February 7-9, 2015 Fort Pickens, Florida

65 and sunny on a beautiful beach today.

This is where I have wanted to be all winter. We have been at beautiful beaches for a few weeks, but it has been cool. Today was finally warm. I could not stop looking at the ocean. The gulf is so beautiful.

I worked on my basket and finished my book, and ate lunch. Then biked and then a short hike with John. This pine tree is a slash pine, it has 8 inch needles and grows to 130 feet tall. It is lovely. But the needles are not as good as the long leafs.

 

    This cane is about 10 feet tall, there was a narrow path through it to the other side of the island. A mocking bird and yaupon holly, an ever green shrub. The middle of the island is grass and slash pines.

 

Today it was warm enough to get into the water. It was heavenly.

This young family is next to us. 4 children and their parents. They are living in a van, traveling and home schooling till the money runs out. What fun that must be. This is  a model of Fort Pickens as it was built in 1834.

John in some of the casements where the cannons were. this is a shot from the top corner looking into the parade ground and the visitors center in the building to the right. To the left of the visitors center was bastion D, which  was destroyed when a fire that started in the warehouse  reached a black powder magazine containing 8,000 pounds of powder in 1899. The cannon is a 15 inch Rodman cannon. It is the largest smooth bore cannon used by the US army.

 

In 1886 when Geronimo surrendered they moved all the Apaches by train to Florida. For two years Geronimo and 15 other Apache Indians were imprisoned at Fort Pickens. The rest went to St Augustine.  A cannon inside the fort and salt deposits on the inside of the fort where water leaked through.

The beaches on Santa Rosa island became popular for tourists. This is a woman's bathing suit. The sea wall on the left with the beach on the sound side of the island. Pensacola is seen across the bay, that is now the naval base protecting the area.

 

The 12 inch guns represented the largest and most advanced weapons in the army’s arsenal in 1898. It is on a disappearing carriage, which means it can be cranked down to be reloaded, then cranked up to shot it.  There were bigger waves today, spray coming off the tops.

 

Water left when the tide went out reflecting the sunset. John tried New Belgium's new IPA called Rampart with dinner tonight. Dinner smoked pulled pork with BBQ sauce I made. Yummy.