Young folks walking up and down Front Beach Road, bars and clubs cranking it up, advertisement banner fly-bys on the beach…  Spring Break is officially here in Panama City Beach!  It’s always refreshing to see this town liven up again after a nice, quiet winter. 

Last night we went to Spinnaker to see one of our favorite local bands, Gabby Johnson, play.  The band was great, as always, and there was a good high-energy crowd there.  We had a lot of fun. 

And thus begins a much more active and outgoing time of year…

Yesterday afternoon, we went to the Marina Civic Center to see Cirque Dreams:  Jungle Fantasy.  It was the first event that we have attended at the Civic Center and we were pleased to find that it was a very nice venue.  It is not a large building but it is clean and seems to have all of the necessary elements.  Our seats were comfortable and though we were up in the mezzanine section, fairly far from the stage, we had no problems seeing the action.  I looked around and it did not seem that there were any seating sections with obstructed views.  There was a small concession area downstairs for snacks and refreshments and a small bar upstairs for beer and wine.  We were also very happy to find that, even though it was a crowded event, we had no difficulty getting in or out of the parking lot. 

I really enjoyed the show.  I had actually assumed when I purchased the tickets that the show was affiliated with Cirque du Soleil.  While Jungle Fantasy did have many common elements to a Cirque du Soleil show, namely the amazing acrobatics, the story and presentation were very different.  It was the music that made me realize that there could not be an affiliation between this show and its more masterful name sound-alike.  I thought that the instrumentals were fabulous – I may have even fallen in love with the violinist.  The vocals were decently-sung but the songs themselves were not what I was expecting.  The vocalist was the character of mother nature and the songs were almost Sesame Street-ish tunes teaching the main character to respect nature.  I certainly don’t mean to disrespect Sesame Street by the comparison because while these songs were about personal growth, personality, and courage, the lyrics were all equally abysmal. 

The set was simple.  There were many “animals” that served no real purpose to the show, another thing that set it apart from a …du Soleil show.  However, the costumes were stunning - even the emus and frogs.  The performers were very able and impressive.  From the fun and fantastic jump-roping tricks at the beginning to the beautifully fluid contortionist reptiles, from the incredibly balancing giraffe-men to the ginormous strongmen gymnasts, each act was a true visual treat.  Overall it was a great show, although I wish I could have blocked out the horrid songs.

Tonight was the first annual Christmas Parade through Pier Park.  It started in the back near Dillards and wound its way through to the main street out to Front Beach Road.  Below are some photos of the festivities.

Earlier this week, we broke out the kayaks and braved the cold waters (well, I braved the cold waters; my husband has a wetsuit).  The kayaks are my favorite beach toy.  The gulf was fairly calm but my husband found an area that had some small waves to surf, which is what he really enjoys.  I wasn’t interested in getting splashed by the cold water any more than was necessary so I paddled out past all wave activity. 

I spent a little time piddling around and then I decided to see if I could make it all the way to the pier and back.  I kept a fairly comfortable pace getting to the pier, stopping a couple of times to rest and enjoy the view.  I love floating around out there; it is truly peaceful.  I was very proud when I reached the pier but quickly turned around because the sun was getting pretty low.  In an effort to beat the sunset, I paddled HARD all the way back, non-stop.  I’m not an athlete and it really took everything I had to keep going at that pace.  My arms were eager to give up but I was losing light.  The sun set when I was still about a quarter mile from home so I dug in even deeper to make it before the residual light was gone. 

By the time I made it back to the beach, my husband had already taken his kayak out and was waiting to help pull me in, which was a very good thing because, after 2.5 miles of paddling, I was DONE.  I couldn’t even pick up my kayak to carry it back to the elevator.  

I thoroughly enjoyed that paddle and I was so proud to make it to the pier.  I was even more proud at how hard I paddled all the way back – I was actually creating a wake in the water behind me.  The next day, i hurt.  My shoulders were tired and my hands were sore – a small price to pay for having some fun exercise activity in my fabulous backyard!

Walking around the Madonnaro street paintings at Pier Park this weekend reminded me of the Lobster Fest sand sculpting contest that took place at Schooners back in September.

Having never personally seen sand sculpting in person, i had to go check it out. We didn’t stay long because it was much too hot and sunny for my liking (Yes, I know I live at the beach and should, therefore, appreciate hot and sunny — I don’t.) but we did take a little time to walk around and enjoy the artistry. There were many sculptors, from kids and families to professionals. Strangely, I did not think to bring my camera that day so we had to use the iPhone for photos. This greatly limited the number of sculptures I was able to photograph as the battery was running low. >>See the rest of this entry…

This weekend was the Madonnaro Festival at Pier Park. We spent the afternoon yesterday walking around and enjoying the art and atmosphere. Walking around Pier Park is one of our favorite activities. Unfortunately, we had some camera problems. Though the batteries were checked before walking down there, they died after the second “painting”. We walked back to Target to get some new batteries and they died after one painting. So much for capturing the art, eh? Fortunately, we managed to get a few photos with the iPhone before it, too, died. >>See the rest of this entry…