Florida, Day 5

Sunday morning we went to Aunt Diane and Uncle Jim’s church. Before we left home to go down, Aunt Diane asked Mom if she would sing a solo on Sunday morning. Mom agreed, so we got to church a little early. I took a picture of Mom practicing:



After church Uncle Jim took us on a driving tour of the Gulf Breeze area. The back windows of the van are tinted, so some of my photos appear darker, although it was pretty cloudy the whole trip. Here’s a heron that we saw on our tour:



We spent the afternoon lounging around the house. That evening, we had to drop Uncle Jim off at church for a meeting. Us three ladies headed to the beach and then went back to church for their Talent Show and Dinner. Our next stop was Pensacola Beach:



The next picture is the view from the toll bridge as we crossed over to Pensacola Beach. It is on the darker side, since I’m taking the picture through the dark window of the van:



We stopped at several areas on Pensacola Beach, so I could take pictures. I had to step in the water at every beach, especially when we were on the Gulf side. Mom took this one of me in the Gulf:



We were going back to my aunt and uncle’s church after the beach, so Mom didn’t want to get too wet:



Now for some surf pictures:









I was trying to get a great close up picture of this little guy, but he was very quick and if you know what kind of bird it is, please let me know:





As we were driving back through Pensacola Beach, Aunt Diane was showing us some of the damage from the two previous bigger hurricanes, Ivan (2004) and Dennis (2005). When you look at some of these pictures, you’ll see some rebuilt homes on stilts and some empty spaces where hotels/homes have not been rebuilt:











If you want to check out more pictures from right after the hurricanes you can search for them on the net, but here’s one of the local websites:

Ivan: http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=PHOTOGALLERY0101

Dennis: http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=PHOTOGALLERY0103

These are on the Pensacola News Journal (PNJ) website and you can also see pictures of the area after Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ike, and more. We know that my aunt and uncle did not evacuated for Hurricane Ike, but there are some pictures on the PNJ website of the flooding in their area. We don’t think that Mom’s cousin and her husband evacuated from Houston, but we haven’t heard from them.

Here’s my last shot as we were leaving Pensacola Beach:



This is one of their water reservoirs and I loved the painting on it.

We then went to church and enjoyed a great potluck dinner and talent show. The rest of the evening was spent hanging out at the house and planning our next day.

Florida, Days 3 and 4

We flew from Houston to Pensacola, Florida on Friday (4/4) afternoon. During the flight over, I was trying to see if I could see any areas that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but it was too cloudy. My Dad’s sister, Diane and her husband, Jim, met us at the airport. They took us to an early dinner at a restaurant on one of the bayous that had a pretty good hamburger. Then we headed out to their house in Gulf Breeze. Below is a map of the area:



I always had to remember that between the cities of Pensacola and Gulf Breeze is the Bay, between Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach is the Sound and beyond that is the Gulf. For the picture below, it was pretty cloudy out, but I’m also taking the picture through the van’s window. This is a view of Gulf Breeze as we crossed the Pensacola Bay Bridge:



The Bridge is 3 miles long, carries 4 lanes of US98 across Pensacola Bay, and they even have signs before you get on it about making sure you have enough gasoline in your car. I’m guessing that they probably had one too many people stall in the middle of the bridge during rush hour traffic. :-) If you look at the map above, this bridge is the one on the left, that heads to where the star is. My aunt and uncle’s house is off of 98, just passed (to the right) of where 281 comes across the bay. History lesson on the bridge: It was opened to traffic in 1960 to replace a two-lane road that was next to it. The toll bridge was left intact, although the middle of it was destroyed some time ago. The two halves (one from the Pensacola side and one from the Gulf Breeze side) became fishing piers. Most of the rest of the fishing piers were destroyed in the 2004 Hurricane Ivan. By the time we were there, the rest of the fishing piers were pretty much destroyed.

The rest of the day was just hanging out at my aunt and uncle’s house.

(Day 4)

I was able to sleep in!! We then headed out to Joe Patti’s Seafood store to get some really fresh seafood. I was able to pick up some recipes, although I know I’m not going to be trying most of them: alligator, catfish, Mahi-Mahi, oysters, lobster, shrimp, and swordfish. If you want any of these recipes, check out: http://www.fl-seafood.com/recipes/index.htm.

Their boats and building:



Their pelican friends on their boats and docks:



As we drove around town, we saw pelican statues. Each one was painted in a different way. For those who know Seattle, it is the same as what Seattle did with the pigs. It’s also what Olympia did with the fish around town. Here's one as we were driving away from Joe Patti’s (I think we were near the Navy base):



Some nice homes that were built out in the Bay. This is just before we went over the long bridge. It is a gated road, so these are taken from a moving van. I have to say that I wouldn’t want to be in them when a hurricane comes in:



For those who know that I work with Drinking Water, you will understand some of my pictures:





If you didn’t figure it out, this is the water tower for the Midway Water System in Gulf Breeze. I just thought the painting on it was pretty cool, but after taking one picture, my aunt, uncle, and Mom would point out every single one we saw. I was hoping to take the pictures back to work and see if I could get “work” hours for taking all the pictures, but I figured that wouldn’t work to well. :-)

Hopefully I’ll be able to get the last few days of our trip on this blog soon, so I can catch you up on my summer happenings.

Stay tuned for more!!