Florida, Day 6

Monday morning we got up and headed to Naval Air Station Pensacola to go through the Naval Aviation Museum. This is where the Blue Angels are based and where my 2nd(?) cousin, Toby, has done some training. Thankfully they let us in after checking my uncle’s license. :-) Here’s the entrance to the base:



The first picture is at the outside entrance to the Naval Aviation Museum and the second picture is just inside the doors:





I took so many pictures, that I had a hard time narrowing it down. Sorry I don’t know the names of all of the planes, but here are some of the best ones:





While we were there, many navy guys came in, along with others. We don’t know what the service was about, but I think it was to honor the service men for their work in the community. Just don’t quote me on that.....



Above where the group was gathered, were some of the Blues:



We also saw another dress up Pelican by the cafeteria:



One of the best pictures from there is:



I have a photo of the inscription, but the writing was too small, so here is what it says: “It was customary for Japanese soldiers entering World War II to carry a flag into combat. This flag is an excellent example of those that were presented by the townspeople and co-workers bearing their signatures. It was earnestly believed, by the Japanese soldier, that the flag would protect them, and return them safely to their homes. The hand painted tiger symbolized the bravery that they should exhibit in combat, to be prepared at all times, to die gladly for the emperor. This bravery was necessary in order to not dishonor one’s ancestors.”

After the Museum, we went over to the Pensacola Lighthouse and Keeper’s Quarters. Last year when Elliot went down to Mississippi to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, he went over for a very short trip to Aunt Diane and Uncle Jim’s. They took him up in the lighthouse, but since then it has been closed. It was first lit on January 1, 1859, and is 140 ft high:



Now the view from up at the lighthouse:



A water tower on base:



After the base, we headed west to go to Alabama. We stopped in the Perdido Keys area (right around the “292” on the map):



Me in more water:



We ate lunch in Perdido Keys at the Shrimp Basket (http://www.shrimpbasket.com/index.html). I did get my hamburger and I have to say that it was good and the view from our seats was good too:



Here’s three more pictures from the Perdido Keys area:







Had to get this picture:



Now for some shots in Gulf Shores, Alabama:



This was a building that was being rebuilt after Katrina:



This was a fishing pier that was damaged in Katrina:



Me and the Gulf in Alabama:





From Gulf Shores, we headed north to Foley and then east back to Pensacola.

More water towers in Foley:



Elberta:



Perdido Bay:



Back to Florida:



After we got back, we decided to take some family pictures in the backyard. I don’t have any of the formal pictures that we took, but I got some others. Uncle Jim took all of those pictures and because of many issues, I haven’t gotten those pictures yet. Here’s one of Mom and Uncle Jim talking:



This is one type of palm tree in their backyard:



Now for the front of the house:




I had been trying to get a picture of the Spanish Moss during our whole trip, but we always saw it when we were in the van. Our last night in Florida we wanted to see the sunset on the water. We drove just a few minutes away and then walked the rest of the way to the beach. On our easy walk down, we came across this moss covered tree:



When we got down to the beach, we realized we were on the wrong side of the land to see the actual sun setting and didn’t have enough time to drive to the other end. We still got to see a great sunset sky. Across from us are some buildings on Pensacola Beach:





This was our last night in Florida and the next day we headed home in the afternoon.

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!!

Houston, Day 2

Since I chose the activity for our first full day in Houston, Mom chose what we did on the second day. I at least started the day by sleeping in. Since it wasn’t raining, I got outside and took a few pictures in John and Sue’s yard of their house and view. Some of you may know my love of home architecture, but for those who don’t, now you do. Here are some of my favorite house pictures from our vacation (you’ll see more later). Mom and I have gotten into watching HGTV and are thinking about what to do in our house, especially in our kitchen, so you’ll also see some of my “idea” pictures. John and Sue live in one of those planned communities that is built around some rice patties that were filled with water:



The back of their house:



Never got a chance to be in the pool, since it wasn’t very warm, but we did use the hot tub:



This is one idea for kitchen cupboards:



This is one of the views that they have from their house across the pond (I have my zoom lens, so that’s why the house looks so close):



Now for a picture of the front of their house:



Their house is in a small cul-de-sac and on the water side, they sit on a point, which gives them a great 180+ degree view. Since they sit on a point, Sue had a brilliant idea. Although no boats are allowed on the waterways, she found this cute lighthouse that does light up at night:



After eating breakfast and getting ready, we decided to head over to their son, Eric’s house. They are building in the same neighbor hood as his parents, but in a different section. By water, his parents are just around the corner from him, but it was a drive to get there. I think by the time we left their house for Florida, I had an idea of how to get around the neighborhood, but don’t ask me to find my way back there. The rice patties (ponds) are all connected, so some roads go over bridges but other ones have to circle around the ponds. Which is the case to get to Eric’s house from his parents. Here’s the kitchen cupboards of their house:



John told us that Eric got to chose what kind of kitchen stove they would get, so Kristie got to choose what type of tub for the master bath. I have to agree with her choice, because I’d love to have one of these too:



Here’s the view from their upstairs computer room:



Celebrating the Lone Star State (the front door):



Now a view of the front of the house:



Since we weren’t going to have enough time to see too much, Mom wanted to do a little driving around Houston, so we could see some of the city. Mom’s plan for us was to then go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. They had a great exhibit about the Americas that she wanted to see. We were hoping to see some stuff on Honduras, since she was going there a few months later with our church. We didn’t make it into the IMAX Theater there, but we were able to see some Texas Wildlife, African Wildlife, Gems and Minerals (these were so beautiful to see, especially all the purple ones). These were both in jewelry and by themselves. Many of them were very expensive and they were actually in a dark vault that you were able to walk through. I’m assuming it was locked every night. The most expensive jewlery piece was millions of dollars.

We really enjoyed the Americas exhibit and wandering through the other ones. Mom and I decided to then split up. There was an exhibit called Lucy’s Legacy that Mom wanted to check out. We found out that it is coming to Seattle too, so she wanted to see if it would be worth it to go when it comes here. It is about some of the history of Ethiopia over the last 5 million years. It will be at the Pacific Science Center from 10/4/08 through 3/8/09. I wasn’t too sure I wanted to see it, so I decided to try out the CSI Exhibit. I have to say that it was so cool. First they put you in a room to watch a short video clip that includes messages from the actors on the orginal CSI (which is the only one that Mom and I watch). You then go to another area where they give you a sheet of paper that has certain questions and places for notes. After that you go in to look at your crime scene and try to solve it.



WARNING: These next pictures aren’t for the faint of heart!!

Here’s my crime scene:





After checking out the scene you go into their “Crime Lab” and get to solve the mystery. I got to learn about getting digital evidence out of cell phones. Checked out how to match finger prints, tire tracks, and DNA. Also got to check out toxicology and entomology. After all of the tests, you get on a computer and enter your findings, which are then reported to Gil Grissom. After watching a lot of CSI and Murder She Wrote, it was pretty easy for me to solve. Right after solving, I saw the list of sponsors and found that the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) was one of them. If you want to check out their website, go to: www.csitheexperience.org. It also shows that the exhibit is going to be at OMSI during the summer of 2009. I highly recommend going to it.

After leaving the Museum, we drove around downtown Houston to check out some of their older homes, see their church, check out some of the old buildings, and whatever else we could see. We ended up at a little Pub for dinner, which was really good (hamburger!!). We headed back to their house to watch some tv, which I forgot to get a picture of (it is a 72 inch tv). Many of you know that Mom does a lot with our family history and Sue had a bunch of old pictures that Mom didn’t have, so they had me take pictures with my camera. I’ll put a few here, but I won’t say who they are of:







After awhile, we headed to the Hot Tub for some relaxation. Then to bed for our last night in Houston. We got up early the next morning to head to the airport. On our way in, I took this picture of two of the domes in town. I took this picture, because after Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleans people came and lived in these buildings. We also passed the Convention Center, which housed thousands of evacuees, but I couldn’t get a picture of it:



Next up--Florida!!