FINALLY convinced The Dom to join me at the condo last week.  He hadn't been there since our Fourth of July festivities.

We had a very pleasant drive there.  Blue skies and sunshine.  That all changed early evening.

We had one helluva storm!  We actually slept on our sofa bed to enjoy the light show.  It was amazing.

When we woke up on Tuesday morning, we were shocked to see the destruction.  The beach was an absolute mess.  There were chaise lounges scattered all over the place.  Double Red Flags were flying.  (STAY OUT OF THE GULF).

It was obviously not going to be a "beach day", so we decided to walk over to Dee's Hangout for their Tuesday lunch of skillet fried chicken.

Much to our shock we saw horrible damage at our favorite hangout across the street.... Beach Bar and Package.

It's amazing that the windows weren't broken!
Local Storm Coverage

Wednesday and Thursday were spent at one of the pools.  The storm had really messed up the water.

Wouldn't you know it.... on Friday morning as we were ready to leave, the water cleared up.

Anyway, it was fun to see the gang, and I was tickled to get Dom to Panama City Beach!

 

September at the Beach

September is a lovely time to visit PCB.  The kids are back in school, the beach is uncrowded, and this year the water was spectacular.

Patricia drove down for 4 nights.  (My favorite roomate!).  Much to my delight, a lifelong hometown neighbor and family friend, Rondi came down from Colorado for a couple of nights with her husband Roy.

We had a grand time.  I had a pizza delivered one night.  Then we hung out at the beach the entire next day.  It was wonderful to be with an old Ohio pal!

I was there for a couple of weeks.  Patricia and I hit our favorites....Dee's Hangout and Los Rancheros.  For the most part, I just hung out at the beach all day, then fended for myself foodwise.  I don't like to eat out alone.

Much to my delight, pals Keith and Lauren came over to spend a night.  We did some Stouffer's lasagna in the condo, Keith sprung for happy hour across the street, then we played on the beach the next morning.  (We're getting really good at ladder-golf)

This was amusing..... the gulf was loaded with stingrays.  I had done some research on them and learned that they're harmless but curious creatures.  (Unless you step on one, as Rondi's brother did a few years ago here).

From the 22nd floor, we'd watch these critters swimming towards people.  Wait for it....wait for it.....  "AHHHHHHHHHH".  They'd run screaming out of the water.  Funny.

So.... it was a wonderful 2 weeks.  Dom and I are headed back in October.  Cannot wait!