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Happy Valentine's Day from Graffiti Bridge
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Location: Pensacola Beach
When: early February
Miles traveled: 503.3
Price of gas: $2.85
Interest: sea shells
Grocery store: Publix
High point: Surfing!
Low point: Huge mosquitoes in car.
One
thing learned: Small everyday encounters with people are important,
especially as they are my main social connections each day.
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a camping vehicle
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The places I originally planned on visiting in Florida, Biscayne NP and Lake Worth Beach, are at the far southern end of Florida. I did not want to drive that far, so I decided to explore the panhandle. I camped at Fort Pickens, which is part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. It takes ~10 minutes just to drive to the campground from the park entrance, but it's worth it! Sleeping in my car, I could faintly hear the waves at night. In the mornings and evenings, the sound of reveille & taps drifts over from the mainland naval base and the
Blue Angles (F-18 Super Hornets aircraft) can be seen flying above! I think my favorite place to camp is on a beach. Growing up, going to the beach only happened on family vacations, so I was always excited to be there! Now days, I still feel that excitement of a beach vacation every time I camp at one!
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Carmel and banana pancakes
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On day one, driving the last 1.5 hours into Florida and Pensacola, I noticed the traffic lights switch from a vertical orientation to horizontal. The change did not make it harder nor easier for driving, it was just something different than what I am used to. I stopped at Another Broken Egg Cafe for breakfast. It was busy, but being a party of one means I can fit where large groups cannot. The Bourbon Street pancake combo was good, but way too much sugar for the morning. Unable to check into the campground until later, I went to a library and stopped at a visitor center. A walkway at the visitor center, damaged from hurricane Sandy, had yet to be repaired. When I arrived at the campground, I went walking among all my fellow campers. This was the first full campground since the start of my travels. It was really neat to see a wide variety of camping vehicles including traditional RVs, vans, popup tents on trucks, tents, an airstream, and teardrop trailers. As the sun started to set, I stuck my dinner in a bowl, and headed with it to the beach. On the way there I saw an armadillo gathering leaves into it's den! It shuffled-hopped backwards while pulling the leaves until it was under the boardwalk. Then it walked back under the bushes to gather more leaves. It was the size of a cat and very cool to see in the wild! Hopefully the attached video will play for you. If not, there are two photos at the bottom of the post.
The next day I explored Fort Pickens and Battery Worth. Constructed with bricks and slave labor, the fort took 5 years to be built. It's job was to defend the Pensacola Bay and the naval yard on the mainland. It was active in the civil war, as a Union post, Fort Pickens battled with Confederate Fort McRee just across the pass. After two days of bombardments and help from two ships, Fort Pickens won. In 1898 the fort was considered old as newer weapons could penetrate it's brick walls. A reinforced concrete battery was built inside the fort to hold two 12 inch rifles, which could fire at ships 8 miles away. All the forts on the island are brick and considered short distance defense. Batteries are smaller, and long distance defense sites. I do not have any good photos that show the visual difference between a fort and a battery. Map on the left is of Fort Pickens.
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Cannon on Bastion C
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By the third day in Florida with the bright sun, mid 70s degrees, and lack of snow made it easy to forget that it was still winter! The Gulf of Mexico was cold, but with the right wet suit, the waves were great for learning how to surf! I took an individual one hour surfing lesson with Ride On surf school on Destin beach. It was more "let's surf", than "here's what you need to know to surf on your own". On the beach, I learned how to pop up (push-up jump to standing position) and stand on a surf board. Then we went out in the waves and surfed. I did not learn to paddle for a wave, or even how to judge a wave for myself. I just laid on the surfboard, and when my instructor pushed the board forward and said, "Go", I popped up and tried to balance. Standing on a board on a wave is very different than on the beach. The board moves when I push against it, so an even left to right push-up is important. The wave being ridden is constantly changing and moving the board at the same time as I'm trying to balance on two feet. I fell off more than not. Once my hand slipped as I was popping up and I never made it to my feet! Another time the wave petered out only half way to shore. The last wave of my lesson I was able to ride all the way to the beach!! Once I got there, I did not know how to get off the surf board! A little hop did the trick. I will go surfing again, but my fear and respect for large waves that I-can't-see-clearly-because-I'm-not-wearing-my-glasses will keep me from chasing waves all year long. A little bonus; while practicing on the beach, we saw a pod of dolphins swimming! I could only see their top fins, but it was exciting to know they were dolphins. (Sorry, I don't have any photos of me surfing or in a wet suit.)
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Bourbon street mahi mahi with shrimp and potatoes
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Driving back from Destin beach, I stopped at Bubba Gump shrimp co. for food. It is the first and only casual restaurant chain based on a movie. It was not busy when I stopped in, and the food was delicious!
I could tell you about the Pensacola market and the pierogi I bought there (flavorless, but great seasoned onions), of searching for sea shells and visiting the Artel art gallery, being mistaken for a college student when I stopped at a bank to get quarters for laundry, chatting with fellow campers about their solar panels and with another lady about her family, renting a SUP (stand up paddle board) on valentines day, and the pelicans (live and sculptures) around town. However, the time limit I give myself to write these blog posts has passed, and the visitor center with wifi will be closing soon. So I'll leave you with a few photos, and say that I had a great time at Pensacola Beach!
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| Pierogi |
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"Food Land" by Ruta. Oil painting
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Basilica of St Michael the Archangel
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SUP, I was sitting at the time
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| Armadillo! |
