February 13, 2015 Arnett’s Gulfside Horse Ranch and RV park, Santa Rosa, Florida

We had a fun Friday the 13th here at the ranch. In the morning we hiked around in Washington State Park which is next to the property here. Long leaf pine and palmetto forest. Most of Florida is this habitat. Very pretty. Hard to tell we are close to a beautiful beach and lots of touristy stuff.

  

Long leaf pine and palmetto forest.  John horse back riding on Champion here at the ranch. He has had his trials and tribulations with real horses and declined to ride with me.

Sue riding on Carlotta for a trail ride.

 

Jackie our wrangler took us through the forest. We ran into this bear on the trail. Plus a tree full of monkeys.

 

In the right next to the tree is one of 4 deer –head only in this photo-we saw on the ride. The deer here are very small. About as tall as the underbrush. Much of the ride was on wet trails, they have had a lot of rain here.

The lake at the ranch. The horses.

 

Tonight is a Valentine’s  country western dance. Not much country western here, but they are hoping to develop a niche market. I met the metal artist who made this horse. It is for sale. A beautiful sunset on the lake there. 

 

The Valentine dance. What fun. John is a much better dance than I am, but we had fun. Met lots of interesting people here.

February 12, 2015 Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

We left Fort Pickens, it was full for the next week. Valentine’s day, Presidents day and Mardi Gras all coming up. Mardi Gras is a holiday in many of these southern states.

This was at Fort Pickens. Piggy Pooch owner. . . Destin has lovely beaches, incredible water and is so crowded and touristy we kept driving. Miles of high rise condos, hotels, beach ware shops, real estate offices, miniature golf and restaurants.

  

South Fort Walton says ‘Find your perfect Beach’, it is just past Destin.  Also too crowded and touristy to stop. It is like driving through a giant strip mall along this part of the panhandle. The Emerald Beach they call it. The beach is lovely, but way too popular here.  We are now parked at Arnett’s Gulfside  Stables and RV park.  Tucked up in the pines.

 

The bus at the RV park. It is very quiet here. Fortunately it is  not too crowded because the car is parked in the site next to ours. On the other side is an empty site before the next rig. We get used to having such nice big sites at the parks that we forget how tight the commercial RV parks are.  John on Santa Rosa Beach. It is  sunny and in the high 60’s, but the wind is chilly.

This cardinal was on our picnic table at Fort Pickens, but of course flew into the tree by the time I got the camera out. These sea gulls are bathing in a fresh water stream flowing into the ocean. Yesterday I was sitting at our picnic table and saw movement by my feet, I looked down and an armadillo was  trotting through.  Look snow fences on the beach! This is not a park beach, it is built up with hundreds of huge beach houses. The beach itself is lovely.

 

John where one of the fresh water streams flow in. He did relent and take his shirt off for the walk back. The sun was warm. This stream is braided coming into the ocean.

February 10, 2015 Pensacola, Florida

 

The National Naval Aviation museum on the base in Pensacola is one of the biggest and best we have been too. This is our second trip. We saw many things we did not see last time.  And it is free. Here is a sopwith camel with snoopy as pilot.

 

A cut away plane-showing the wood frame under cloth. And a cut away of a flying fighter boat. The uncut away is above the boat.

  

This is from one of the rooms, the place is huge, photos do not do it justice. Above is one of the models of an aircraft carrier. The bottom is a photo from the simulator we were in that is like sitting in bleachers on top of an aircraft carrier while planes take off and land, complete with wind, the smell of jet fuel and vibrations. Very impressive.

This is a display of the mirrors and lights of the landing system on the aircraft carriers with me in the mirror, kind of like a fun house mirror. The gondola of a blimp named the snow bird.

 

The Blue Angels hang under all the sky lights. They are based here in Pensacola and from March to November they practice here. We missed them. But we went to an Imax movie called the Magic of Flight about them.  We had lunch in the Cubi Bar  cafe is modeled after one similar in the Philippines. All of the units deployed there hung plaques from their units. When it closed all the plaques came here.

 

John peace signing from air force one helicopter with Nixon sitting inside. Lunar lander.

 

We got to sit in cockpits of fighter jets. John tried to eject out, but the seats were disabled.

John trying to light the Fat Boy atomic bomb that ended WWI when it was dropped on Japan. Fort Barrancas is also on the base in Pensacola. It is on the other side of the bay from Fort Pickens where we were yesterday.

There was a dry moat around two sides so any body trying to come in that way was picked off by musket fire through the windows in the walls.  A draw bridge was the only way in. Cannons were on top.

 

The exterior walls were held up with these arches around the outside. This is a park service photo of the arches, we got there right before it closed and did not see the whole thing.

The sign says Caution Steep Dark Tunnel.  It leads to the water battery. Both of us took lots of photos in the tunnel. John heading toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

The Water Battery was originally built by the Spanish and named Bateria de San Antonio. Cannon fire from the battery skipped over the surface of the bay to hit ships at waterline. The door back to the steep dark tunnel and me emerging from it.

 

Beaches both ways, we must be in Florida! Pensacola Beach is the town right outside of Fort Pickens were we are staying. It says it has the worlds whitest beaches.