National Aviation Museum

We enjoyed the National Aviation Museum so much on our first visit we decided to return and take the guided tour. Check the web site for the tour times when you visit because the tour is well worth it. The tour lasts about 2 hours and is a walking tour that is guided by knowledgeable retired Naval Pilots. They wear portable microphone with speakers so you can hear them when you are walking with the group.

The guide tells the unique story behind many of the planes on display.

This is the helicopter that President Richard Nixon used after he gave his resignation speech. :)

Candlelight Tour of Fort Pickens, Florida

We attended a candlelight tour of Fort Pickens that was set up to commemorate the 1861 Bombardment of Pensacola Bay. The whole fort was lit only by candlelight and we walked around in groups to various areas where knowledgeable interpreters were dressed in costume and told historic stories about the lives and events during the Bombardment. It was a great experience.

This was the entrance to the tour.

One of the hallways we walked through to get to the interpreter stations.

Various artifacts set out for us about people in the interpreter's stories.

This interpreter told us all about the cannons. He was very excellent.

This was our young guide that helped us find our way and not get lost in the dark tunnels.

A view of a cannon through a window.

The Panhandle Butterfly House, Navarre, Florida

Next to the bridge that crosses the bay that leads to Navarre Beach is a wonderful community project called the Panhandle Butterfly House and nature walk. This is staffed and built by volunteers.

You can visit this site to get more details.

http://www.panhandlebutterflyhouse.org

This butterfly was on the beach and took a rest on my sandals.

We took a walk along the nature walk that is covered in lovely flowers that attract butterflies.

Sunset at Navarre Beach

Sunset at Navarre Beach

Here are some pictures of the sunset on Navarre Beach and the Navarre Fishing Pier. Enjoy!

Blue Angels Air Show

Pensacola Naval Base is home to the Blue Angels and every fall they have a Homecoming Air Show. This was our first Blue Angels show and it was amazing.

The name of the Blue Angels came from the original team when they were planning a show in New York in 1946. One of the them came across the name of the city's famous Blue Angel nightclub in the New Yorker Magazine. (blueangels.navy.mil)

They had historic airplanes flying like the Curtis Pusher and various great stunt planes with pyrotechnic effects.

The spectators were set up on the tarmac where they had a great display of all different kinds of aircraft.

They even had all kinds of refreshments specializing in southern cuisine :).

Navarre Beach, Florida

We are staying at next to Navarre Beach at a campground called Emerald Beach Campground. So the first thing we did of course was to head over to the Navarre Beach. Wow is this beautiful! White, clean, gorgeous sand as far as you can see with turquoise water.

Here are a few of our first pictures on two different days. Every morning we head out to the beach and it is always different. Some days the waves are crashing and some days calm as glass.

The National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola Florida

We went to The National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola Florida and have to say that is one of the best museums we have ever visited. It would take several visits to take in everything this one has to offer. Visit this link before you go to help plan your visit. navalaviationmuseum.org

This museum is on the grounds of the Pensacola Naval Base which is also the home base for the Blue Angels.

The yellow plane at the bottom of the pic was flown by President George Bush when he was in Naval flight training when he was 17 years old.

They are biplanes of the Great War, record-setters, experimental platforms and survivors of epic aerial battles. In service they splashed through Pacific swells, slammed down on the pitching decks of aircraft carriers, flew through hails of gunfire and blasted to the stars. navalaviationmuseum.org

The 1911 Curtis Model D (or frequently, "the Curtiss pusher") was an early United States pusher aircraft with the engine and propeller behind the pilot's seat. It was among the very first aircraft in the world to be built in any quantity — all of which were produced during an era of trial and error development and equally important parallel technical development in internal combustion engine technologies.

It was also the type of aircraft to make the first take-off from the deck of a ship, the USS Birmingham, and the first landing, on the USS Pennsylvania several days apart. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This plane is in the entrance lobby signifying the first plane to land on an naval ship. We saw this plane fly at the Blue Angel's air show in Pensacola. It was amazing.

They even had a section on the Navy's influence in space flight!

We highly recommend this museum to everyone that is in the Pensacola area.

Go Fly a Kite

Our daughter took us to a kite store in Destin Florida. We bought a kite and took it to the beach and it lifted right up.

Fort Pickens, Florida, Gulf Island National Seashore

We took a tour of Fort Pickens at the Gulf Island National Seashore at Pensacola Beach area. The tour is conducted by a National Park Ranger every day at 2 pm. The tour is a walking tour throughout the fort with the ranger narrating. The ranger that gave our tour was very knowledgeable and interesting. This is a pic of the ranger standing on the fort's parade grounds.

Fort Pickens has guarded the entrance of Florida's Pensacola Bay for more than 175 years. Located on the western tip of Santa Rosa Island. (exploresouthernhistory.com)

Fort Pickens is the largest of four forts built to defend Pensacola Bay, Florida, and its navy yard. The fort was begun in 1829, completed in 1834, and was named in honor of Major General Andrew Pickens of the South Carolina militia, who fought with distinction in several Revolutionary War battles.

The ranger explained how this fort has stood the test of time and the arches are so strong withstanding multiple hurricanes. The arches were built in a circular method with half of the circle underground providing strength and stability. The photo below has a portion dug out of the sand to show the process.

In the 1880s, Geronimo and other members of the Chiricahua-Apache tribe were prisoners at Fort Pickens located at Gulf Islands National Seashore. We got to see the area where Geronimo lived with his family at the fort. The ranger stated that the Apaches were not imprisoned in cells but had full run of the island and that Geronimo could not swim and therefore couldn't escape. (nps.gov)