The retired life of Greg and Dona: Back on the road again!

We've been away from Anchorage since January 5 (today is the 15th). We hit Atlanta as a cold front came thru but luckily we were in south Georgia where it didn't get quite as cold (you can read the previous blog entry to get the details of that). Now we are in Pensacola FL experiencing the same weather. Today was 46 at 8am with blowing winds. Overnight it will get into the 20's. It is very disappointing to see all of this beautiful beach and not be able to lay in the sun!

Dona at Ft. Picken's on Pensacola Bay in cold weather gear

Since it's been several days since I've posted, I'll start with our departure from Waycross on Thursday Jan. 9. We left mom's at 9:45 am in 45 degree temps and raining. First stop will be in Marianna FL to see the Florida Caverns. This took us around 2 hours to get there just before the next scheduled guided tour was to begin. The tour lasted 45 minutes and we got to see some different rock formations. It's just pretty cool to see caverns like these in Florida where you expect to hit ocean after digging down a couple feet.

These pictures are from the caverns

After touring the caverns and hiking a few trails, we jumped in the rig and headed toward Port St. Joe. In the rain, we found their home on Cape San Blas which is about 10 miles out of Port St. Joe on a peninsula between St. Joseph's Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It is an absolutely beautiful place. Their house backs to the bay with a boat dock. They have public beach access to the Gulf just across the road. It's very quiet and not a lot of traffic. Their house is 6 1/2 miles on Cape San Blas and a couple of miles from the entrance to St. Joseph's State Park which runs another 7-8 miles to the end of the cape.

The Weston's house

The front of the house

Bailey and Marley checking me out from the back porch

The boat dock in Bay

Back of the house looking from the Bay

Taking a birding excursion

Birds!!

Beautiful beaches at St. Joseph's State Park

more beaches

Hiking the dunes of the cape

Made it to the beach!

Buck in the park (we saw a doe earlier)

Yikes, we scared him!

No home is complete without a Tee-Pee. This is
in Charlie and Betty Ray's yard.

Friday January 10, 2014
We woke to foggy weather. So foggy, that we couldn't see the boat dock in the back of the house. We toured the town of Apalachecola with Charlie and Betty Ray even though we couldn't see any of the Gulf of Mexico. The town is beautiful with it's old houses and quaint downtown.

On Saturday we were woke early to the sounds of a thunder storm. Big flashes of light and booms. It took Greg and I a few sleepy minutes to figure out what was going on, then we fell back to sleep listening to the sounds of nature. I managed to get in a 30 minute walk/run in between thunderstorms. Greg ran yesterday so he used this morning to do some minor work on the RV. We drove into Port St. Joe where Charlie was the city manager for several years. It rained so hard and the wind was blowing so hard, I really thought we were in a hurricane. Charlie gave a great tour. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant for drinks and nachos then headed back to the Cape. Once on the Cape we stopped to check out an eagle nest with young chicks. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, listening to the rain. They have a screened porch that runs the length of the house. This is the best room to relax in!!!

Finally on Sunday, we woke to beautiful sunny skies but the temps were in the 60's. Greg and I went for a run (mine was only 35 minutes, Greg was gone for over 1 1/2 hours. We spent the day touring the Cape, first hiking a trail to the bay where we saw white pelicans, cormorants, king fishers, ducks, grey heron. We went to the end of the cape to St. Joseph's State Park where we walked on beautiful beaches, and hiked on sand dunes. We saw a doe while we were driving thru the campground, then a buck as we were leaving the park.

We had a wonderful time with Charlie and Betty Ray. If I was asked today where I wanted to live, this would be the place!!!!!

Monday January 13, 2014: We left the Weston's and Cape San Blas at 11 am. We had to make several stops (one at the Goodwill to get a toaster) then at a Bass Pro shop and an outlet mall (looking for the perfect pot and pan). It started pouring down rain mid-afternoon and didn't let up. Our plans were to go to the Naval Air Station and see if we could get a site at their RV park. Had to look up the phone number on-line and by the time I could call them, the office had already closed. It was getting dark and still raining really hard so we got a spot at an RV park at Navarre Beach. Not a bad place, we had to get to it by a toll road but the toll was only 3.75. It was 1/2 mile from the interstate so we heard traffic noise all night.

On Tuesday Jan. 14, 2014, we decided to head over to Ft. Picken's National Park located in the Gulf Islands National Seashore. While on our way over (an hour from where we were) we could see the Navy's Blue Angel's flying around for a practice session. Once we got over to Santa Rosa Island where Ft. Picken's is we could really see them! It was a great performance even for practice runs. We got to the campsite at 12:45, ate lunch, then I had to take a nap (til 2:45!!!!! I was soooo tired!). After a nap, we went for a bike ride around the area. We found some trails and rode around to the beach and to some of the old fort outcroppings. The temp here at 4:30 was 59 degrees and it felt really nice.

We woke to temps at 46 on Wednesday with the day predicted to be windy and cold..... yes it was.... very windy and cold. Tonight will get in the 20's. I can't believe I left Alaska for this!!! At least I'm at the beach. We got to see the Blue Angel's practice again today. We toured the old Fort Picken's and visited the museum even though the winds were howling and it was COLD! This evening we walked across the street to the beach to see the full moon on the water. We didn't stay long because the wind was howling and it was COLD! (sorry to repeat myself....but I'm at the beach and it doesn't feel like it.) Tomorrow we'll head to Mississippi. Greg is looking at Homochitto National Forest outside of Natchez. It's a 5 hour drive from here. I'd like to spend the night somewhere in between Pensacola and Natchez but Greg's driving and he's ok with a 5 hour drive.