We have been enjoying the lovely reprieve from the hot and humid weather. It seems like the humidity might have gone to her home to hibernate for the winter and we are thrilled. Yesterday, we went through the winter clothes to see what fits and what doesn’t. The weather cooling off a bit can mean only one thing…time to find fall family fun in Northwest Florida!
Corn and Hay – There are several corn and hay mazes that vary in cost and activities available. The activities range from shooting corn out of a cannon, riding a cow train, and, of course, running through the maze!
Pumpkins – Holland Farms has a real pumpkin patch where you can go out and pick a pumpkin. Many of the churches and organizations around town will start bringing out their own pumpkin patches soon!
We also like to get out of the house. The weather is so beautiful that it just calls our name. It is the perfect time of year for a nature walk, a stroll on the beach, or to stargaze. Please visit Go Explore Nature to see my Favorite Places to Explore Nature in Pensacola!
What do you do for family fun in the fall?
This post is part of the Trekaroo Spotlight. Be sure to visit Trekaroo to see where other bloggers are spotlighting!
I was a military brat for many years. I was lucky enough to complete the last three years of high school in the same school located in the suburban town of Irvine, California. When I walked across that stage, I was a California girl ready to embark on an adventure. A few weeks later, I packed up my little 1980s Toyota Corolla and drove across country to Pensacola, Florida where four years later I walked across a different stage at the University of West Florida as a California girl turned Southern transplant.
When I first arrived in Pensacola, this California girl was shocked by the polite (and very good looking!) Southern gentlemen who opened doors, offered to carry your bags, wore their baseball hats properly turned to the front and said yes ma’am to your mother. I fell in love with the South immediately. That was in 1996.
I didn’t just fall in love with the Gulf Coast, I fell in love with one of those Southern gentlemen. When my friends were caught up with quick romances, this man slowly courted me at various functions and school activities, before we went out together officially. We married shortly after college in 2000 and have been here in Pensacola ever since. We contemplate leaving and, someday, jobs or other circumstances might take us away from the Gulf Coast, but for now we are satisfied with where we are and appreciate what we have.
We travel all over the place and when we return to the Gulf Coast, as we get closer, we can feel ourselves slowing down a bit more, looking for the first sign of tea that is already sweet, and the humidity that quickly heals dried skin and chapped lips. Pensacola is rich with culture. We claim to be the oldest city (though not continuously inhabited). We are the home of the Blue Angels. We celebrate things like mullet (the fish, not the hair do) by throwing them back and forth over the Alabama/Florida state line, crawfish with a low country boil complete with corn and potatoes spread over this morning’s newspaper, and we throw beads and moon pies to celebrate Mardi Gras. We are also one of those cities that has been through a hurricane.
Every summer we make sure that our hurricane kit is stocked with items that are not near expiration, plenty of water bottles, canned goods and batteries. Then we sit back and watch and wait hoping that it is not us this time but praying that it isn’t our Gulf Coast neighbors either.
We had been through minor storms before. Since we have lived in Pensacola, we had storms that escalated to tropical storms and then to hurricanes. They always veered off or were categorized as 1’s in the Saffir Simpson scale. Minor storms that were cause for a party because the next day it was beautiful, school was cancelled, and we got to spend the day on the beach. In 2004, we watched the news and listened to the radio as Hurricane Ivan barreled right towards us knowing that this time it would be different. My 4 week old son, oblivious to what was going on, spent the night in the hall closet where I curled around him hoping that our roof would hold and that we would get power quickly afterwards. Finally we all fell asleep so exhausted we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer.
The next day, I met my neighbors. We lived in this house for two years and were friendly with our neighbors but we were wrapped up in our own lives so there was never more than a wave hello and a how are ya. The morning after Hurricane Ivan hit, we were outside helping several other people move trees out of the street, checking to make sure no one needed help, saying hello to people coming to help us, patching roofs and fences, and passing out food that we couldn’t possibly eat before it spoiled. Once it was done, we turned and reintroduced ourselves.
In 2005, we watched our New Orleans neighbors devastated by Hurricane Katrina. At the time I was teaching at a high school where we welcomed student upon student. Students who lost everything in Katrina and were coming to live with a relative or family friend so they could attend school. I was so impressed by our students welcoming them with open arms. They had been there last year, after all.
After Hurricane Ivan, a few of our friends and acquaintances gave up and moved out. But we stay. Right now, I can’t think of any better place to be. A place where I live less than 20 minutes from some of the most beautiful beaches in the world (and believe me I have been to lots of different beaches!). When most of you are still trying to dig out of your snow covered driveways, my family is sitting at the beach watching the little waves roll in. In October when you are looking for long sleeves and pants sewn into a Halloween costume, I am looking for tank tops. A place where I get to start working on my flip flop tan in March. I can set my watch by the 2:00 rainstorms that bring lightning and thunder like no other place I have seen. The Southern Magnolias are only around for a short time but these dinner plate size flowers make me giddy with excitement when I see the giant bulbs ready to bloom. The fried chicken in the school cafeterias is some of the best you will ever try because it is made with love. Restaurants will give you take out cups for your soda and the sweet tea is divine and made perfectly no matter where you are dining.
A place that has become as much a part of me as it would have been had I been born and raised here. That is why this Southern Transplant remains.
This post was submitted to the Hope Remains carnival at Storybleed. Be sure to visit and read the beautiful stories written by others who love the Gulf Coast.
This oil spill is not just destroying a way of life for beach goers and condo owners right now (despite what many people seem to think), but it is affecting the tourism industry, the restaurant industry, the seafood industry, marine life…the list goes on. I am not going to pretend to know or understand all of the politics or the workings of this catastrophic event. Instead, I will share my sadness for all involved through these pictures. Please keep all those affected in your thoughts. If you are looking for ways to help, do a quick Internet search and locate a reputable organization.
This was then:
This is now:
Here is a video by pcolagregg of the beach covered in pools of oil:
Stop by DeliciousBaby to see where other travelers are talking about!
A few weeks ago we took a walk through the Yellow River Marsh State Park in Milton, Florida, which is home to hundreds of pitcher plants in bloom. Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants. Like the Venus Fly Trap, they “eat” insects. You can read my review of Yellow River Marsh State Park at Pensacola with Kids. For today, Photo Friday, I wanted to share pictures of the pitcher plants.
Stop by DeliciousBaby to see where others are traveling!
Today I am dreaming about appreciating what I have in front of me in my own hometown. This post was inspired by a recent post at Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish. Lucia posted a picture of her holding some of the teeny tiny shells that she found on an Italian beach. That picture called to me.
As I looked at those beautiful shells, I thought about all the times that we decided that we were too tired, too lazy, or too preoccupied to head out to the beach. I thought about all the times we walked right over the perfect shells and sand dollars as we tried to get a good spot on the beach. We love to travel (obviously!!! and we spend lots of time planning our trips and dreaming about the far away places that we want to visit. We do a pretty good job as a family to explore our hometown and surrounding areas, but we often forget to revisit some of our favorites.
Oil is beginning to wash ashore. I am so glad that last weekend, despite the pouring rain, we decided to head to the beach. We wiggled our toes in the sand (don’t be too jealous of the Florida flip flop tan!).
We ran around the sand soaking in the snow white color.
We stared at the rows of news trucks.
And of course, we hunted for shells. And of course I had to take that picture!
We have a couple of trips planned for this summer, but for now I am appreciating what I already have right in front of me. Thanks, Lucia.
Do you ever see a t-shirt on someone while traveling and think that you have got to get a picture of it?!? I just had to share this picture of an employee t-shirt at one of our favorite seafood restaurants on the beach. Shirts are available for purchase on Peg Leg Pete’s website!
Stop by DeliciousBaby to see where everyone is traveling!
I wrote this Photo Friday post about the containment booms being put in the ocean in my hometown of Pensacola on April 29. Then I shared with you our experience helping with trash pickup at the beach in preparation for the oil spill on May 2. I am absolutely disgusted that it is now June 4 and that oil spill is still flowing and we are still waiting and watching for the oil storm to arrive. On top of that, June 1 marked the beginning of hurricane season which could make matters even worse should a hurricane make its appearance. This oil spill is affecting lives, jobs, and the environment. I am not going to turn this family travel blog into an “I hate BP” blog or the “Oil Spill” blog but this is a major issue in my community right now and I feel like I need to continue sharing what is happening.
Al Roker of the Today Show was on our beautiful beach yesterday morning. We often say how if Jim Cantore arrives in Pensacola, then we know it is time to batten down the hatches for the hurricane. Little did we know that other television stars mean doom and gloom as well. Many of the visitor centers have beach cams set up and are posting daily updates to their websites, twitter streams and facebook accounts. If you have a vacation planned on the Gulf Coast, consider coming anyway.Volunteer with the spill cleanup if it does beach on the areas you are visiting. Visit the other attractions in the area. We have plenty of other great activities up and down the Gulf Coast that do not involve the beach!
Instead of dwelling any more on the inevitable, I want to share some of our favorite beach photos.
Stop by DeliciousBaby to see where everyone else is traveling this week!
The beginning of June means that it is blueberry time down here in the South. The blueberries are almost ready and we will be picking pounds and pounds of them next week! I know that it is time to go blueberry picking because I just finished up the last bag of frozen blueberries that we picked from last year.
I love blueberry picking with the family because the blueberry bushes are tall enough so that the adults don’t have to stoop and they are low enough so that the kids don’t need a stool to reach!
My daughter loved to pick the blueberries but once she realized how tasty they were, she was often found sitting in the middle of the blueberry bush eating! She wasn’t much help after that!
Big S loved to pick the blueberries, but he still refuses to eat them!
These are the things that we take blueberry picking so that it makes the adventure an easy and fun one:
bottled water – The sun starts beating down quickly and you will be glad you remembered your water.
an empty cooler – If you plan on picking more than a bucket full, you will want to bring an empty cooler to put the berries in. If you put the bags or buckets of berries on the ground for an extended period of time, the potential for ants finding said bucket increases exponentially!
bubbles or something equally quiet – The kids lasted for quite some time but they were definitely done picking blueberries before we were finished. The bubbles kept them occupied while we finished picking.
plastic bags – for storing your blueberries when your bucket is full
cash – Most places take cash only. The farm we went to did take checks.
If you haven’t been following Trekaroo’s blog this past week you should drop by. They have been showcasing National Parks and have had some great articles lately about Yellowstone, Yosemite and other great National Parks. I can’t believe that I have never shared one of my favorite things about living on the Gulf Coast! Being close to the Gulf Islands National Seashore! The Gulf Islands National Seashore is located in parts of Mississippi and Florida. Here are just a few of the things that you can do at the Gulf Islands National Seashore:
1. Visit real forts – Visit Ft. Pickens and Ft. Barrancas and see how the Pensacola area was protected. You can take a self-guided tour or join a ranger for a guided tour.
2. Go camping – There are several options for both primitive and developed camping at the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Our favorite camping spot is Ft. Pickens.
3. Play in the sand and the surf – The Gulf Islands National Seashore is full of miles and miles of beautiful powdery white sand. Play in the sand and then cool off from the humidity in the surf…mild as it may be!
4. Go fishing – No one in my family is a fisherman so we don’t have much experience with this but there is always tons of people fishing throughout the seashore.
5. Go for a walk or a bike ride – There are so many trails for walking and biking. It can’t get much better than watching a sunset while biking on a trail or walking hand in hand along the water.
Whenever I see the ocean looking grumpy like this, it always makes me think of my favorite piece of literature, The Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Odysseus maims Polyphemos, the cyclop and son of Poseidon. This angers Poseidon and he makes Odysseus’ return home a long and difficult journey. These waves might not look like much compared to other parts of the world, but these waves are a sign that Poseidon is angry.
We spent Sunday afternoon at Pensacola Beach cleaning up trash, debris and large shell pieces along with hundreds of other people. It was amazing to me how many people were at the beach on an awful day like Sunday. The wind was blowing and there were so many clouds in the sky that they formed one big cloud cover. The mood was heavy as people picked up trash and debris with their trash bags whipping around them in the wind. Families were snapping pictures of toes in the sand and the water crashing behind them. The seafood restaurants had lines out the door all day long. Everyone wanting to eat that last Gulf caught meal…just in case.
Big S, who just finished an Earth Day unit in school, announced that we were doing a good thing for the “Erf” and Little S was fascinated with all of the pieces of driftwood and large shell pieces.
We collected a bag of trash and a bag of shell pieces. Some of the debris was probably still leftover from Hurricane Ivan over five years ago. As my children ran around innocent of what was going to happen in the next few days, my heart was breaking.
My kids love the beach. The sand, the water, the seafood whisper my children’s names like some pied piper. We can be grocery shopping or doing something else completely different from a day at the beach and suddenly one child will ask when we will return to the beach. Is it warm enough, mom? We don’t even have to go in the water, mom. Can we just go for a walk on the sand, mom? Do you remember when we saw all those fiddler crabs, mom? As I watched my children run around, pick up trash and shells, all I could think about was whether or not we took full advantage of living near these beautiful beaches and the fact that there is a chance that we will not be spending the summer traveling to and from the beach as I had thought.
The impending doom is much like it was during Hurricane Ivan. How bad will it be? Who and what will be affected? As I write this, no one is exactly certain how this area with be affected.
If you would like to help, there are several ways. Continue to pick up trash and debris from the beach before the oil slick reaches us. BRACE, United Way and First Call are organizing volunteers for cleanup after the oil reaches the shores. There is more information on how to volunteer here and here.
and we spend lots of time planning our trips and dreaming about the far away places that we want to visit. We do a pretty good job as a family to explore our hometown and surrounding areas, but we often forget to revisit some of our favorites. 
