Some Beach, Somewhere...but specifically Pensacola, FL

Leaving Baton Rough.  456 miles down, ??? to go!

We continued our adventure to the east with a stop in Pensacola, FL.

Back in the day, I was stationed at NATTC Pensacola for AT-O A-school.  It was a weird time in my life, but with fun in the sun, beach volleyball, and sand, sand, and more sand!

We pulled through P'cola, through Gulf Breeze, and over the bridge to Santa Rosa Island.  We walked the boardwalk, ate a yummy dinner with the salt breeze cooling us.  We put our toes in the sand and looked forward to tomorrow.

  We found our camp site at Ft. Pickens National Park, right on Santa Rosa Island.  After we set up the tent, we went to watch the sunset over one of the cannon stations, but missed the event.

Tomorrow is another day.

We got up early.  Like, stupid early.  5:30.  I checked my phone and found that sunrise over Ft. Pickens was at 5:50.  Kayleigh and I put three sleepy headed, pajama clad kiddos in the car and drove a quarter of a mile to another cannon bastile.  We were just in time.

Since we were up, and swimsuits were in the car, we opted to take the beach while it was cool and we had the place to ourselves.

The kids, of course, were excited!

I left my camera in my purse (sandy, wet cameras tend to not work as well), so you'll just have to take my word that we had a BLAST!  First, we chased ghost crabs across the beach into the surf.  Then, we covered Gannon in sand and gave him a mermaid tail.  Then, we watched dolphins (YES, HOLY GEEZ, WE SAW DOLPHINS) swim 100 yards behind us.  

By 0800, we were all swam out, and ventured to Ft. Pickens.

Ft. Pickens was both a Revolutionary and Civil War Fort, used to protect the Bay of Pensacola.  It was one of 4 forts in the bay, and a beautiful historic site.

The kids (and I) were amazed that the cannon holder is made of OAK.  Wood.  Crazy. 

This room was filled with gun powder!

Looking out on a series of tunnels that were used to run supply loads.

Prison.  They're lucky I let them out... ;-)

We had a fantastic time, the kids earned their Jr. Ranger badges.  It was hot, we'd started early, so we loaded the car, and Annika was asleep before we'd left the island.  

 We headed North to.........

NorCal and Oregon - Over Half Way Done!

August was upon us.  We left Utah and began our trek across the most boring state in the Union, Nevada.  Seriously.  The kids watched hours of movies in between 2 gas stops.  The only neat part was the very Western section which includes the Great Salt Flats.  Salt for miles.  We were able to stop the van, pull to the side, hop out and grab hands full of salt!  We walked around for half an hour, got back in the car, and watched X-Men:First Class again, and again, and again..............................

Our drive into California took us through Lassen Volcanic National Park.  It is one of the most serene places I have visited.  As we came off Rout 395 from Reno and rounded into Susanville, radio reports gave me the impression we may be in for delays and detours due to a wildfire in the park.  While we weren't delayed or re-routed, we were able to capture the pillar of smoke coming from deep in the forest, blending with the clouds.  The shadow it cast with the smell of burning lumber and brush was heavy, but seemed very far away.

We stayed with my husbands parents in Redding, and were able to meet up with old, wonderful friends.  Ken and Linda (Gordon's parents), Laurie and Joe (Alia's grandparents) with cousins, aunts and uncles, plus the bonus of Eric, Diane, and Erica Rapport met us at Manzanita Lake for a day of hiking, picnicking  

And a little bit of R&R for this Jolly Camper

A beautiful sunset wished us fair well as we headed to Redding, CA for a few days of friends and family.

 We spent about three days getting FAT.  We ate In-n-Out Burger, we had a potluck with dear old friends, we had Grandmas cooking, and we rested.  

 We rested till the 4th of August.  

Then we had captives.

We dragged (very willingly dragged) Ken and Linda (ok, maybe they dragged us.  Very willingly dragged us) to the southern Oregon coast line.  We spent the night in a charming little cabin by the ocean.  The sea air, seagulls and freshly picked blackberries met us in the morning.  Siri and Alia had gone exploring and fed us their bounty of juicy, coastal berries.  Delish!  

Brookings, OR Harris Beach was a cloudy, cool day to climb rocks, find shells, and play in the sand.  Annika hadn't seen the Pacific ocean before, and was in awe of its size.  She ran from the waves with a smile and a giggle.

 Alia was King of the Hill as Grandma Linda helped Annika navigate walking in sand.

A few hours south found us in the land of the Giants.  Paul Bunyan and his faithful Ox, Babe welcomed us to the home of the redwoods.  We recently visited Italy, and when we were sharing pictures of places to visit in the US, he very eloquently said "That is a MOUNTAIN, not a TREE!"

We said goodbye to the redwoods, the cool ocean air, and our traveling companions and headed to SoCal.