Pensacola Beach, FL

Monday, April 15

Monday morning, Andi and I raced around the RV getting our usual AM activities done (workout, kids fed, pack up, etc.) so we could catch the ranger-led nature talk at the Gulf Shores State Park education building. Tory is not a morning person to say the least, but when she’s motivated to do something she’s interested in, she hops to it! “Come on, Aden! This is important to me” she said, as we ran down the campground sidewalk to get to the presentation.

Today’s nature talk was about raptors — specifically the red-tailed hawk. We learned about this animal’s habitat and behaviors, and even got to see one fly across the room from one handler to the other. I think it’s so neat when state parks and campgrounds host events like this for their guests. It feels like such a great value for the few dollars they charge to camp there.

Andi, Tory, Aden and I spend an hour in the state park’s nature center after the presentation looking at all the exhibits. Tory is a huge nature lover; I think she could have spent the entire day there. Face paint is courtesy of yesterday’s Easter egg hunt.

Around 11:00am, we said good-bye to Gulf Shores, AL and drove an hour east back to Florida. We planned to stay in Pensacola Beach for the next two days at Fort Pickens National Seashore. I read about a fun kids park that was on the way, so we decided to stop and let the kids play there before making our way to Fort Pickens.

The Perdido Kids Park in Pensacola was awesome! It was a huge playground with lots of different climbing structures. A school field-trip was there when we arrived, so the park was overwhelmed with activity for the first hour. After the school group left, Tory discovered a rock climbing wall and was hooked! I am going to have to look in to a rock climbing or ropes course for her when we get back to Wisconsin because she really enjoys it.

Our RV refrigerator stopped working again, so Andi sat on the phone with Winnebago customer service for over an hour while the kids and I played outside. We returned to the RV around 2:00pm to find Andi still on the phone. The kids and I ate a late lunch in the parking lot, then we drove to Pensacola Beach. As the crow flies, Fort Pickens was just a few miles away but there was no road connecting the two locations over the water. That meant we had to drive our RV all the way around Pensacola to get to the national seashore which took over an hour to get there.

There was a $1 toll to enter Pensacola Beach and another $20 charge to enter into the national seashore (that didn’t include the cost of our camp site), but fortunately that meant the park was nearly empty. We found our campsite, hooked up the RV, and walked down to the beach to check our our surroundings. The kids picked up a National Park Service Junior Ranger packet at the campground office, so we began completing the tasks in the packet as we walked to the beach. Part of a Junior Ranger’s responsibility is picking up trash in the park, so Tory and Aden each collected a grocery bag full of trash along the roadway. The park was actually very clean so we didn’t find much, but they both took their responsibility seriously.

It was a windy day at the beach, but the sun was shining and we had the place to ourselves. Can’t complain about that! Fort Pickens had pristine sugar sand beaches, just like the Destin area. I could run my toes through that sand all day. Tory and Aden built sandcastles together and ran along the water chasing birds. What a great life!

I made sloppy joes for dinner with the meat that’d defrosted earlier in the day from our fridge debacle, and served it with green beans. A simple, easy dinner that everyone in our family enjoys. The kids ran around our campsite collecting pine cones while I made dinner. Our campground neighbor was a fellow Wisconsinite, but she wasn’t too keen on the kids coming close to her space. I think she might’ve been the first person we’ve encountered on this trip that hasn’t been ultra-friendly to Andi, the kids, and I.

After dinner, Andi and Aden walked across the sidewalk to talk with a few other campground neighbors. They were a caravan of travelers from Germany on a 10-week trip through the United States. How cool is that?! Aden came back to the RV reciting a few German words they’d taught him. While the boys were gone, Tory and I stayed back at the RV and wrote in our travel journal.

Tuesday, April 16

How the mornings get away from us, I don’t even know! We got a slow start to our day. I worked on a blog post that didn’t end up saving, thanks to the snail-speed internet of America’s national parks. Oy. I was so frustrated, I went outside to workout while Andi finished up breakfast with the kids and did school with Tory. She, too, was having one of those days apparently because she drug her feet completing her work. When she finished, we packed up the RV and drove down the road from our campground to watch the Blue Angels Naval flying aerobatic team practice their air show over Pensacola Bay. The Blue Angels are based in Pensacola and practice several times a week over the bay. Coincidently, our stay at Fort Pickens lined up perfectly with their schedule. We parked the RV in one of the park’s picnic areas and set up lawn chairs on the sidewalk. It was like we had our own private show — incredible! Aden kept calling the airplanes fairies instead of the Blue Angels — I think he was confusing “fairies” with “angels” which was kinda cute.

After the air show, Andi installed a new thermostat in the refrigerator. He had the part leftover from the last time we had the fridge fixed, and figured it was worth a shot to see if he could get it working again. We crossed our fingers that the new thermostat would solve the program because otherwise it would be a long few weeks of travel until we could get a RV service appointment.

With the fridge was running again, we decided to drive into Pensacola Beach to buy groceries. Andi ran into the store while I stayed in the RV with the kids and they had each had some quiet time. Everyone seemed to be a little on edge today, so some time alone in separate corners of the RV was much needed.

When Andi returned from the store, we drove back to Fort Pickens National Seashore, stopping first at the visitor’s center to turn in the kids’ Junior Ranger packets and earn their badges. Then, we drove to Langdon Beach to spend the rest of the afternoon by the water. It wasn’t as windy today as it has been, so the sunshine and beach time was awesome. The kids played in the sand while Andi and I sat in lawn chairs and talked about life and travel.

We grilled wings for dinner and ate s’more by the campfire for dessert. Aden told us one of his famous ghost stories, and then Andi took his turn telling us about “Old Pickens” who used to roam these grounds. Tory leaned over to me at one point during Andi’s story and whispered, “It’s not true, right?” Not that Andi’s story was scary, but it must have been pretty convincing. The kids went to bed with dirty feet and smiles on their faces — a happy ending to the day.

Wednesday, April 17

Up early this morning to head back to Alabama. The boys took care of RV business, and then we stopped by Pensacola’s famous Joe Patty’s for our final chance to buy fresh seafood from the gulf. Andi bought shrimp, fish for tacos, crab cakes, a loaf of french bread, and we even stopped for made-to-order beignets at a stand outside the seafood market. The beignets weren’t as tasty as the ones I’ve had in New Orleans, but they were pretty darn good!

We plan to be in Atlanta, Georgia by Sunday so we have the next four days to explore Alabama and central Georgia.