Getting to Florida

Onward towards Florida. After our adventure with the tick we packed up and headed in to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This town is home to the University of Alabama, so Crimson Tide signs were everywhere. We stopped by a cool little coffee shop called Heritage Coffee (which made me love Tuscaloosa immediately) and stocked up at the Winn-Dixie.

Michael plotted that day’s campsite – a place called Silver Creek Park. Another lake maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, like Blue Creek Park. Anyway, we followed Google Maps to get there, and let me tell you it was sketchy AF. Good thing we had 1 bar of service on the phone – it was the only way to tell where we were. Seriously – we were driving down a series of logging roads and none of them were marked. This went on for 14 miles.

Just when I thought we might be totally lost, we popped out onto a paved road, with a big fat sign that said Silver Creek Park.

Silver Creek Park was a really sweet site. Level, with fire rings and trash cans. Quiet and remote – we were near a boat launch and right on the water. The owls and bullfrogs were pretty vocal that night. It was wonderful.

Valentine’s day took us through rural Alabama and into Florida…The Deep South. We crossed the Florida state line without any fanfare and went straight to Pensacola Beach.

Personally, I love the little sign at the bottom that says, ‘Open for business.’

The sand there is like powdered sugar. So soft and easy on the feet! Dogs were not allowed on the beach, so we walked them around the parking lot before heading out to the sand. We saw a dolphin and an osprey, so that was cool. Then we played a little frisbee before making dinner.

We camped that night at Mystic Springs WMA, which stands for Water Management Area. This was a free site and it was about 40 minutes from Pensacola. It was fairly isolated, although we got 3 bars of cell phone reception there, and dark. It was not very quiet, though.

We seemed to be part of the flight path for helicopters. For a while there they were going directly over Mystic Springs WMA about every 15 minutes. Then there were the trains. Now, the tracks/crossing for the train was a good couple of miles from the campground, but the requisite whistle-blasts at 3am still registered.

February 15^th we finally made it to the National Naval Aviation Museum.

I love places like this and still can’t believe it was free to get in. So many planes!

I did get a couple of funny looks at the museum, though. See, it wasn’t exactly warm in Pensacola. So I was wearing wool tights, a wool skirt, a t-shirt, and a jacket. Michael started calling me Nanook of the South.

After leaving Pensacola behind we headed east towards Niceville via the outer island. It was a fabulous day – I was finally able to put on shorts! And the beach we randomly stopped at just happened to be dog friendly so the boys got their first taste of the ocean. They did not like the taste of the ocean. (It was like watching a baby try lemon for the first time.) Bailey even found another dog to play with. It was actually pretty nice to get to wear them out a bit. They’ve been spending too much time in the back of the truck.

In Niceville we broke our streak of never paying for a campsite. But – how many people get to say they camped on an active Air Force Base? For just $5 a night?

That’s right, we camped at Eglin AFB, at a site called Basin Bayou. This was an amazing campsite. Right on the water, with moss in the trees, a little breeze each day to keep the bugs away, and no neighbors. I found a couple of new ways to set up the Revel Gear lights.

Sitting at our Basin Bayou camp, snuggled up next to a campfire, I know that I lead a charmed life. And I am so grateful.