Pensacola

On our last full day here in southern Alabama, we drove to... Florida! That's right, we took a drive over to the Pensacola Seafood Festival. It has been years since I've been to one of these, and it was fun.

There was a nice turn out, and Bob and I spent some time wandering past vendors selling pottery, jewelry, woodcrafts, clothing, and other items. And food! There was a lot of interesting food!

Over in another section we found local restaurants had set up tents and were selling their specialties. This is what I tried, and was it ever GOOD!

I never thought I'd find myself liking grits, but I guess it stands to reason that if you put enough Smoked Gouda cheese on anything, especially with portobello mushroom applewood smoked bacon cream sauce, it's going to be good. I almost didn't even need the shrimp, but they were a nice touch.

After that, we drove to Pensacola Lighthouse, which is located on the Naval Air Station by Pensacola Pass (where Pensacola Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico.) it is a very pretty lighthouse.

I thought we were going to just walk around it. But all of a sudden I found myself climbing it, and well, I'm not a quitter so I kept going. Bob and I had to rest a few times on the ascent, but we climbed every one of those 177 steps. I could hear the voice of my orthopedist saying to me, "Now, be sure not to aggravate your knees." 

My knees are officially not speaking to me right now.

But the view was stupendous.

We returned home tired but happy. Time to get ready to move on!