Around Pensacola

 

The trail from our campsite to the beach overlooking Pensacola Bay.

The beach on the Bay side was empty except
for a couple of fishermen.

From Santa Rosa in Navarre we drove only 40 miles west to Fort Pickens at the very tip of Santa Rosa Island. We had two nights there in the Campground. The Fort is the largest of the 4 forts that defend Pensacola Bay and was completed in 1834. One of the four forts in the south which remained in Union hands in the Civil War, it is now included in the Gulf Islands National Seashore Last year we had looked at the Fort from the Pensacola Lighthouse across the way. This is the start of the Florida Hiking Trail which ends 1400 miles later in Key West! We saw a number of hikers with their backpacks either starting or ending the trail. 

Fort Pickens was rebuilt many times ending with
batteries used during WWII. It remained in use
until 1947. 

I love the patina on the walls! I'm off in the shadows.

One of the 200 lb 15 inch Rodman smooth bore
cannons at the fort. 

Some of the walls of the old fort were demolished
when preparing for WWII guns.

Captives from the Indian Wars in the west were imprisoned here including Geronimo, the famous Apache War Chief from 1896 - 97. 

 From our campsite we could walk a short distance to the beach facing the Bay and in the other direction to the pristine white beach on the ocean side. About a mile further north is the fort. We toured the fort and walked the beaches. Our second night we brough chairs down to the beach and watched the sunset. It was glorious as you can see from the photos. 

Looking east at the beach on the ocean side just before sunset.

Looking west. The beach stretches 50 miles and a good deal of it is part of the National Seashore.

Walking back from the beach to our campsite we 
enjoyed the full moon!

Our second stop was 3 nights at Big Lagoon State Park a stone's throw from Alabama. Acquired in 1977, it has a four story observation tower, several beaches, and kayaks for rent. Our first morning we walked around the park and as you can see from the photos, it's a lovely spot. 

It was only a 20 minute drive into Pensacola so we  did some exploring there over the two full days. We enjoyed the Pensacola Art Museum, the History Museum and had lunch at Bistrology - beautifully decorated and great food. Our the second day we took the Jolly Dolphin Boat Cruise around the harbor and then had dinner at one of our favorites, Flounders overlooking the route we'd taken off shore! We saw a LOT of dolphins and they played around our boat for ages. 

The 4 story viewing platform

Looking across the Lagoon 

And the view looking east.

The Jolly Dolphin

It was cool enough out on the water for jackets

Scott at Flounders

One of the great fabric pieces at the Art Museum
by Nonny Oddlokken.

My pulled pork eggs benedict at Bistrology.

Scott likes to interact with sculptures - here with
J. Earle Bowden, historian, cartoonist and 
community advocte.

Our next stops were brief - one night at Harvest Host Prestige Waghu Ranch and then Lake City RV Resort. We left our RV "Baby" there for 11 days while we drive around Florida visiting family and friends. 

We stopped for lunch at Ponce de Leon State Park
which has beautiful swimming fed by natural
springs - a little too cold for us given the air
temperature. 

Some of the young cattle around our site.

"Nomad" and "Baby" at Prestige Waghu Ranch. Our host was so nice! He didn't have any waghu beef to sell us so gave us FREE (refused to take payment) bacon, eggs and some ground beef!

Last Days in Navarre

Santa Rosa RV Resort from their pier. That's their Club House, bath house etc. in back of the pool. 
Our RV "Baby" is the first one to it's right - Site #1

And here's a close up of Baby and our beach. 

Our last night at Santa Rosa we met around the fire pit and here's our group shot: front row: Robin, Jackie, Heather, Faith and Marcy. Second row: Larry & Barbara, Lisa, Becky, Cindy & Scott, Chuck, Val. Back row: Chris, Dennis, Scott G. Matt, Missy & Richard, Dana & Steve. Our wonderful activities Director Karie had surgery that week and was missing from the photo with husband Jeff.

This month has gone by so fast and we got underway again on Sunday But far, only 29 miles to Fort Pickens. This was the largest of four forts built to defend Pensacola Bay and its navy yard. Completed in 1834 it was one of four Southern forts to remain in Union hands during the Civil War. It remained in use until 1947 and is now part of the National Seashore. The campground is run by the National Park Service. We'll will stay there 2 nights and then move to Big Lagoon Florida State Park, 10 miles southwest of Pensacola. This is a wonderful wildlife area and an entrance to the Great Florida Birding Trail. 

We head east from there, stopping one night at the Waghu Ranch, a Harvest Host location and then on to Lake City RV Resort where we will leave Baby for 11 nights while we drive around Florida visiting friends and family. I'll cover that in future entries. But now I'll finish up with photos of the fun activities here at the Santa Rosa. We've made a lot of friends here and look forward to coming back next year for at least 2 months. We've reserved January and February again.

A selfie with from left: Marcy, Karie, Missie, Becky, Elaine
and Heather

Scott shows off his painted napkin

Faith, Marcy and Heather with their tiny "beers",
actually liquor and cream.

The overed patio for the Super Bowl - we had
TVs outside and in.

Karie decorates the Club House for every event and holiday - here the Super Bowl. That's Chris and
Lisa front and center. 

Heather and Scott at the Mardi Gras party

Scott acting up at the "Murder at the Grill"
he played Dan Dragnet - an actor studying
up for a part as a detective.

Part of the audience for our the Mystery performance.

And here are the actors (and suspects) That's Karie in the center - she runs the show here and is a 
major reason we love it so much. 

Marcy shows off her painting. Heather taught
a Sip and Paint Class with 21 students - 2
sessions. An afternoon doing the drawing and
base paint and then finishing it off that night.

Scott enjoys oysters at our last dinner out with
our friends here - group photo to come.

Larry, Scott, Steve, Dana, March and Faith at our farewell evening at the fire pit

Barb, Larry, Beckie and Dennis

Dana, Steve and Jackie

Jay, Steve, Jackie and Marcy.

Mardi Gras New Orleans

Roy, Heather, Scott and Dale at Joey T's for lunch

The BudweiserClydesdales opened the second Wednesday parade,."Krewe of Druids"

 

Lucky us! We have great friends in New Orleans and got to visit them during Mardi Gras. Roy and Dale are part of the Tortugal cruising group and hosted the first Annual Tortugeezer Reunion back in August, 2022. They came up to our Fourth Reunion in 2024 and stayed with us. But this time our visit coincided with the famous New Orleans Mardi Gras. We arrived on Wednesday, February 11rh and left on the 13th.  And even during this time the parades were sensational! It's hard for us to believe they could be better. Certainly there was a big step up from Wednesday's parades to Thursday's, but Wednesday's were fantastic. We've been appreciative audiences. 

The Archdruid float. 

Between the floats High School bands along with
their dance troop and cheerleaders parade. 
Occasionally we got a performance!

Those on top fling or hand out various items: 
beads, balls, lighted swords, bags etc. 

Some of the floats are so high that you can barely
see the occupants!

This ship on the first night was impressive!

And our host's beautiful home was just a few houses away from St. Charles St. on Seventh. They put out chairs on the parade route early with neighbors so we had wonderful seats. And we could go back and forth to the house to eat (or for the toilet - very helpful as we saw no Porto potties). This is important as the parades, early ones you understand, lasted for many hours. On Thursday from 4:30 PM to after 10 PM! That was 3 Krews: Knights of Chaos, Knights of Babylon, Nights of Muses. This last is a highlight of the Mardi Gras. The Krewe of Muses was founded in 2000 and has 1100 members. Since it's inception, Muses has emphasized gifting usable and "remuseable" throws to paradegoers. The most coveted of these are the single high heels. If you manage to catch one, you decorate and keep it as a souvenir and home decor (see the two Dale & Roy have in the photo).

Two coveted "shoes" from Krewe Muses"

Dale and their friend and tenant Amy.

Roy preparing breakfast in the kitchen. 

Heather in her "bling" at the parade, front
and center.

Both evenings Dale and Roy made wonderful dinners - Shrimp Etouffee and Pulled Pork with lots of sides. And two different kinds of King Cake. Their son Timmy and several friends joined us. On Thursday we had lunch at iconic Joey K's just down the street and did some shopping on Magazine Street. It was fun seeing a lot of the parade participants meeting and boarding the buses. 

Thursday's first parade had a lot of local and 
national figures. Bernie looks a lot more
positive then Marco and J.D. at the left!

The local political floats concerned New Orleans
problems and figures. 

The theme of Krewe Babylon was Operas.

Roy and Dale's house is beautifully decorated for Mardi Gras with "bling" of every sort. I've included a few photos here and they decorated us as well. We've brought back home a bag of "swag". We'll share that with everyone at our Mardi Gras party here on Tuesday!

We left after breakfast and stopped at The Shed for BBQ as usual. We took home one dinner plate and was enough for dinner that night. Great trip! Thank you Roy & Dale!

Lady Godivas!

Signature high heels for the Krewe Muses

Lots of flames - goes back to when there were no
street lights and these lit the parades.

Nothing like a bath in public!

This Muses float was spectacular!

Lunch at The Shed overlooking the Bayou.