The Elf on the Shelf Visits Destin

As you may know, the Elf on the Shelf has become a new tradition for families across the globe. Each elf is “adopted” and named by a family, then the elf spends the month of December watching to make sure the children behave. The elf’s job is to leave each night, fly to the North Pole, and report back to Santa on whether the children in the house have been naughty or nice. The next morning, when the children awake, they go out to find the elf doing all sorts of things and getting into all manner of mischief. As a family business, we have caught the elf bug too, and thought it would be fun to adopt an elf ourselves and show his adventures in Destin. This gave us the opportunity not only to have a little fun, but also to showcase the activities, restaurants, and small businesses that make our area special.

Our elf’s name is, appropriately enough, Skipper. Skipper had quite the vacation this month (and became a bit of a local celebrity) as he trekked all over Destin and shared his adventures on our Facebook page. If you missed his journey, here’s a little recap, and if you’re already missing Skipper’s adventures, then stay tuned for Wednesday’s edition of the Destin Log!

Day 1: Skipper arrived in Destin and paid a visit to one of our favorite local landmarks, the Destin jetties.

Day 2: Destin is the World’s Luckiest Fishing Village, so of course we had to take Skipper fishing! This time of year in Destin, we tend to catch a lot of flounder and this is what Skipper found on his trip.

Day 3: Skipper worked up quite an appetite fishing, so he decided to grab some food at one of Destin’s iconic local seafood restaurants, Dewey Destin’s, for a shrimp basket.

Day 4: What beach vacation is complete without building a sandcastle? Did you know you can actually take sandcastle lessons, where you can learn to build sandcastles like this one that Skipper made with Rick and Capri at Beach Sand Sculptures!

Day 5: Being the fancy and cultural elf that he is, Skipper decided to check out the local art scene. Andy Saczynski’s Art has been consistently voted the best on the Emerald Coast, so Skipper wanted to see what all the fuss was about. You can see for yourself at his Grayton Beach art gallery!

Day 6: December has been warm and sunny here in Destin, so Skipper decided to kick back, relax, and catch some rays on a yacht charter.

Day 7: December 7^th brought rain and the SEC football championship game, so Skipper opted to stay in and order pizza from the best pizza place in Destin, Merlin’s Pizza. Merlin’s was awesome and even made Skipper his very own pizza!

Day 8: Elves are known to have a bit of a sweet tooth, so we took Skipper to Sugar Baby’s Candy & Ice Cream for some sweet treats and elfin shenanigans. Thanks, Sugar Baby’s for the ice cream cone, it was delicious!

Day 9: Christmas is getting close, so Skipper wanted to finish up some shopping and swing by End Zone Apparel for some gifts for the sports fans on his list!

Day 10: With the Boathouse Oyster Bar next door, we frequent the place pretty regularly. We were actually in the restaurant when Jon Bon Jovi had lunch there this past Spring! *swoon* Bon Jovi aside, the Boathouse is a great, local place to hang out, grab a cold beer, and eat some oysters and gumbo. The waitstaff was nice enough to teach Skipper how to shuck oysters!

Day 11: Skipper paid another visit to the beach and made some sand angels while lamenting that he didn’t really want to go back to the North Pole…can you blame

him?

Day 12: We took Skipper on a boat ride and even let him drive the boat! Kidding. We drove the boat. But we can teach you how to drive the boat, even if you’ve never driven one before…

Day 13: With Christmas approaching and baked goods everywhere, Skipper decided to visit our favorite local bakery: KaraBoo Bakery! Here he is enjoying some macaroons. I highly recommend their key lime pie as well (and pretty much everything else in the store)!

Day 14: December 14^th was the annual Destin Christmas parade. We participated in the parade on our own float this year, but Skipper still had fun watching the floats go by!

Day 15: The Destin Lighted Boat Parade is always a fun sight to see! Skipper enjoyed hanging out on the Destin Harbor Boardwalk, drinking hot chocolate, and watching the boats go by!

Day 16: We had so much fun on Day 16 as Skipper took Barbie on a date at our favorite romantic restaurant, Bistro Bijoux! Here they are enjoying each other’s company and the fantastic dish behind them…

Day 17: We tried to take Skipper shopping at Destin Commons, but Skipper kept sneaking off and getting into mischief, as elves are wont to do!

Day 18: The XPerience Destin is a relatively new local surf shop that sells paddle boards and surf and athletic apparel. Here Skipper is taking one of their boards for a spin. Sort of.

Day 19: Skipper paid a visit to our local Irish watering hole and in true, McGuire’s fashion, had to kiss the moose! Have you kissed the moose?

Day 20: With 3 weeks of reports from Destin, Santa decided to pay a visit and have a little fun himself. Instead of Skipper having to travel back to the North Pole, Santa reported to Skipper!

As all good things go, our time with Skipper had to come to an end so that he could be back in time to help Santa before the Big Day. We hope you enjoyed his adventures in Destin, and that maybe you learned about something new along the way. Big thanks to all of the local businesses that helped to make him a success, and a special thank you to our local paper, the Destin Log, for sharing him with their readers!