Fun Little Summer Stuff, cuts from The Watt

"Oh no. A hurricane. A novel hurricane. We'd had better shut down for 6 months
to flatten the hurricane curve." -N. Nicholas
Elsa's track from the Gulf, crossing Florida into the Atlantic, 7/7/2021.

      A little summer churn greeted us this week courtesy of Elsa, our first Hurricane of the season. Though she was down in Florida and still a day away, and more like a spinning tropical storm-depression, she was our reason for moving to Wednesday this week. The conditions featured semi-clean to light chopped swell that created some irregular sections. Ocean temps continue to hang in the 68-70F range. Despite the name calling from Target and LWatt who were trying to trigger my pride, I had the rubber top on and I gotta say, I was comfortable. Comfort equals rides, and though difficult to escape the slush, I still managed to scrape up a few knee to thigh cuts. Fun little summer stuff that was sorely needed.

Into the shallows, 66th and Holidays. 7/7/2021

However, my fun was a bit at the expense of LWatt and Target as they were forced to once again endure high winds and dropping air temps across the shoreline. Finishing up on the last wave of the evening, respite was found on the other side of the dunes, by our vehicles. It had to be a good eight to ten degrees difference, especially with the windbreak of the surrounding buildings. Our relief (possibly their survival which, pardon the pun, fed into the Journey's theme) would be further sustained by our meal-ticket destination of choice.

   Our spot for the evening may very well have been the same one we had the last time the Crew had come calling nine years ago...right on the corner of the indoor bar of Big Peckers Bar & Grille on 73rd and Coastal. We were fortunate to get our seats as the place was inundated with families...kids everywhere.

No fish for the Crew!

The pandemic has certainly been given the boot in this beach town! No taps running this evening, however our barkeep was attentive and quick to place a couple of very cold brews with iced glasses in front of Target and I. We made our menu choices and at this point I will say that the seafood our Eastern Shore is known for has been missing from our diets over the last couple of sessions including this one. We ordered the Old Bay Boneless (no misprint) Wings, and the Oh My Bacon Back Burger...this place was known for it's "Bodacious Burgers," and LWatt put in for a Spinach Salad with Chicken. The boneless wings were juicy, tender and plentiful. Our only advice would have been to back off the Old Bay a tad (beer helped with that).

The burger was big and well cooked, even so it was a basic with bacon...missing the "bodaciousness." The salad was average, no real seasoning on the chicken- not impressive. We're hard...our critiques, rigid. If we're impressed, it was impressive. But again, we had plenty of food, the beer was ice cold, and the music (although low volume) as well as our service was well received. Our bar tab brought no surprises to our wallets- always a plus. The place was set up as a sports bar...a very dated, yet popular sports bar, which also places Big Peckers among the iconic dives of the OC. We enjoyed each others banter through the evening concluding it was worth the return. And we survived, which is assuredly important as we planned next week's port of call.

THE RATINGS-

Beer: B

Old Bay Boneless Wings: B

Bacon Burger: B-

Spinach and Chicken Salad: C

Atmosphere: C+

Value: B-

Overall Score: 2.63