A Coupla Days At The Beach

We have had glorious weather in the south since the second week in September - warm dry days and slightly cool nights.

We left Thursday and got back today from a quick trip to Pensacola to see the Blue Angels. It’s been on our bucket list for 40 years.

We parked at the Ft. Pickens CG on Santa Rosa Island. Not a bad place. W&E for $10 on the geezer card. You can see some of the air show from the CG since the base is just across the water. And the beach is some of the best on the Gulf Coast.

To see the airshow up close, you drive a horse shoe route for 40 minutes. We got to the base at 9:30 in time to see the stunt planes and WWII warbirds do their thing. The opening ceremonies were at 11 and from then until the Blue Angels performance time was filled with a lot of waiting.

For me, the Angels were not as much fun as the performances by the prop planes earlier in the day. Oh yes, the Angels are good, perfect I suppose. They make it look too easy. When they make a pass over the demo box, they are moving at 500+ so they are not in view very long. After each pass, they take a long run out to one side and set up for the next pass. So the spectators spend more time looking at empty air than at the Angels.

After the show, we drove out to Perdido Key to eat at the Point Restaurant, a place we frequented the years we raced the boat at Grand Lagoon.

I wanted to see the night show with fireworks, but after being in the sun all day I was exhausted and napped during the show.

Saturday, we went back aboard the Naval Air Station to tour the Naval Air Museum. It had been 10+ years since we had been there and meanwhile they had built another building to house all the planes they have acquired.

It’d been like a vacation according to Dorothy because she got to eat most meals out starting Wednesday night when Doug and Roxanne came to Montgomery. Eating out is not something we do a lot because we usually aren’t in places that have a restaurant that appeals to us.

A plus for the trip was that we got to visit with Jim and Gayle who were parked next to us.