A new adventure for me and Kath... We were presented with an awesome opportunity to visit a dear friend's home in Pensacola for a few days. What a beautiful place we stayed in; warm, immaculate, all the comforts of home, and a picturesque view to enjoy.We arrived early afternoon, picked up the rental car and headed toward PCOLA Baby! Upon our arrival we found an absolutely pristine home with all of the comforts just awaiting us to indulge. We dropped off the luggage and Kath pored the juice. I found a couple of chairs and out we went the waterside for a few cocktails, a sunset, and a few rays of the Florida sun. It had been so long since we felt the warmth of the sun that even though it wasn't all that warm, we enjoyed it non the less. The temperature by day reached maybe 74, and by night it would fall off to the mid to low 50's.
The next day we drove over to Johnson Beach where we saw the purest of beaches we have ever seen. The sand was so white that it looked like fresh snow as far as you could see. It was still cool though, so sitting on the beach was not an option. We walked the beach some and moved on to Perdido Bay where we drove the boulevard to the end, simply beautiful! On the return drive we went to Orange Beach where we enjoyed lunch at a local seafood restaurant where I stupidly ate crab claws and experienced an allergic reaction... what an idiot!
The next day we decided to drive to Mississippi to see Sandy (Kath's son) because it had been rainy all night and it looked as if it was not going to be a good beach day anyways. It was rainy throughout Alabama and into Mississippi until we got to Biloxi. We met up with Sandy (he didn't know we were coming, we just arrived with lunch in hand and said, HI) and enjoyed his company for a few hours before returning to FLA around 7:30P.
The next day we traveled toward Gulf Beach, Destin, Fort Walton, and Panama City. The weather was foggy and cool with the exception of the hour that we spend enjoying the sun in Destin. Seeing as the weather was getting worse, we returned to PCola for the night.
Today we spent the day on the Pensacola Navy Base. The security was tight, but we were allowed access to specific areas, such as Fort Baranckas NP, Pensacola Light and the Naval Museum. It was a great experience.
Pensacola Beach was our last beach destination and it includes a huge part of the National Seashore. Part of which (Fort Pickens) is not accessible after the most resent hurricanes. It too included miles of pure white sandy beaches that simply take your breath away.
OK, most of you know that Kath is as Irish as they come. So, I was thinking about taking her to an Irish pub for dinner. A friend had suggested going to McGuires Irish Pub. He said it had awesome food and of course the legendary Irish beverage. Most of you also know that I get lost very easily, so I ditched the idea for the time being. As we began to drive toward home, low-and-behold, there it was, right in front of us. There were Leprechauns running all over the place! Green hair, hat's and you name it. I took a hard right and hit the parking lot. We were ready for some real Irish hospitality and a couple of Irish beverages. The food and drinks were great, and the live Irish band and the atmosphere were awesome. This pub was more of what we would expect to see in Ireland itself (as a matter of fact it was better than when we went to Ireland). We had to cut our visit short however, because we were still a distance from home at this point and drinking and driving never mix (CRAP)! So home we went.
We unfortunately had to prepare for a very early departure and an extremely long flight home (eleven and 1/2 hours). Tornado's and heavy rain storms were cropping up all over the south, so I guess we should have been happy to get home, but... you guess the rest!
