Since old man winter isn’t ready to quit here anytime soon, I bolted down to Florida’s panhandle on the days off this week to warm up a little.

My folks rented a two bedroom apartment on the Gulf for the month of February this year – and they invited me down for a visit.

While it ended up being 45 and rainy on Wednesday, I did get a little piece of 70 and sunny when I first got there Tuesday afternoon.

To maximize the pleasant conditions Tuesday night, we hit a high school baseball game in the nearby town of Fort Walton Beach. Choctawhatchee hosted Rutherford. Gametime temperature was 65 degrees and a pretty big crowd of parents and students attended. It was fun.

Rutherford won 6-2. Tyler Broxson pitched well for Rutherford before petering out late. Nick Nelson had five ribs for the winner. Nelson hit the rare (for high school) conventional two-run homer over the left field wall and ended up relieving Broxson as Choctaw attempted to rally bottom six.

Adjacent to Campbell Field (the baseball diamond) at Choctawhatchee High is a pretty impressive football setup. It’s not fancy but the home side of the natural grass field has a big concrete grandstand topped by an old wooden press box painted with the word “INDIANS” on it.

As I walked onto the field before getting in my parents’ car, I tried to visualize what a Friday night in September must be like at this field. I’ll probably never find out but I’d imagine it’s pretty cool.

I flew in and out of Northwest Florida Regional Airport which occupies space on the grounds of Eglin Air Force base in Okaloosa County. There seems to be more buzz in the terminal than I recall on at least two previous visits in the last five years. All of the big US carriers save Southwest are doing business there now. Delta runs six Atlanta departures a day. As I was leaving, a Boeing 717-200 operated by Delta was taxiing to the runway. All of the airport’s newsstands and food vendors were open as I walked to my gate a little after 5 AM. The gate agent (Velvet) who worked my departure to Houston was brimming with good cheer. Interestingly, she wore the work uniform of a competing airline which is not atypical in some of United’s smaller stations.

I had a delicious serving of fresh grilled Amberjack at Stewby’s Seafood Shanty on Wednesday night. Earlier that same day we had a solid breakfast at Neighborhood Café on Mary Esther. My Dad got the blueberry pancakes.

After breakfast Wednesday, my parents agreed to take me to CD Replay, a Fort Walton Beach record shop adjacent to a tattoo parlor on Beal Parkway. The small space is organized meticulously by alphabet. The quality and selection of used vinyl is exceptional. Proprietor Tim Rogers offered a 20-percent markdown with the purchase of ten records – most of which were already priced at bargain levels. What was uncanny about the stacks at CD Replay were the available number of second-hand LP’s that were once in my collection. A basement flood about 25 years ago at my parents’ house rendered about half the vinyl accumulated in my childhood useless. I kinda quit buying records after that but then the Woodsist obsession seemed to rekindle my interest in vinyl. There are other factors but part of that renewal has been a new confidence in the format because it seems consistently available now after shows. So, not only do I buy a record after a rock show that goes well, I’ve made it a little mission to replace some of the items ruined in the flood. Both Pete Townshend solo records Empty Glass and Chinese Eyes were just five bucks at CD Replay. Both appear to be in great shape and both replace copies I lost. The name of Rogers’ store doesn’t scream vinyl but man, he definitely has a lot of great stuff.