We have arrived in Florida

10-2-2012
We traveled from Alabama to Fort Pickens  which is in Pensacola Beach, Florida. The camp ground is on the island where Pensacola Beach is. The campground is actually about 8 miles out of town in the middle of pure white sand. The Gulf on Mexico is on one side and Pensacola Bal is on the other side.

We visited Fort Pickens which is a fort originally built between 1829 and 1834 to protect Pensacola Bay and the ship yard there. . This Fort was considered vital to the country's defense of the harbor. The Fort remained in Union control during the Civil War and did see action during the war. Over time the fort under went dramatic changes to keep up with the changes in weapon technology. The was a new battery constructed inside the old fort in 1898. Rifled cannons with a range of 8 miles were installed and mines were stored there for deployment in Pensacola Bay. Other batteries were built outside the fort in 1896,1899, 1904, 1905, 1917,1923 and 1946. The fort was used until 1947. Geronimo and other Apache prisoners were housed there in 1887. The fort and all the many batteries outside the fort cover a large area.

We also visited Fort Barrancas, in Pensacola, which is similar to Fort Pickens and was also part of the coastal defense system. Part of this Fort was built by the Spanish in 1698. General Jackson seizes it from the Spanish in 1814. In 1839 they built Fort Barrancas.

You will see many pictures of these old forts when i get them posted.

We attended the sea food festival in Pensacola and had some great sea food.

We also toured the Navel Aviation Museum at the Pensacola Navel Air Station which is the home of the Blue Angles. This is quite a museum. It covers the history of Navel Aviation and has many airplanes on display as well as models of many of the great aircraft carriers. Be sure to look at the pictures from this museum when I get them posted.

We also toured the old Pensacola lighthouse. This lighthouse is still in use.

As usual we tried to keep up on the local ghost stories. We talked to a woman working at the lighthouse who had some personal experiences that certainly who convince you that the lighthouse is haunted. The Ghost Hunters from the TV show have visited the lighthouse and confirmed it is haunted.

While at Fort Pickens we talked to a man working there who has written a book relating the stories he has heard. While he said he doesn't believe in ghosts there were plenty of stories from people who had experiences that would convince most people that the old fort is haunted.

I personally was not necessarily a believer until I was was walking the dog in the campground one night. I was on a road where there were not to many campers so it was reasonably dark, I looked behind me and saw two shadowy figures and thought it was someone else out with their dog. I shined my light on Nero and then turned back to see if the people were still coming. There was no one there. I shined my light that direction and walked back that way to see if they were there .I found no one.

We have now traveled east along the Gulf Coast to Destin, FL

Dick and Judy