Every year when the month of July rolls around, my family and I load down the truck with beach chairs, umbrellas, coolers, and suitcases just to head out on a familiar five hour trip, a trip down to the beautiful Panama City Beach. This year my cousin, Erin Scott, and I talked about the way our favorite vacation spot is now seen as nothing more than stomping ground for wild spring breakers. If you didn’t grow up visiting there, you probably see PCB as just that, the spring break capitol of the South, but for those of us who have been making that yearly drive into Bay County for over 15 years -- we know differently.
We decided to make a list of things, and feelings, that other beach bums like us can relate to. Here are the 16 signs you know the real PCB.
1. It’s always a contest of who can hold their breath the longest while driving over “the bridge.”
2. Your favorite steaks come from Angelo’s and you have at least 10 pictures with “Big Gus” (but, you know, let’s take another).
3. You have hundreds of Pineapple Willy’s cups (don’t even start on T-shirts), yet you never remember them when you go back, so you have to buy another one.
4. Putt Putt is not just a game. (seriously, if I lose this game, I’m never playing again).
5. You have challenged everyone to go-karts, then gotten “the slow one.”
6. You remember Miracle Strip (the real one, not the tiny new one by Pier Park).
7. Shipwreck Island gets smaller as you get taller.
8. You could always find something you had to have at Alvin’s Island.
9. Pet Hermit craps were a yearly thing, and only lasted a week or two (only design shells, of course).
10. Spending the day on the beach is a must, no matter how hot it is.
11. You counted down the years until you were 16 so you could ride “the strip” without your parents there to cramp your style.
12. When Luke Bryan’s song “Suntan City” came out, you secretly freaked out knowing you and he understood the same place just as well.
13. La Vela was all you ever wanted to visit, and you came to find that you valued your personal space too much to go more than once.
14. You’ve taken sunset pictures on the beach in some matchy-matchy outfits with your family -- and gone crazy in the process.
15. Sea shells are beautiful, but the ones from Shell Island are the best.
16. Somewhere between the airbrush T-shirts, the salty air, and the great seafood -- you fell in love.
So, to all of you wonderful people who think the way we do -- a salute to you and, more importantly, to the beautiful Panama City Beach! See you next year!
Partial credit given to my wonderful cousin, Erin, who stood in as co-writer!
