Pensacola Beach is near Gulf Islands National Seashore. We stayed at the National Park campground a few years ago. It is less crowded and touristy compared to Destin. However, Destin had all the amenities, other than a Costco, to keep us entertained. Our posts tend to run a month behind because of editing, travel, material, and lack of internet so the coronavirus pandemic had not yet impacted daily living.
Pensacola Beach
Pensacola Beach in located on Santa Rosa Island, which is a barrier island.
We had lunch at Hemingways. Sandy had a delicious salmon salad while we enjoyed the water views.
Peg Leg Pete’s is a local favorite. Good food for a decent price. The parking lot was always full.
Pensacola Beach RV Resort
Even though they had full service and good satellite views, their wifi was awful. But, the view was beautiful.
They lease their beach front to a private entity that blocks a lot of the water views with a Tiki bar and other structures. Fortunately, the music wasn’t too loud and it was only open weather permitting and we had some very cold windy days so peace and quiet for us! Yea! A few nights, there was a steady stream of partiers past the front of the coach to the Tiki bar. We were missing our views in Apalachicola.
Nevertheless, we embraced the Tiki bar and enjoyed their drinks with a view.
Sandy while vacuuming managed to suck in a 1/4 box of tissues into the central vac system, completely occluding it. Whoops and Oh Shit! We knew this extra long needle driver from Michael’s medical days would be of use one day. It’s actually funnier now than it was then!
Gulf Islands National Seashore
The Gulf Islands National Seashore stretches between Santa Rosa Island, Florida to Cat Island, Mississippi. Eighty percent of the park is underwater. Settlement of the area had always been difficult because of the numerous hurricanes over the years. Good for nature preservation.
The sand is composed of sparkling white quartz. It was nice to see that the dunes are protected and off limits, other than a few areas for beach access or hiking trails.
Sunsets were spectacular.
Osprey were prevalent here. This one landed on a speed limit sign and had lunch, almost oblivious to being photographed.
An osprey with it’s juvenile.
Fort Pickens, Pensacola
Fort Pickens was built after Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1819. At the time, fortifications were necessary to protect the new territory. Geez, it’s a big cannon.
A beautiful fort to explore all of its nooks and crannies.
Thistle, the floral emblem of Scotland. (An interesting tidbit)
When the winds were over 20 mph, a windsurfer took advantage.
Destin, Florida
Destin is known for it’s sugar sand beaches that look like snow. These were the footprints of a great blue heron.
The beaches go on for miles. Unfortunately, this part of Florida does not have many dog friendly beaches. Maybe too many people not picking up, or too many off leash when they shouldn’t be, or maybe for marketing reasons. We felt guilty not being able to take Jake for long walks on these deserted beaches.
It can be difficult to get to the beaches because of all the development and lack of beach access parking. Destin has the most beautiful sand of any beach we’ve seen yet while traveling. Well, except we really like the volcanic black sands in Hawaii too. Its easy to see why this is such a popular location. Its an amazing place to live or visit.
We stayed at Geronimo RV Park. They had full service and good wifi. The traffic in Destin was as bad as we’ve seen, but they are doing a lot of road work. The outlet malls were a great way to freshen up the wardrobe without breaking the budget.
A very good pizza and bottle of wine in Seaside, Florida. We enjoy the Grayton Beach, Watercolor and Seaside communities of the panhandle.
