Our visit to Panama City Beach was a nice adventure for me and my Dad. We had the benefit of staying at my sister and her husbands newly acquired third floor condo with a wonderful gulf front view. The sun sets are spectacular from their perch over the whitest beaches I’ve seen from San Diego to South Beach. On day two we took a dip in the gulf and to our amazement the water was crystal clear. I’ve heard about Panama City’s reputation as the Redneck Rivera since I can remember. This being my first visit I was curious as to what attributes gave cause to its nick name. My dad has been down this way over the years and his recollection is of a place with small mom and pop motels, waffle house and inexpensive seafood. Things are different today. The folks who visit might still be rednecks, but they carry American Express and drive big SUV’s. The sons and daughters of Bubba & Betty Sue have redefined this place into a million dollar condo market. The developers have snapped up and tore down as many mom and pop motels as they could get there hands on. It's a little weird to see a twenty story 350 unit condo complex next to the Aqua Motel with is vacancy sign letters half burned out. The real estate market went from boom to stop in mid stream of this beach city’s transformation…. More later!

PS: My wife's favorite redneck joke: You know you’re a redneck when you’ve been married three times and still have the same in-laws.