Fort Pickens is located at the end of a long skinny island on the national gulf shores, just south of Pensacola, FL. Quite a different view as we drove with water on both sides of us! We had a great campsite, but a little tricky getting the trailer around and under those tree branches!
Oh that white sand! Our friends and family had been sending us pictures of the snow they were getting in Colorado – we shared these back with them but had to caption them, “NOT Snow!” Its always good to create a little envy to keep their attention 🙂 lol!
This stay was booked for seven days – Lorree had time to work on gifts. So glad we brought her sewing and ironing equipment. She is having fun being creative! Dennis was able to work on the blog – trying to keep up with all of our adventures!
We went for a sunset walk on the beach – so beautiful. The colors!!
177 Steps! We were huffing and puffing 🙂 We could see everywhere. The lighthouse was only 1 mile from our campsite as the bird flys, but we had to drive an hour to get there going around the bay and over the long bridges.
Dennis had a hanker’n for some gooey barbecue ribs and sweet tater fries. He used the crock pot instead of the oven for the first four hours, then finished them off on the Blackstone. Soooo tasty! We’ll have to do that again for sure!
We visited the Navel Air Station base and museum in Pensacola – very impressive! So thankful we have such well trained people protecting us.
The Blue Angels were doing practice maneuvers right over our campground – I could never get out there fast enough to take a good close picture. These were the best we got. So fast – and loud! It was fun to hear and see them!
Fort Pickens
We toured the fort at the tip of the island. This fort protected our coast and was used in the civil war. There were so many canons (places for the canons) they could do some real damage!
There were some real interesting trees at the campground. We also made some new friends, Darrel and Phyllis Pufahl. We ran into them while doing laundry at the campground. We spent an evening together talking and playing card games. So much fun to meet others. We will try to get together with them while in Florida, we’ll see!
Right next door to us at the campground was a couple (probably our age) who was booked here for two weeks. They lived in their tent and out of their car. They didn’t have much but they had all they needed. We thought we had downsized….but this! We were impressed as they lived in the cold 40’s and sometimes rain. They had an air mattress, electric blanket, a hot pot, elec hot plate, few dishes and clothes, and their faithful dog who they never had to tie up.