Fort Pickens and Bushwacking with Martha

Sunday: Mary & I went to Panera Bread for breakfast because they have free wi-fi. I called Martha and we agreed to meet for dinner at 4 pm. My sinuses are still stuffed up – so much pollen in the air that you can actually see it accumulate on the car and camper. Mary & I went to Target to get her a black towel and both of us some groceries.

We got back to the campground, put the groceries away, and drove to the actual historic fort at Fort Pickens for their 2 pm Ranger-led tour of the fort. It was a really interesting tour – a little history, a little architecture, a little warfare, a little cannon talk, and even a little gruesome (e.g. the killing field). The fort was built in 1829 to protect Pensacola Bay’s access to the ocean. It was fortified by President Lincoln during the Civil War and was the only Southern naval fort that remained in Union hands for the entire war. It was used in World War 2 to protect the coast from U2 submarines. I was amazed at how much is still in good shape today despite regular flooding and being abandoned for so long; not to mention being built on very fine almost powdery sand to begin with. Mary was impressed at how huge it was, and also how they mounded up dirt on the roofs and planted vegetation on it to camouflage the entire fort. The original green roof.

When we got back to the campground, we threw a load of laundry in and then met Martha at Paradise Inn for drinks and dinner. Why? Bushwackers of course. Two kinds of rum and vanilla ice cream. I had an excellent shrimp Po’ Boy for dinner – very lightly breaded, crisp, and tasting like shrimp. Martha seems to be blossoming down here in Pensacola – she looks fabulous, dahling!

On the way home, we stopped at the boardwalk to the beach to see the sunset. I locked my keys in the car, and my purse with the spare key and my cell phone in the trunk. We did see the sunset and spent some time on the actual beach. The sunset was glorious. I called AAA from Mary’s phone, and they showed up an hour and a half later to unlock my door. It was really cold waiting out there for him. He was young, very nice and polite. However, I dropped Mary’s phone off my car hood as I backed out of the parking lot. Luckily it still works fine.