Sunday so let’s begin by saying a prayer:
I saw the above on a plaque in the Destin History and Fish Museum last week when Pam and I were there visiting the area. The purpose of our visit was to attend Tammy Shaw’s retirement ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, but we had some time to check things out in what looks to me to be one of the nicer parts of Florida. With miles of beautiful white sand beaches along the Gulf of Mexico, the Destin – Ft. Walton area is known as the Emerald Coast.
The town we stayed in is located a little east of Destin and very appropriately is named Niceville. (Here’s a little trivia for you: Niceville is part of a twin city arrangement along with its neighbor Valparisio. This explains the origins of the Destin-Ft. Walton Airport code letters VPS.)
All of the above towns are located in Okaloosa County which is from the Choctaw Indian words for black water. Okaloosa encompasses over 1,000 sq. miles with an official population of 212,000. However, with three Air Force Bases and numerous tourists there at any given time that number increases alot. (By comparison, St. Mary’s County has 700 sq. miles with a population of 110,000.)
I always judge a place I visit by the metric of whether or not I would ever consider making a return visit there. The Destin area is one area of Florida that I definitely would consider revisiting.
P.S. I’ll talk more about Tammy and her retirement ceremony in a future Buzzyblog post.
You knew what song was coming didn’t you: The Doobies‘ first Number 1 hit song from 1974. (Makes me feel older than I am.) Note that The Doobies are still out there touring and will be at MGM Harbor on 5 October.