Fort Pickens
March 29th, Fort Pickens National Park
Today was our day to stay in the park. Swiffer woke us early again, this time by climbing on the dining room table and looking to see if he could some get to the bread on the other side of the stove. Food storage with dogs in the trailer can get a little tricky sometimes and when he figured we were sleeping he thought he could get away with it. So it was time to get up and walk them at 630.
The weather continues very fine — cool with a low of 10 and a high of 20 and nary a rain cloud in sight. Northern Florida is almost 4 inches of rain below normal for March and we are the beneficiaries. For Canadians this is nearly perfect weather; no need for heaters, no need for air conditioners and we can spend hours in the sun without worrying about heat stroke. Sunburn is another matter — I don’t burn easily thanks to my mother’s genetics, Lorraine is a redhead and even well prepped for sun is looking a little pink this evening.
It was a busy day, and without much driving. After breakfast I looked at sites for us to stay over the next week ( We’ll be in Biloxi and New Orleans) at first with Lorraine’s help but then she went for a walk out to the Bay on her own. She found instead a bluff overlooking the bay which was gorgeous but confusing — she had expected the path the dogs and I had used yesterday. So together we went out that path and walked up ( west) along the bay towards the fort and then walked back. I took what I thought might be a shortcut that went up through a picnic area and hit a wrong turn onto a path that petered out into the dunes and forced us to backtrack; The terrain was exotic and pretty so getting a little off track was worthwhile. Ultimately, I found the right path and we returned to the trailer for a lunch of left overs and another opportunity to walk the dogs. ( they are spoiled by the good weather, and the frequent walks. Swiffer in particular is doing marvelously with the warmer weather.)
After Lunch we drove the mile up to the Fort in time for the 1pm guided tour. The fort is an impressive amalgam of several era’s of technology. One of only 3 forts in the U.S. South never to surrender to the rebels it remains a point of pride to the army even to this day and was in continuous use protecting the harbour and naval yards for over 100 years before being made obsolete by long range aircraft and missiles.
The Fort only saw action a couple of times during the civil war and that was all — a successful defensive installation is one that is never used.
Our campsite is actually pretty much on the site of the Battle of Santa Rosa Island one of the many failures in the career of General Braxton Bragg. Zouaves from the New York 6th infantry regiment were camped here and drove off Florida and Alabama Militias with help from the garrison of the fort.
The real highlight of the tour was the view from the Tower Battery from which it was possible to look east along the island, out into the gulf for miles and back in to Pensacola Harbour. From here you could see two full centuries of military technology — the original 1834 brick fort with 34 pound unrifiled cannons and early rifled Parrot guns as envisioned in 1816; the 1899 Pensacola Battery with it’s massive concrete bulwarks built for 12inch rifled cannon in the middle of the old fort; the WWII batteries and gun placements both for long range defence and 90mm rapid fire anti-submarine batteries; and as we’re taking this all in an F18 ( I think ) from the Pensacola Naval Air Station banked over head and shot out over the gulf as they have been doing all day.
After the guided tour we wandered through the whole fortress — both the 1899 Gun Placement and the original Civil War fort. Part of what we had learned was that Geronimo was imprisoned here in the 1880’s after his surrender — on of the greatest military minds born in North America reduced to making money by signing autographs and selling buttons off his blouse as a tourist attraction. It seems he made quite a bit of money this way before being shipped off to Mobile and ultimately Fort Sill, Oklahoma because they were worried about yellow fever epidemics that took a lot of lives in this part of the country in those days.
We got back to the interpretive center ready to head out when we realized the 2:30 demonstration was about to start. A young man was dressed in an accurate USA civil war uniform — very proud, despite his southern accent, that the only flag to ever fly over Fort Pickens was the Star’s and Stripes. His presentation on the fort’s history was even better than the first — but that was the remarkable part, remarkable was that he is Ted or his doppelgänger. He even speaks like Ted. We took Lorraine’s picture with him and this made Lorraine miss Ted and Alex and both of our grandsons... I thought it was very very cute; do look at the pictures closely.
We weren’t done for the day, however. We had yet to walk out from the camp to the Gulf and so we did that. It was a lot further than we had guessed from the map — a beautiful half mile or so across the dunes to a glorious brilliant white sand beach. The water was really nice too — I regretted not having worn a bathing suit although the high surf made it more prudent regardless.
And so, here I am again sitting in the shade of a large Myrtle Oak and some slash pines watching the sun go down and typing out my 750 words. So pleasant, in fact, that I’m way over 1000 words for the day again today. Two days left for me to complete a full month of typing at least 750 words a day! Thanks for reading.
But that’s all for now. Last night’s Tuna Poke redeemed me mostly from the trailer black tank incident and getting cranky for not paying attention to the navigator. I still need further redemption and that will be in the form of BBQ Cajun Shrimps — two pounds of good jumbo gulf shrimp smothered in a little garlic butter and then grilled and then finished with more garlic butter, hot sauce, and lime juice. With good sourdough baguette to soak up the shrimpy, garlicky, buttery goodness of the sauce a favourite comfort food of Lorraine.
Today was our day to stay in the park. Swiffer woke us early again, this time by climbing on the dining room table and looking to see if he could some get to the bread on the other side of the stove. Food storage with dogs in the trailer can get a little tricky sometimes and when he figured we were sleeping he thought he could get away with it. So it was time to get up and walk them at 630.
The weather continues very fine — cool with a low of 10 and a high of 20 and nary a rain cloud in sight. Northern Florida is almost 4 inches of rain below normal for March and we are the beneficiaries. For Canadians this is nearly perfect weather; no need for heaters, no need for air conditioners and we can spend hours in the sun without worrying about heat stroke. Sunburn is another matter — I don’t burn easily thanks to my mother’s genetics, Lorraine is a redhead and even well prepped for sun is looking a little pink this evening.
It was a busy day, and without much driving. After breakfast I looked at sites for us to stay over the next week ( We’ll be in Biloxi and New Orleans) at first with Lorraine’s help but then she went for a walk out to the Bay on her own. She found instead a bluff overlooking the bay which was gorgeous but confusing — she had expected the path the dogs and I had used yesterday. So together we went out that path and walked up ( west) along the bay towards the fort and then walked back. I took what I thought might be a shortcut that went up through a picnic area and hit a wrong turn onto a path that petered out into the dunes and forced us to backtrack; The terrain was exotic and pretty so getting a little off track was worthwhile. Ultimately, I found the right path and we returned to the trailer for a lunch of left overs and another opportunity to walk the dogs. ( they are spoiled by the good weather, and the frequent walks. Swiffer in particular is doing marvelously with the warmer weather.)
After Lunch we drove the mile up to the Fort in time for the 1pm guided tour. The fort is an impressive amalgam of several era’s of technology. One of only 3 forts in the U.S. South never to surrender to the rebels it remains a point of pride to the army even to this day and was in continuous use protecting the harbour and naval yards for over 100 years before being made obsolete by long range aircraft and missiles.
The Fort only saw action a couple of times during the civil war and that was all — a successful defensive installation is one that is never used.
Our campsite is actually pretty much on the site of the Battle of Santa Rosa Island one of the many failures in the career of General Braxton Bragg. Zouaves from the New York 6th infantry regiment were camped here and drove off Florida and Alabama Militias with help from the garrison of the fort.
The real highlight of the tour was the view from the Tower Battery from which it was possible to look east along the island, out into the gulf for miles and back in to Pensacola Harbour. From here you could see two full centuries of military technology — the original 1834 brick fort with 34 pound unrifiled cannons and early rifled Parrot guns as envisioned in 1816; the 1899 Pensacola Battery with it’s massive concrete bulwarks built for 12inch rifled cannon in the middle of the old fort; the WWII batteries and gun placements both for long range defence and 90mm rapid fire anti-submarine batteries; and as we’re taking this all in an F18 ( I think ) from the Pensacola Naval Air Station banked over head and shot out over the gulf as they have been doing all day.
After the guided tour we wandered through the whole fortress — both the 1899 Gun Placement and the original Civil War fort. Part of what we had learned was that Geronimo was imprisoned here in the 1880’s after his surrender — on of the greatest military minds born in North America reduced to making money by signing autographs and selling buttons off his blouse as a tourist attraction. It seems he made quite a bit of money this way before being shipped off to Mobile and ultimately Fort Sill, Oklahoma because they were worried about yellow fever epidemics that took a lot of lives in this part of the country in those days.
We got back to the interpretive center ready to head out when we realized the 2:30 demonstration was about to start. A young man was dressed in an accurate USA civil war uniform — very proud, despite his southern accent, that the only flag to ever fly over Fort Pickens was the Star’s and Stripes. His presentation on the fort’s history was even better than the first — but that was the remarkable part, remarkable was that he is Ted or his doppelgänger. He even speaks like Ted. We took Lorraine’s picture with him and this made Lorraine miss Ted and Alex and both of our grandsons... I thought it was very very cute; do look at the pictures closely.
We weren’t done for the day, however. We had yet to walk out from the camp to the Gulf and so we did that. It was a lot further than we had guessed from the map — a beautiful half mile or so across the dunes to a glorious brilliant white sand beach. The water was really nice too — I regretted not having worn a bathing suit although the high surf made it more prudent regardless.
And so, here I am again sitting in the shade of a large Myrtle Oak and some slash pines watching the sun go down and typing out my 750 words. So pleasant, in fact, that I’m way over 1000 words for the day again today. Two days left for me to complete a full month of typing at least 750 words a day! Thanks for reading.
But that’s all for now. Last night’s Tuna Poke redeemed me mostly from the trailer black tank incident and getting cranky for not paying attention to the navigator. I still need further redemption and that will be in the form of BBQ Cajun Shrimps — two pounds of good jumbo gulf shrimp smothered in a little garlic butter and then grilled and then finished with more garlic butter, hot sauce, and lime juice. With good sourdough baguette to soak up the shrimpy, garlicky, buttery goodness of the sauce a favourite comfort food of Lorraine.
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