Just Got Back From PCB-- Part 5: Mardi Gras Party, Usual Suspects Join Us and Bar Hopping

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8

Warm enough, but really strong winds made it uncomfortable.  Bought a new king cake as we had finished the first one.  Also some food for the Driftwood Lodge/Osprey Mardi Gras party held at noon.  It was outside, but the Osprey building blocked the wind so it was fine as far as comfort, even had to take my sweatshirt off.

We were joined by friends Glenn and Barb who got a room near us for a few days.  They'd just finished a Kentucky Bourbon Cruise and had never been to PCB so we will show them around.

We took them to Dusty's. Pamona Joe's and Donovan's.

--RoadDog

JSS: Academy Awards-- Driftwood Problems-- Prince O-Whales

JSS--  Just Some Stuff


1.  ACADEMY AWARDS--  A big thanks to Regal Cinemas in Round Lake Beach, Illinois, for devoting screens to showing the movies nominated for Best Picture in the Academy Awards.  Of the nine nominated, I had only seen four of them (despite having been to theaters 55 times in 2017):  "Darkest Hour", "Dunkirk", "The Post" and "Three Billboards."

I have since seen "Call Me By Your Name", "Lady Bird" and "The Shape of Water".  I plan to see the other two  this week.

2.  DRIFTWOOD PROBLEMS--  I have actually been able to catch up on my blogs after having all sorts of problems while at Panama City Beach at the Driftwood Lodge, which would not accept my laptop and at one time we didn't have enough power to get on line.

3.  PRINCE O'WHALES--  Last week, Liz called me from the computer downstairs to watch the episode on NCIS: LA in which the bar Prince O'Whales near Los Angeles was blown up.  We'd visited the bar back in 2006 when we were looking for NTN sites to play trivia.  It was surely a dive bar then, but still stands as an area in the back specially constructed for the site was blown up.  They even had a "See Us Get Blown Up" party.

Love Those Dive Bars.  --RoadDog

LOVEMAKING TIPS FOR SENIORS:  Set timer for 3 minutes, in case you doze off in the middle.

Just Got Back From PCB-- Part 4: Sun, Bars and Eatin'

TUESDAY, FEB. 6

Kinda cold this morning, but warmed up nicely.  Caught some rays on the deck.  Best day we've had so far.

We've been trained well by three local sparrows to feed them whenever they chirp.

Went back to Patches and, unbelievably, got a place to sit inside.  Had cheap beer at Shuckums and split a half pound of fresh steamed shrimp.  Donovan's of course.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7

Another nice day for the deck.  At the Driftwood Lodge, our front door is about 200 feet from the Gulf of Mexico and with  all that super white sand.  Went looking for Cici's pizza, a favorite of ours, but it was closed.  Ended up in Panama City at Golden Corral and all that food.  Donovan's, of course.

Patches a Very Popular Place.  --RoadDog

Just Got Back From PCB-- Part 2: Hitting the Bars and Mardi Gras

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 2

We arrived in Panama City Beach (PCB) around noon and checked into the Driftwood Lodge.   Went to Wal-Mart to stock up the beer and then drove the long, long way (distance, traffic and stoplights) out to the east end of PCB looking for a bar friends had told us about called Patches, but couldn't find it.

Disappointed as we were, we drowned our sorrows at Sharkeys, Pompano Joe's and finally, our favorite PCB watering hole, Donovan's Reef.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 3

Had breakfast at Burger King and did some shopping at Dollar Tree and bought a king cake at Winn-Dixie.  Hey, Mardi Gras after all.   And, Mardi Gras in both Panama City and PCB was a big reason we came down this early in February.

Drove to Panama City for the St. Andrews Mardi Gras parade and collected a whole lot of beads even though we weren't really trying to get them.

We "found" patches on the way back, and it was everything we had heard it was, a locals favorite and quite the dive bar with patches of military, fire departments and police all over the interior.

Went to Donovan's, something we did every day we were in PCB.

Getting Into the Swing of Things.  --RoadDog