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.
Stop by Mara’s at Mother of All Trips to see what others are dreaming about.
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!
Poseidon is angry.
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.
Stop by Mara’s at Mother of All Trips to see what others are dreaming of.
I had a Disney post ready to go for this Photo Friday. Then, I drove past this today…
The Gulf Coast is preparing, watching, waiting…
Stop by DeliciousBaby to see other Photo Friday participants.
Last weekend we had the opportunity to visit a small-scale sustainable farm with a local group of moms. Little S had so much fun wandering around the farm, seeing the animals, and working…yes…working! The farm owners put us to work because everyone on the farm has a job! Green Acres farm is a small-scale sustainable farm in Walnut Hill, Florida. They raise chickens and turkeys, sheep and goats, as well as collect eggs, pecans, and so much more. The land is beautiful and is left the way nature intends it. All of the animals live out in the open sunshine and eat the wild grass and bugs. When the farm owners talk about their farm, you can just see their love for their farm in their eyes. We started out our visit in the goat pen where the three little goats loved to eat the grass and the brambles from the children’s hand. These little guys were only about 2 months old!
After we saw the goats, we got our first job as farmhands. While Ida came through the area, the pecan trees were stripped of many of their pecans. We got to help pick up as many as we could find (and we even got to take a few home!).
Then we went to visit the turkeys. When we got to the turkey pen, we went inside and got into a big circle and sat as quiet as we could. Those turkeys sure are curious fellows! Once we settled down and got quiet, they came right up to us. The kids loved it when they made the gobble-gobble sound all together all at once!
Next, we went to check out how the chickens live. We also got a job here! We helped move the chicken coops to another area on the field. These little guys are too young to run free right now, but soon they will have free reign of the area! These are the chickens raised for meat.
I think this little guy might lay a scrambled egg!
After a little hayride, the kids got to collect eggs and paint the chicken coop!
She said she painted me a whale! I think she did a great job! What do you think?
These are the chickens raised for eggs.
And of course, I am always looking for a great photo opportunity!
Are you interested in visiting a farm? I found a few of these resources on the web to help you locate a farm near you or an area you are visiting!
Farm Visit - Plug in your county and find farms for specific fruits, veggies, and more.
Local Harvest - Search by farm, grocery or co-op or more
Open Farm Sunday – A day in June when you can visit and support your local farmers
Stop by DeliciousBaby to visit other Photo Friday participants! Thanks for hosting Debbie!
Yesterday, Little S and I drove around Downtown Pensacola on a little scavenger hunt to find red things. Here are some other pictures of our beautiful downtown!
The fountain in Seville Square
The birds that collect in Plaza de Luna (kinda freaky huh?)
The following photos were taken in the Historic Village in Downtown Pensacola
The following pictures were taken behind Joe Patti’s seafood
Love the boots and gloves sitting out in the boat
Be sure to check out all the other great Photo Friday travel photos at DeliciousBaby!
If you want to read more about my amazing little city, check out some of the following posts I have written in the past:
We love to travel all over the place, but we also love to play tourist in our own backyard. I started the website Pensacola with Kids a few months ago and what an amazing gift to my family it has been! We have had so many new adventures while we get out there and explore our own city and surrounding areas in between our other travels.
This morning, Little S and I drove around Downtown Pensacola to spot all things red. This is the theme over at I Should Be Folding Laundry’s You Capture this week. We had so much fun on our little scavenger hunt! Pensacola is technically the oldest US settlement but unfortunately it isn’t the oldest continuous settlement. St. Augustine gets that title because Pensacola was wiped out by a hurricane. This year marks the 450th anniversary of Pensacola. I let Little S choose which pictures to use! Enjoy! I think she made some great choices!
Pensacola is also known as the City of Five Flags
Signs like these are posted all over downtown to help direct!
This big guy is one of the Pelicans in Paradise from a few years ago. He is one of the few that remain in a main tourist spot and not in a business.
A theater (no longer in use) constructed in the early 1900s
I think Little S spotted this one to convince me to buy some yummy doughnuts for a snack!
Stop by You Capture to check out all things red this week!
This week marks the 5 year anniversary of Hurricane Ivan. Ivan landed in Gulf Shores, Alabama in the middle of the night (why do hurricanes always hit land in the middle of the night?!) putting Pensacola on the right and dangerous side (in terms of storm surge, winds, and tornadoes) of the hurricane. We had decided to stick it out at home because for awhile it did not look like this hurricane was going to be as dangerous as it was. The hurricane looked like it was going to veer off in another direction and did not seem like it was going to maintain its speed and strength. We are not in a flood or an evacuation zone. We cleaned out the hall closet, which is where my 4 week old stayed in his bouncy seat and the rest of the family spread out in the rooms with internal walls. We were well-prepared. One thing I have found living in hurricane central is that not everyone prepares! They wait until the last minute to purchase supplies, etc. I grew up in California where we always had an earthquake supply kit, so hurricane supplies come second nature! After Ivan hit, we stepped out to survey the damage…
Ivan is often overshadowed by Hurricane Katrina, which we all know hit a year later and devastated New Orleans. However, Ivan did its fair share of damage. Casinos were severly damaged, the neighborhoods and schools near to and far from the water were all but wiped away. In Pensacola, the beach homes had storm surge that filled the first floors. They were scraping mud and sea life from their homes for weeks. There were trees in homes and on top of cars. The homes on the hospital grid got power within the first two or three days, but a lot of the city didn’t receive power for several weeks. Water was not potable and schools were out for about 4 weeks as families put their homes and lives back together. There were bridges to main parts of town that were no longer passable so getting anywhere took hours. You couldn’t go anywhere because the city was on a curfew. Even if we had wanted to, it took awhile because a giant oak tree had to be cut out of the road before I could leave my neighborhood. My family was very lucky compared to some of our friends and aquaintances. We were lucky enough to only sustain about 15,000 dollars worth of damage to our house but with a 27 day old son, things afterwards were trying on us. Our house has no cross breeze so while we had no power, we camped in the front yard. I pumped breast milk in the car using the car adapter. We boiled the bottles to clean them. Luckily, we had enough diapers and formula because stores didn’t open for a long time. I was amazed at how quickly the community banded together. After 5 days, we finally gave up and sat for hours to get out of Pensacola to head to Jacksonville, Florida to visit friends for about 10 days. On the drive, my heart swelled whenever we drove past an emergency or construction convoy headed back towards Pensacola to help out.
What does this have to do with travel? Since the major hurricanes hit, these cities have been trying very hard to put themselves back together. Tourism was down in the beginning but it is picking itself back up again. Restaurants and attractions, both new and old, are thriving. If you are planning a vacation in the United States, may I suggest a trip to the beautiful Gulf Coast?
With Pensacola’s rich history (you did know that we were technically the first settlement 450 years ago but a hurricane wiped it away so St. Augustine is considered the longest continuous settlement, right?!?!), Mobile’s Mardi Gras, Gulf Shores beautiful beaches, Biloxi’s casinos, and New Orleans amazing food and culture, you can find something for everyone. If you are coming our way, give us a holler…we will give y’all the grand tour!
Thanks to Debbie at DeliciousBaby for hosting Photo Friday. Stop by to check out other Photo Friday posts!
Be sure to check out the Carnival of Cities which is taking place at the Talking Trekaroo. My article about Five Things to Do in Mobile, Alabama is on the list. My article about our trip to Ft. Pickens at Pensacola Beach, Florida (which I posted at Pensacola with Kids) is also on the list. There are some great articles about some fascinating cities. Check out the beautiful pictures of the Lotus Flowers in bloom at The DC Traveler and the top 10 destination playgrounds in the San Francisco Bay area. I also liked the article about visiting Rome in a day (as we are trying to get there next summer!) over at Globe Cheap Travel.
If you want to participate, check out the submission guidelines. The next Carnival of Cities will be posted at The Family Travel Guide.
I know, I know…it is Saturday! Somehow, Friday came and left and I forgot to post my Photo Friday over at Delicious Baby.
I learned something new about my hometown today. While reading an announcement about Pensacola’s upcoming 450th Anniversary Bash on VisitPensacola, I learned that one of my favorite buildings, Old Christ Church, just happens to tout itself as “the oldest church in Florida still on its original site.” Wow! I had no idea! This church holds a very special place in my heart. My husband asked me to marry him right on this very corner. The church is now part of the Pensacola Historic District. Weddings are still being performed here.
See the lamp post? That is where I got engaged 9 years ago!
