Whenever I visit a tropical locale, I determine if it would make a good spot for the Rogue Wave Tiki Bar. While I wouldn't say Destin, Florida is exactly a tropical locale, there is a beach and salt water there and for a guy from Oklahoma, that is close enough. Now that I've had time to reflect on the Tiki family's vacation in Destin a few weeks ago, I've decided that it is definitely not the place for my bar.
Before I get to the reasons I don't want to settle in Destin, I'd like to point out the good qualities of the area. For one, the beaches are beautiful. The sand is white, powdery, and most importantly, doesn't burn the soles off of your feet even on a hot day. The water is a shimmering green fading into darker blue and is clear of seaweed and trash and we weren't attacked by dangerous creatures while swimming. The importance of nice water can't be overstated. A few years ago, we went to the beach in Corpus Christi. The water was dirty,
brown and polluted with garbage and muck. Also, both of my kids were stung by jellyfish within ten seconds of each other. Instead of swimming in the ocean, it felt more like we were contestants on Fear Factor.
There are also many things to do in Destin. While we were there, we went snorkeling, para-sailing and fishing and we spent a few days just lounging around on the beach and splashing in the waves. We also could have rented jet skis or a boat, taken a ride on a huge speedboat, gone on a dolphin spotting tour, or gone scuba diving. Even more exciting, we could have gone to the Destin Fishing Museum. Why we passed up this hidden gem I'll never know. Oh, and there was also a water park directly across the street from our condo. If you are bored while in Destin, it is your own fault.
Next, the variety of restaurant choices is staggering. There are, as you can imagine, many seafood restaurants. We enjoyed Dewey Destin the best of those we tried. There is also an Irish pub called McGuire's that brews its own beer (I had the Irish Red and rated it at 3.5 pints out of 5) and many of the typical chain restaurants you would expect to see in any sizable city in America.
Finally, and I'm not sure this is actually a good thing, there are many places to shop in Destin. My daughter was extremely happy with the shopping choices. We went to an outdoor shopping mall with all of her favorite stores and she spent some time in each of them. My son and I spent a lot of time standing on the sidewalk waiting on her and the Tiki Gal. The night turned out good for me as well, however. On our way out of the mall, we took a wrong turn somewhere (the Tiki Gal blamed it on, in turn, the GPS unit and me) and found the best beer store I've ever had the pleasure to visit. Even though it was called Wine World, it had more varieties of good beer than I've seen in one place so the next time Dale and Carol are up for a beer run, I'll suggest we go there. We might need to pack a toothbrush.
Even with all of these wonderful things about Destin, I would not want the Rogue Wave Tiki Bar there and here is the reason. When I think of the perfect setting for my Tiki Bar, I imagine a sandy beach, crashing waves and the beautiful palm trees rustling gently in the wind. On this beach, I imagine a few people scattered here and there: a young couple holding hands as they walk in the surf, a mom and dad sitting on a blanket watching their young children building a sand castle, an older couple sitting in the shade of an umbrella while sipping Pina Coladas. What I don't see in my imagination are beach umbrellas packed so closely together in rows five or six deep that you can't find a path through them to get to the water - water that you can't even see because of all the beach umbrellas. I also don't see so many people crowded into the water that it looks like the outdoor pool at the local Y on a steaming Saturday in July. Furthermore, I certainly don't see squadrons of jet skis ripping up and down the coastline like so many Hell's Angels in Speedos. Unfortunately, you can find these things in Destin all too easily.
I know, I know... A Tiki Bar amongst the teeming masses would assuredly make more money than one in the tranquil setting I see in my head. Here's the problem though. If my bar is crowded and rowdy and sunburned fat guys are drinking pints of beer through funnels while scantily clad ladies are dancing suggestively to some heavy bass beat, it will not be a Tiki Bar that I would want to visit much less call my own (okay, I could live with the scantily clad ladies part but the rest is definitely out.) And if I don't want to be there, how is that different than sitting in an office all day pushing papers or digging ditches or grading paper after paper. It would just be another job and that would be depressing. So give me the quiet beach with a few well behaved patrons ordering Rum Punches and Pina Coladas. I may not ever get rich but who needs money when you are living and working in paradise.
No comments:
Post a Comment