It’s been several days since my last blog. The weather has not been very cooperative, being cold and wet with only a few peeks of sunshine so we haven’t done much. But we can’t really complain too hard since snow and ice storms in the rest of the country are avoiding us.

Lois has rented a very nice condo for the winter and we spent some time with her there and enjoyed her view and a walk on the beach. A Great Blue Heron stops by every day for a visit. Lois does not feed it but perhaps a previous tenant may have. She has named him Herman.

View From Condo

As we walked the beach we spotted Herman waiting patiently for the possibility of a snack from a local fisherman.

Gulf Shore

One sunny morning we were able to hike a trail at Big Lagoon State Park where we are staying. But by the end of the day it was cloudy and raining again.

Big Lagoon State Park

Another cold cloudy morning we returned to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola to see more of it. The world-famous Blue Angels are based here and often can be seen practicing over the museum. However they have not been flying lately either because of budget cuts or because of the bad weather so we did not have the pleasure of seeing that. But inside the museum can be found the older jets on display.

Blue Angels

A recent addition to the museum is a replica of the unmanned drone.

X47B Unmanned Combat Air System

Gulf State Park in Alabama is a popular place, with almost 500 campsites. The park was nearly filled to capacity and we were lucky to have scored a reservation there. It rained hard all night last night and was still raining lightly this morning when it was time for us to leave Big Lagoon State Park in Florida and we drove in the rain the less than 10 miles west to Gulf State Park.

Gulf State Park, Alabama, #193

• Gasoline Expense:  none
• Lodging Expense:   $29.25