Let start out by saying I'm about 4 weeks or so behind. Being in the nice weather near the water has been a welcomed time suck. Ill be working on getting these done here sooner than later or I'm going to start forgetting the fine details that I like to include that no one likes to read but me, haha. These take me an hour or more each, so its a commitment to keep up on them. I'm doing my best and I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.
Leaving off in Mobile from my last post, I wanted to add that we learned the night we checked into our hotel that we just missed getting to see the Savannah Bananas Baseball team playing their 1 Town World Tour which happened to be just behind our hotel. It was in the Hank Aaron Stadium and included a incredible fireworks display that we watched from hotel window. Would have been nice to catch a baseball game but they were sold out!
We checked out Sunday morning and headed towards Gulf Breeze Florida. This drive was beautiful. You pass the USS Alabama and Military Museum on the freeway. I don't think I have seen a warship this big before, I know the new ones are even bigger, really gives a sense of pride. The engineering and technology that had to happen 80 years ago to make such a massive ship had to be intimidating to anyone opposing the us in WWII, if we could built something like that what else could we accomplish, well I think we all know how that one ended. The USS Alabama was in service only 5 years, from 1942 to 1947. Japan surrendered on Sept 2, 1945 which is considered the end of WWII, which means it served a total of 3 years during the war, almost to the day. Aug 9, 1945 was the last day the USS Alabama would see action. After that it carried Seebees and Soldiers home as well, then sat in Bremerton Washington as reserve fleet, considered to be fitted with new technology but later fully decommissioned before being sent to Alabama.
Just past the USS Alabama you cross Mobile Bay headed east then the freeway turns and sends you south down through Alabama and into Florida. We stopped at the welcome center/rest area which was very nice. We had some Florida orange juice and grapefruit juice, checked out some lizards (if you know what I mean) and then continued into Pensacola. The drive was somewhat extended from what you would expect due to the fact that the main bridge into Pensacola Beach has been shut down for some time now, so it adds about 45 minutes to the drive from previous years. The bridge known as the "3 Mile Bridge" or "Pensacola Bay Bridge" was built and opened early 2020 but closed 2 months later when a barge got stuck going under it, then during Hurricane Sally a crane fell on a span closing it indefinitely. Who know when it will be open again but depending on the time of day and traffic with the detours in place your 45 minute drive across the bay may become 2.5 to 3 hours. Oh Joy, who doesn't love traffic.
Fortunately for us we had limited need to go back and forth, we spent our time going to the beach and visiting with family which live right there in Gulf Breeze as well. I visited with Uncle Mark, who is also now Grandpa Mark depending on your audience. Last time I saw him I was 15, 20 years flew by, but he was still who I remember as a kid. We had fun hanging out and catching up. We also met his other half Debbie who is very sweet and enjoyable to spend time with. We all went to a flea market down from Uncle Marks place and stumbled around for awhile. There was one booth selling TSA confiscated pocket knives that was hard to walk away from. $100 knives for $5 bucks all day long. Uncle Mark couldn't help himself, he bought a handful for him and his coworker. Uncle Mark also suggested looking up JD, his nephew in Key Largo when I get there, which I will tell you more about in another post. We also were able to get together with Jimmy, Aunt Linda (who also goes by Grandma these days too), Amber, and Uncle Jim. We talked about Grandpa John and Grandma and the couple trips we made to Florida when I was a kid. I remembered something Grandpa John used to tell me when I was bored. He would tell me we could stack BBs. Telling the story to Uncle Mark brought back some memories for him which he'd nearly forgotten which brought me a lot of enjoyment to learn.
My high school best friend Evan came and visited while we were there. We got to see his Daughter Carlie also since she was going to be going back to Montana with him for her spring break. We spend a day at the Beach and some time floating in the sound. It was a low key week. The house we stayed in was a steaming pile of garbage. That poor AIRBNB host probably still cringes every time his phone rings. We had him come over and fix a toilet, mop all the floors, replace bedding on 3 of 5 beds, fix windows that wouldn't lock, hammer nails sticking out of the porch decking, and wash a garbage can out that smelled so bad we couldn't leave the windows cracked in the car for fear of the smell of death seeping in while sitting in the tiny one car driveway. We are fairly easy to please but this guy deserved a whoopin for the way he was keeping and marketing that property.
I don't know Id stay at that AIRBNB again but would definitely go back to Gulf Breeze again. The beach was powdery fine soft sand and the water felt good. The boogie boarding was good and we had some awesome Fajitas at a place that does 2 for margaritas before 5pm. It was hard to be as excited I should have been to be in Gulf Breeze though because I knew the following week we would be swimming with Manatees in Crystal River Florida.
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