Gulf Islands Natl Seashore 228-230-4100
Fort Pickens 1400 Fort Pickens Rd., Pensacola Beach, FL 850-934-2600
There are fees (recommend buying the America the Beautiful pass for all natl. parks & sites)
Driving around downtown Pensacola, and the area around Plaza Ferdinand, the park where Gen. Andrew Jackson (later, president) accepted control of Florida from Spain, you are struck by the foreign influence in the buildings. I don't know what you call this architecture, but anyone who's been to New Orleans will recognize the same 2-storys with shops below and apartments above, with covered walkways on both floors. The foreign flare comes from the port of Pensacola having been ruled under 5 different flags: Spanish, French, British, Confederate and American.
Right there at Jordan Valley Cafe (201 S Jefferson St, Pensacola, FL, 850-505-3528) we stopped for spiced potato salad that bummed us out when it was gone. Tabbouleh was delicious and fresh, same for the hummus with pita. Crazy good, smiles all around. That kind of meal.
Naval Air Station Pensacola has incredible visitor attractions, like Blue Angels simulators. Too bad it was still locked down (Feb. 2020) from a shooting incident months earlier. We were definitely on edge after making a wrong turn down the road to the front gate when we knew very well the place was locked down because we'd tried to get in the day before. I'm pretty sure we bypassed a sign saying the base was closed, only because it's a narrow road with no turnoffs. And here we show up in our outsized and unmarked white cargo van. Creepy enough? But the sentries were good to us. Phew.
The day was too cool for Pensacola Beach. We went on to cross the bridge to the barrier isle (why does crossing the water always makes me sing?), heading to Gulf Islands National Seashore. A single road stretches about 8 miles to the western end of the island. You pass rolling white sand dunes topped with brown grasses, but we weren't here for beaches. On the western end stands Fort Pickens, which makes for some excellent wheelchairing around.
Pickens' big guns guarded the coast from the 1830s until 1947. The ruins are a complex of brick, cobblestone and concrete. It's not one for the postcards, but was a playground for me. I plowed my wheelchair all over this place. In it, around it, through it, Fort Pickens was mine. I couldn't get everywhere: there are a lot of chambers and a whole top-level of parapets and outlooks I couldn't access. (Which bums me now that I write about it.) There are plenty of rough, bumpy sections, and narrow, inaccessible doorways. But listen, I was a kid here. I went everywhere, investigating stuff, on my own. I want one of these in my backyard. I went until I was exhausted! Mab and these chill people we met were kept coming at me with different nooks and areas for check to out. After a while I told them, Enough, stick a fork in me, I'm done. And that is what I my search is for.
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| Built by slave labor, including Geronimo. |
We wandered to the fishing pier across the road. Plenty of people, and as you scan through the crowd, wait, go back - there, standing perfectly still like a floor lamp was a tall, spindly seabird, about 3 1/2 feet tall. I swear he averted his eyes when we spotted him. He was undercover, in plain sight.
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| See him? Undercover, baby. |
The 10-year-old next to us said, "He's been here the whole time I've been here. If you don't watch, he steals bait. I went to my cooler and when I came back I think two of my fish were gone."
Smooth operator.
