Destin, FL - Day 6

Today started out a little like the days past with green in the water. About 9am the water started clearing up.

The puppy and I decided to go lay out while the hubby was inside working.

Every couple hours a helicopter would fly over. I assume this was in effort to keep an eye out for oil. Sometimes it looked like this one other times it was a army one with camo all over it and other times it was a coast guard one.

When the hubby got off work the water was super choppy and it looked like it was gonna try and rain. We tried to go out in the water and float on our floats but after 15 minutes of feeling like we where getting beat up by the waves we gave up and went in to shower and head out to dinner. Tonight we picked The Back Porch. We got a free appetizer coupon the other day when I signed up for Pompano Joe's email loop. The Back Porch is one of 5 sister restaurants of Pompano Joe's.

There was a 10 minute wait so we headed to the bar. I tried the Pina Colada. It was ok, but I don't think worth the $6.50 price I paid.

Next thing we knew our name was called so we headed to our table upstairs. Most all of the tables are along the back side of the restaurant so you have a good view of the ocean. We started out with the Smoked Tuna Dip. uhhh yeah it's totally not what you think, in fact it was a little nasty. I like tuna salad, but this was just plain funky. The waitress saw me taking pictures of everything and when she asked how we liked it, both my hubby and I said "uh not at all". She quickly offered to take it back and asked if we would like something else instead. Hubby had a hankering for onion rings so we settled on that.


The basket of onion rings was huge. We had so much we took home half of the basket.

For the entree I ordered the Grouper Florentine (grouper loaded with their popular crab meat and spinach stuffing, baked golden brown). We both liked this one even though we had to sprinkle a little extra seasoning on it.

He ordered the Lobster Stuffed Mahi-Mahi (Mahi-Mahi wrapped around lobster stuffing, broiled and topped with their signature lobster cream sauce). The whole fish....I'm talking sauce and all had no flavor it tasted like nothing.

We gave this place one last chance by taking home a slice of key lime pie they had on special. This was another disappointment.

My overall reaction to this place? Don't waste your time or money here. Stick to Pompano Joe's where the food is much better.

We headed back to the condo to walk the puppy on the beach and enjoy the sunset.

Destin, FL - Day 5

This morning the water was green with algae again but the winds where calmer then yesterday. We headed out at 5:45am to catch the sunrise and try to get some family pictures on the beach before everyone came out for the day. After that we headed back in to fix breakfast and start another days work.

Lunch time came around and the water started to turning green again out 20 ft past that it was crystal clear.

About 3:00pm the clouds started rolling in. It didn't rain, but it did put a damper on us going out to swim in the ocean so instead we decided to get ready for dinner.

We headed back to Marina Cafe to take advantage of their 1/2 off martinis, 1/2 off sushi and 1/2 off drinks. All of the martinis came down to $5 D's Makers Mark and water came to $4. I started off with a Lemon Drop Martini (Citrus vodka, Cointreau, sweet & Sour served in a sugar rimmed glass).

We ordered 3 rolls to start out with. They wheren't as thick as they are at other sushi places we've been too. The top left one is a Spicy Tuna Roll (tuna, green onion, spicy sauce), to the right of that is Destin (soft shell crab, applewood smoked bacon, cream cheese, green onion, steak and avocado on top), at the bottom is a Red Rocket (soft-shell crab, cream cheese, avocado, with spicy crab on top). Our favorite was the Red Rocket the others where just ok. The steak one was interesting and the meat was very tender.

I then tried the Pineapple Express martini (vanilla vodka with a splach of Butterscotch Schnapps and pineapple juice). OMG this is soooooo good!!!!

We ordered one more roll which took at least 15 minutes to come out. The Black Dragon (soft shell crab, avocado, green onion, eel on top). This was ok the eel was a little chewy. The sauce splashed on the plate is syrup which was interesting with sushi, but that was the only flavor on the roll.

I'm a fan of Key Lime martinis so I wanted to try theirs. It was ok I would have rather stuck to the Pineapple Express. The Key Lime had Licor 43, Rose's lime and cream.

We split one last dessert the Chocolate Kiss Martini (white and dark Godiva Liquor and chilled vodka).

Destin, FL - Day 4

Today we woke up to the ocean clear and pretty. I forgot to take pictures as I thought it would stay that way, but by lunch another wave of algae was headed our way. So we are glad we got to swim for an hour in the clear water before the green moved in. Here's how the water looked at lunch time:

Tonight's dinner is another special I found online. Marina Cafe has a daily special between 5 and 6pm of buy 1 entree get one free and a 1/2 off sushi and pizza happy hour. They also have 1/2 price drinks 5-7pm. They describe themselves as having "an eclectic menu of classic Creole, Mediterranean, Pan Asian and American cuisine in addition to gourmet pizza and sushi bar". So basically they have something for everyone!

My first impression when we walked in was man we are under dressed this is a fancy place. The website said resort casual so I was excited when other people walked in wearing t-shirts and shorts at least we where dressed a little better then them. They had a nice view of the marina and it was nice to sit and relax watching the boats come in for the day.

They brought us some bread and dipping oil while we decided what to order. We also started out with an order of calamari which was cooked perfectly.

I ordered the Pan seared yellowedge grouper with a blue crab meat crust, lemon buerre blanc, basil mashed potatoes. The sauce was amazing and everything was seasoned well.

My husband ordered the grilled fish of the day which was Red Fish. This was served with sauteed vegetables. The sauce was really good on this dish as well.

We tried to get some pictures on the beach when we got back to the condo of the dog, but there where too many distractions for her to focus. We walked around a little and headed back in for an early night.

Destin, FL - Day 3

This morning we woke up to the beach being cleared of algae, but the water was still green with algae floating ashore. My husband worked in the morning while I relaxed and enjoyed the free time. I read, I laid out, I watched tv, I updated my food blog....I enjoyed life! I did research a couple of potential places to eat. I even signed up of a couple of email newsletters just to see if they emailed me a coupon. I was in luck as Cheeseburger in Paradise emailed me a buy one entree get one free. They even had a 2 for 1 happy hour 4-7pm so that's where we decided to eat tonight.

Nothing much happened during the day while we went swimming in the ocean to report so I'll skip down to dinner. :)

We started out ordering drinks I got the Rock Melon Sangria which is Sutter Home White Zinfandel, Cointreau, Rock Melon Cantaloupe flavor, a mix of fruit juices, fresh squeezed orange juice and sweet and sour, served on the rocks and topped with sprite. Yes it's girly but it tasted really good and I tried something new! My husband got the classic margarita on the rocks. When they said it's 2 for 1 drinks they wheren't kidding they brought us each 2 drinks. You can't mix and match so you better hope you like what you ordered.

Since we had a coupon to save some money we splurged to try their wings. 6 Dragon Fire which is their most popular sauce made with sweet thai chili and 6 Citrus Jalapeno sweet with a little kick. They where good and I wouldn't mind trying some of their other flavors.

While we sipped on our cocktails and ate our wings. I noticed a guide they had which showed all of their garnishes for the drinks it was called garnanimals. They where pretty cute!

Since we where at a burger place we had to get burgers. I ordered a Powerhouse Burger (hot wing sauce, asiago cheese, blue cheese dressing, tomato and lettuce).

My husband ordered the Bacon Cheddar Burger (cheddar cheese, applewood smoke bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles and mayo).

Our overall rating of the restaurant ehhh go for the happy our drink prices and stick to the wings the burgers are way over rated. They do have endless drench fries if you order a burger.

After dinner it was back to the beach to watch the sunset and play in the sand.

Destin, FL - Day 2

Today we got up trying to attempt to get the Internet working again, since this is a working vacation for my husband. No such luck. I called and emailed Sunset Resort Rentals again with no such luck so we headed down to the beach with our dog in tow. That lasted 30 minutes until the sheriff who drives up and down the beach stopped to ask if we had a permit for the dog on the beach. I said no and where do we go to get one. Well the news got worst as only residents are aloud to get permits and dogs are only aloud during certain hours. When I was researching places to stay Miramer Beach came up as one of the best and most dog friendly areas. Well, sad to say I was wrong. Now our doggie is stuck in the condo all day and she's not excited about that. At least we didn't get a ticket, but this didn't settle well with me on this condo situation and I was about to break down crying.

Finally someone contacted me at 9am from Sunset Resort Rentals. They use a code system for the door to get in and out instead of dealing with a key. That's fine, but when you can't get in the back door that goes to the beach there's a problem! Turns out when we got our confirmation packet they put the wrong code on our sheet. We where really lucky the front door worked otherwise we would have had to get a hotel since no one answered the phone when we got here at 5:00pm to check in yesterday. The poor girl on the phone got an earful from me and I kept saying I just wanted to go home. She had me email all of my concerns, which I wasn't thrilled to do, but having things in writing is always the best thing to do since she sent it to the property owner and their supervisor.

List of issues:
I'm not happy in regards to the lock and not being able to get ahold of anyone when we got here at 4pm We are lucky the wrong code given to us worked on one door otherwise we would have had an added expense for a hotel last night.


The Internet not working is a HUGE issue. This is a working vacation for us and if unable to connect then we need to leave and head home now. The only network name pulling up is Belkin.38c2 and you need a password to connect to it.


A sheriff told us this morning our dog is not allowed on the beach unless we are a resident. I wish this would have been communicated to us otherwise we would have not brought her. I understand we are probably 1 out of 30 people that have had this issue but you need to list on your site that the unit is dog friendly however the county is not. Here's what I sent them:


The blinds in the bedroom are torn up.

The main entrance door that goes out to parking has a busted secondary security lock. This does not make me feel safe. Also the code 1928 that was given to us is also written on the railing in the stairwell to the beach.

The patio screen off the eating area is leaning against the wall. We did our best to put it back on the sliding glass door.

The phone doesn't work in the living room we found a plug that worked in the bedroom.

As far as the cleaning person I think they where in a huge hurry and didn't care. The bedside lamp bulb was out. 3 lights in the bathroom is out. Laundry area had towels thrown all over the dryer in the washer and on the floor. There's food stuck to the burner on the stove top so when u turn on the burner the area fills with smoke. We are expected to wash our own dishes which is understandable but the only abrasive utensil available is a paper towel and no abrasive brush therefore difficult to completely clean pots and pans cleanly.

I expected to have some issues being that the place is older, but when I am paying $150 a night for somewhere I want to be somewhat comfortable and safe but I don't even feel that here. To be honest I'm ready to pack up everything and head home first thing in the morning. I would like to know if there would be some reimbursement if we did that. I really hope that you update the website with a little more information so the next person isn't blindsided like I was.

Please have the owner call us first thing on Monday morning because if the Internet issue can't be resolved we need get on the road for our 9hr drive home so we can return back to work Tuesday morning and to know a return policy if we left tomorrow if the Internet can't be resolved?

How is that for a complaint list? That didn't mention the beach access area being a mess with toys, old floats, and bags of trash thrown all over, bedroom ac doesn't work, and the list goes on. They where accommodating and said that the unit next door was just cleaned and we could move in there since that's where the Internet jack was. We moved all our stuff over and this condo 9B is in much better condition. Pictures from their site can be found HERE. Anyway enough fussing about what's wrong I'm gonna move on to the more positive things. The condo is right on the beach which is really nice. For some reason there's a wave of algae floating in so it's a little green near the shoreline, but once you swim out past that it's crystal clear. There where guys walking up and down the beach checking for any oil that has made it to shore, but so far didn't look like they had any samples. We got to swim all day then headed in to take showers and head to dinner.

We headed to a place called Baytowne Wharf in Sandestin Village which is in a resort area and you would never know it's there unless you saw it online. The place is really well done and makes you feel like your in a little town with streets and all. We ate dinner at Acme Oyster House even though we had been to the one in New Orleans I had a hankering for oysters and knew they had large ones.



While I munched on my dozen oysters, my husband ordered a cup of seafood gumbo and a bowl of shrimp etouffee. The gumbo was bland, but the etouffee was really good. I don't feel we got $17.00 worth of etouffee, but at least it was good. After dinner we walked around to see what other restaurants they had to offer looking for possible places to eat later in the week then headed back to the condo to walk our dog on the beach (keeping an eye out for the sheriff) and watch the sunset.

Destin, FL - Day 1

We drove in from home which took us 9 hours and boy where we glad to make it here. That was until we saw the state of the condo we rented for $150 a night from ! If you know me then you know I like a good deal just like the next person and coupons, there are times I'll pay up for things I normally wouldn't. In this case I thought we would have the basics and nothing too fancy due to it being one of the cheapest condos I could find. We where given 9A and boy did we have the bare minimum! They want you to take out the trash, clean all the dishes and toss the towels in the wash machine when you check out. There's nothing to wash the dishes with, there where towels tossed all over the wash machine area closet. Then we where told to make a list of all things that would be considered damaged and report them within 24 hours so we wouldn't be falsely charged for damaging them when we checked out. Oh my where to begin! You'll see a full list I made on tomorrows post.

Our dinner that night started out at the Crab Trap which we couldn't find a parking space at for 30 minutes of circling so we moved on to Pompano Joe's which was right next to the condo. This place was packed too. We got lucky and found some seats at the bar and just decided to eat there. There drink special was Knob Creek for $4.50. They where in 12 ounce cups and they made them strong. Just what we needed after our long day. We started out with the Reggae Rolls as an appetizer. They are jerk seasoned chicken, black beans, corn, tomatoes and peppers, stuffed in flour tortillas, deep fried and served with mango-papaya chutney and pico de gallo salsa. They where good but the star of the dish was the mango-papaya chutney it's to die for!

For entrees I chose the Garlic Crusted Grouper which is grouper baked with a fresh garlic crust, topped with a lobster-basil cream sauce. I thought it was really good, but didn't taste a lot of the basil in the sauce. My husband said it was good, but too much garlic flavor. It was served with hushpuppies, twice baked potatoes and vegetable medley.

My husband ordered the Grouper "Guadalupe" which is pan roasted grouper topped with jumbo lump crabmeat and sun dried tomato butter. We both loved this dish and wouldn't change anything about it. It was served with hushpuppies, twice baked potatoes and vegetable medley.

**Here's a tip if you fill out the survey online about your dining experience they give you an instant free appetizer coupon to print.

Barcelona, Spain and flying back home - Day 10

We headed to the Windjammer to eat our last breakfast then back to the room to gather our luggage and catch a cab to the airport.

Go figure I get randomly selected to get searched at the airport and have to make sure I check in at the gate 10 minutes before boarding. I figure since it's my birthday it's some special treatment. (Hey I'm trying to think positive!) Well the search wasn't exactly a smooth breeze. They picked 10 people from our flight (9 women and 1 man) and made us walk to an area that was blocked off to the public. I then had my carry on bag go through the x-ray before having to empty every last thing out of it. The female officer patted me down and turned on every electronic device I had. Once that was done I repacked all my junk and then filled was asked to write down my address and my parents names. The guy copied all my passport info and I was free to go. Well, that was until I had to be escorted back to my gate for some reason. As a bonus for "being selected" we where able to board the plane early (of course after the 1st class people) which was with all the elderly and children. Wasn't that big of deal because it was a full flight and I really didn't care to sit anymore then we had too. Oh well, I did what I had to do in order to keep our country safe.

I don't know what the deal is with the Northeastern weather, but we can't seem to have any luck with it! Our flight from Barcelona had to land in Boston due to low fuel and a storm system moving into Newark. We where told to hang out on the plane while they re-fueled and waiting to take off again. That lasted about 30 minutes until they decided the storm was so bad and a system was also moving into the Boston area so we where going back to the gate to deboard, go through customs, get all our bags and stand in line to get a new ticket to fly from Boston to Newark then we would have to figure out our connecting flight from there.

That would have been great, but as the wall of rain came we watched as it turned to a white out through our window. The pilot said we weren't lined up enough to connect the walkway so we had to sit there till the rain slacked a little. 20 minutes later we where walking off the plane.

We made it through customs then stood in line with everyone else. Luckily we had our thinking caps on and figured if our flight was delayed because of the storm how many other flights leaving Newark where delayed? We where already in Boston 3 hours and decided to ask if we could catch a direct flight home instead of going to Newark then finding a flight home. We where in luck there was a flight about to leave so we grabbed tickets, checked our luggage and headed to the security check line. Of course the line moves super slow the flight we where scheduled on was starting to board as we got to the gate.

We ended arriving home at 10pm instead of our original 11pm from Newark. The next morning I checked my phone and saw there was a travel update the the flight we where scheduled to be on from Newark was leaving at 6:15am and scheduled to land at 9:06am so thank goodness we swapped and didn't have to spend the night at the airport!

I'm sad the trip is over we had such a wonderful time and I miss it already!!