Tallahassee

Now that I am retired and can go wherever I want, whenever I want and however I want,I need to decide what to do next. After dropping off my traveling companion at the Pensacola airport, I drove to Tallahassee, Florida. Why Tallahassee you ask? I know no one in Tallahassee. I have never been to Tallahassee before. Tallahassee is a cute name to say and I admire the double letters so here I am in  Tallahassee. I am sure I will find something to do!

Pensacola

Today was a rainy day in Pensacola. We could not go to the naval air museum because it is closed to the public due to a high security alert. Only military personnel are allowed onto the base. I am sure it has to do with the Saudi aviation students who were sent home as well as the terrorist attack on that base just last month. Instead we went to Jones Swamp and wetland preserve. We walked on some paths that were less than desirable. We saw trash and old mattresses on the path. We found a better path. Here we walked along a stream. In the stream they made a rock weir (see top photo). The rocks are piled to disrupt the flow of the stream. Some of the stream flows slower and some flows faster. The faster stream digs a deeper channel. This variety of stream speed leads to more diversity in plants, animals, and insects that live in the stream. After that we went to the historical old town Pensacola. This is a collection of museums, old houses, and reenactment people who give tours. We walked through the T.T. Wentworth museum. This museum had the typical things you would expect in a museum on the first two floors. They had the military history of Pensacola and information about the people and the industries. To our surprise on the third floor was an exhibit about science fiction monsters on television and in film. We thought that was an odd combination. We visited the museum of industry which talked about fishing, logging and railroads. After that we took a guided tour of three historic homes. The church was unavailable for tours of weddings today. Here is a photo of a coal stove in one of the historic homes. After our tour the rain was falling down hard. We found a swing on a porch of a house where we could see the people walking around the historic village. We even saw a bride and groom walk by holding umbrellas. If it was nicer we could have walked around the town more or even go the beach. Even in sunny Florida some rain must fall.

Goodbye Alabama!

Today was our last day in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We packed up our car and took one last long walk on the white sugar sand beach. The fog that was present ever since we arrived was finally gone and in it's place was a cloudy sky and an air temperature at least 20 degrees colder than before. As we walked the wind blasted the sand at our ankles. I still walked in the water which was as warm as before. After our walk we drove through Orange Beach, Alabama into Florida. I stopped at a tourist shop to get a map of Florida. We drove to Big Lagoon State Park. We hiked the trails while wearing sweatshirts to stay warm.We had lunch on the beach while watching the pelicans fly by. After lunch we drove to Pensacola. We found our place to stay. We explored the air before bringing our stuff inside. We rested a while before heading out to eat at Dharma Blue restaurant. We ate a delicious meal and decided to walk around a few blocks. A horse and carriage ride was available at the corner. We walked a few blocks and came to a police blockade. Pensacola was having some kind of event. Crafts were for sale in tents along the street. Families gathered with their children.  I think they were celebrating the lunar New Year. In any case we walked around for an hour watching the people. We drove back to our place. Tomorrow we will explore what Pensacola has to offer.

Dolphin Cruise

Today after breakfast we took a long walk on the beach. As soon as we cross the street and get in the sand my shoes come off. My feet really enjoy walking barefoot in the white sugar sand. We walk down to the waters edge where the sand is hard packed. Waves come up and cool off our feet now and again. The sanderlings run back and forth with the waves searching for nuggets of food. On our walk back we noticed a dolphin in the gulf waters and that was very exciting to see. After our walk we pack up a lunch and head out to Orange Beach. We stop at a beach area, park, and hike out to the water again. We find a nice spot to swim and enjoy the view. We eat our lunch. Gulls come and beg for food. Some gulls are really loud about begging for food. We don't give them any food but they stay as long as we stay. Eventually a great blue heron comes begging for food. The heron is cool about it. The heron doesn't talk and doesn't come as close as the gulls come but we know it's begging for food because why else would it be standing so close to us? After lunch we head over to Happy Harbor for our dolphin cruise. We get on the boat and head into the  Bayou Saint John to look for dolphins. Our captain takes us past Ono Island. Ono Island is mostly in Florida and just a tiny bit is in Alabama. The only bridge to Ono Island is in  Alabama so the whole island is considered to be in Alabama. This is a private island with it's own security guards. If you don't belong on Ono Island you are not getting on Ono Island. He showed us the former home of Farrah Fawcett and the current homes of Tom Selleck and Oprah Winfrey. Eventually we saw some dolphins out in the bay. A few were jumping off in the distance. We came to a spot where quite a number dolphins were hanging out. When they dispersed our captain revved up the engines and we took off at a good clip. A few dolphins followed the boat and jumped in our wake for about ten minutes which was great fun to see. The dolphins tired and eventually veered off. We motored back to our Happy Harbor content and satisfied with our dolphin cruise.Later we ate dinner on the bay.We sat outside with the pelicans and ate our meal. 

Biking

This morning we went back to Gulf State Park to take advantage of the free bikes offered by the state park. We had to download an app, sign up with a credit card, take a picture of the QVC code on the bike and voila! The bike unlocks and it's free for us to use for the next 3 hours.Within the 3 hours you can return the bike and take it out again to keep it for six hours. This is a very nice service offered by the Alabama State Parks! We biked from the park headquarters all the way east to the sports complex outside the state park. These bikes had no gears and coaster brakes so they were easy for us to ride. The hills were small and far apart. We biked around Lake Shelby over an oak ridge. We biked near the campgrounds. A long stretch of our bike was on a board walk and that was enough to rattle my teeth. We biked through the RV campground. Each RV campsite has their own septic tank. I saw a few warblers along the way along with a brown thrasher. Some people were walking the trails and others were biking. The sky was overcast so I wore a sleeveless top without worrying about sunburn. We had a good workout. When we finally got back to the park headquarters I was more than glad to be done. My phone said we biked 16.2 miles. I think I would have been happier biking 14 miles. We returned our bikes and drove to Fort Morgan for lunch. We sat on the pier by the boat landing and ate our sandwiches. We watched the brown pelicans, great egrets, great blue heron and cormorants fish while we munched our food. The water at Fort Morgan was calmer than the water by our place so it was a good place to swim. I didn't swim. I prefer my swimming be done in water that is 80 degrees and this water was not anywhere near 80 degrees. I watched the white crabs come and go from their holes in the sand while my companion swam. The fog horn blared repeatedly in the distance. In the evening before it got dark we went for another foggy walk on the beach. As we walked the fog got thicker and thicker making it hard for us to see the boardwalk where we leave the beach and go back to our place. The willets and sanderlings and gulls don't seem to mind the fog.

Bird Hike and Kayak

Today we drove back to Bon Secour for a guided bird hike. Two Fish and Wildlife Refuge volunteers lead us on our one mile hike. One guide was from Bemidji, MN and the other one was from Michigan. On our hike we heard a blue jay and we saw yellow rumped warblers. That is all. I've been on many bird hikes in my life but this one was the least productive bird hike ever. We still had fun though. After that we drove to Gulf State Park. We rented kayaks and ate our lunch out on lake Shelby. There we saw a slew of coots, several cormorants, brown pelicans, and a great blue heron. When we got close to the coots they would start swimming faster and in a more nervous pattern. Then they would start flapping their wings and running across the top of the water to escape us. We kayaked around bird island and gator island. We kayaked under the oak trees with Spanish moss hanging down. We saw people standing on the pier close to gator island and they stayed there a long time. We kayaked over there hoping to spot a gator. Past the viewing pier was a little canal. We kayaked up as far as we could on that canal. On the way our I saw a head of a little gator in front of me and it disappeared under the water. We saw it one more time before we could not see it anymore. The weather was still foggy so we couldn't see very far. I felt so good being out on top of the water propelling the kayak with my paddle. I had my big hat on and my sun shirt to protect me from the sun. The tops of my feet are a little tanned though.

That is me under the big hat.

Coots

Bon Secour and Fort Morgan

Today we visited Bon Secour national wildlife refuge. We stopped at the visitor center for a map.We hiked a 3 mile round trip walk to gator lake. We saw no gators. Evidently Hurricane Ivan washed salt water into Gator Lake turning it brackish so all the alligators left. We did see a pied billed grebe and some warblers. The warblers moved too fast but I think I saw a yellow rumped warbler. After that we hiked to the shore. The weather was foggy and overcast. You probably can't see it but in the middle of this photo is a willet foraging for food. Ever since we arrived the sky has been overcast which makes the water and the waves appear to be the same color as aluminum foil.

Here is a small flock of sanderlings. The way they run back and forth with the waves is very endearing to me.We also saw bufflehead ducks, herring gulls and brown pelicans..

On our hike to gator lake we saw this track. I thought it was a bobcat but the naturalist suspected it was from a coyote.

After a picnic lunch on the beach we explored Fort Morgan, Alabama. This tunnel leads into the star shaped fort. The fort was built between 1819 and 1830. It played a significant role in the Civil War, the Spanish  American war, world war one and world war two.