Time for a Florida vacation!

Well, another beautiful and busy day. What with all the work and travel we have been doing, we felt we deserved a Florida Vacation! Why not...

We loaded up the bikes with camera gear and anything else we could find, and turned on the GPS and away we went, headed for Pensacola, Florida. It is only about a 1 1/2 hour drive from Mobile, Alabama, however I got the GPS to find some back roads to take, and we turned it into a 2 1/2 hour trip. Judy had come across a museum on the Internet that we could maybe go to, and I came across a sign that led us right to it. Seems it was the "National Naval Aviation Museum" which is located in Pensacola, on the "Pensacola Naval Air Station" which is an active base. We had to get past the military guards at the front gate, and our Drivers Lic. seemed to do the trick, good thing I didn't wear my fake pony tale and tattoos.....

Tonight's first picture is the sign that welcomes you to Florida when you enter on a small back road. Lots of Palm Trees and Magnolia Trees....


Judy wanted a picture of a Magnolia Tree for Kristina on the blog..... as promised!


Here is the front Doors of the Museum, it is very big....

Just outside the Front doors, on a bit of a court yard, they installed this F14 Fighter

This particular one never flew, ( according to John our tour guide) it was used for testing. They would install fake bombs and real landing gear and drop it from 45 feet in the air, to make sure everything stayed in place and the wheels could take the load. This was to simulate the landing of the plane on an aircraft carrier, which it was meant to do.

This air base is also home to the "Blue Angels" which is similar to our "Snow Birds". They practice here and a few of the planes were on display...

This plane no longer flies and is headed for the Museum...

This one works....

Don't ya just want to get in and push some buttons, and pull back on the stick!

Just after we got there we were hungry and they had a great restaurant inside to fill our hunger pains... After that we jumped on the tour bus that took you outback where they had a whole display of different planes and helicopters in various stages of restoration.

This one floats on the water... I thought it looked a bit like a whale...

The museum was really big and had a pile of different displays. They do not charge to get in, however have a donation box system for people to donate to the cost of operating.

We decided to take in an IMAX film as they had a full theatre there inside the Museum. We saw a military film called "Red Flag" that was excellent.

They had a bunch of displays similar to this one depicting the Armed Forces working all over the world.

Unfortunately this one is dark, but it was meant to show you the size of the museum and the number of planes on display, there were many.... John Morrison would have loved it!

There was lots to see, and the time pressed on, and we wanted to take a drive just south of Pensacola to see some of the beaches. It was a great day for the beech, about 22 Degrees C.

We crossed a big causeway and stopped to take some pictures... ran out of time to hit the beach, will do next time. We had to head for home as it was about a 1 1/2 hour drive and we did not leave till 4:30 and got back just at 6:00 when it got dark. Stayed fairly warm though, and made for a nice evening drive that we both enjoyed.

This is an action shot of the "Eagle".....

We have decided to stay put here in Mobile for the next couple of days, due to some rain coming, and simply because we "can"....

So ends another long, hard day as a 'tourist'....