Vacation Like You Mean It

Vacation Like You Mean It                 

By John W. Vander Velden

 

We don’t get away as often as I might like.  Now I like where I live, my house and all that, but sometimes everyday life just gets to be too much.  So I enjoy our “escapes” form this reality, and seeing new things…or maybe it’s different things that I seek for just a little while.

It took some planning to find a week when we could go south this year.  All the same it was the first year that field work did not dictate.  So we pushed the date a little later than our usual mid to late March…”spring break” time.  The internet warned when “spring breakers” would congregate.  Now I don’t mind meeting people from “everywhere”, but we love deserted beaches.  So it became the back half of April this year.  Wishing to celebrate Easter at home shortened our time.  We left the Monday after and the road part of the trip took two days.  I have never driven to Florida straight through, and I certainly was not up to that much adventure.

Tuesday afternoon found us on Santa Rosa Island on the gulf coast.  We walked the pure white sand and splashed in the emerald water.  We watched the sun paint the sky all orange and red with its departure.  Our room was on the sixth floor and had a balcony that faced that beautiful water…ooooh…ahhhh…

Now the hotel offered beach chairs and an umbrella and perhaps if we had a couple more days we would have just watched the surf and sea birds, but there were things to do.  We love lighthouses so Pensacola Lighthouse was first on our list.  Talk about new experiences, I had never been on an active military base before.  But that was where the light we sought was to be found and so we entered by the west gate. 

We strolled the grounds of the lighthouse and its museum while the “Blue Angels” put on their show.  Wow!  We watched as they streaked across a perfect blue sky.  When they finished our chance to climb arrived.  Over the years Jackie and I have climbed many lighthouses, and each is different.  This one had a tight narrow spiral staircase without landings.  So this guy that evidently had gotten out of shape had his heart racing by the time he had reached the catwalk.  But the view from the tallest lighthouse on the gulf was breathtaking.

We spent the afternoon at the Naval Aeronautics Museum just a hop-skip-away from the lighthouse.  A wonderful exhibit that reminded us of the Smithsonian.  150,000 square feet of indoor displays of aircraft some that date as far back as WW1.  A must see for anyone that has any interest in aircraft.

We returned to our room in time to watch another amazing sunset to end our first full day on the Emerald Coast.

Next week I’ll tell you about our day on Destin Harbor Walk.  Until then.

 

(492 Words)   5-27-2017