Tallahassee Pensacola Road Trip

Our last quadrant of this great state to explore and discover was the Panhandle. So having a couple days off around the 4th we piled in the van and headed off for another dose of Ferguson family fun. And when I say Ferguson family fun, you should be chuckling to yourself and thinking how glad you are not to have gone with us.

Our first stop was Tallahassee. Oh what a pretty place! After you take a look at these shots there's no way you could disagree. Tallahasse has rolling hills and tree canopy streets. It is a very nice, small, well manicured town. We drove south of it just a bit to visit a state park with springs and a boat trip. It was overcast and a little stormy so the kids didn't want to plunge into the water which is 70 degrees year round. But we sure loved the boat trip. We saw manatee, gators, a huge snake, and lots of turtles and birds.

Next we headed to the state capitol to take a tour. This is where tragedy hit. Literally hit Mason in the mouth. Mason's depth perception must not have been up to par because he ran straight into a marble slab that was top teeth high. He knocked his right front tooth so it was perpendicular to his other teeth, straight back. Blood everywhere, crying, crying, and Dave came over and pushed it right back into place. Ouch!!! I sure was thankful to have a dentist as a hubby! So we quickly took a family photo op and left to find the nearest CVS for pain killer. (His tooth is amazingly still in place, but loose. We're just waiting for the inevitable fall out.)

Needless to say that put a bit of a damper on the trip. We headed to our hotel next and let the kids watch TV, which amazingly is their absolute favorite thing about traveling. They love hotels where they can watch disney and other cartoons we don't get at home and swim in the pools. Our poor deprived children. They better get used to it is all have to say. I don't ever want cable. But that's an entirely different subject.

The next day we left Tallahassee and went to the Florida Caverns. It was a full on, cool cavern, just like you'd see at Mammoth Caves. Except in this cavern there were shells and even a shark tooth in the cieling!

(Dave found this spider on the trail from the caverns back to the nature center. See, I told you they were big! And now I hope you don't have nightmares.)

Then we drove to Pensacola and went to the Naval Air Museum. It's actually the home of the Blue Angels who do shows every Tues. and Wed. morning. But alas, it was Friday. We enjoyed the museum though and the awesome air conditioning it provided.

After that we drove through the city of Pensacola checking out the historical areas, (not too much to talk about) and then to Pensacola Beach and pier to watch fireworks. There was a band playing and Ethan and I saw dolphins. The fireworks show was marginal. Jacksonville's is better.

That night came the "Ferguson family fun." Let me explain. In Tallahassee we'd gotten a cheap hotel through priceline. But in Pensacola everything was sold out. The cheapest one star hotel was $144. Are you kidding me?!! No. The following night we had reservations at a state park in a cabin which had turned out to be a very pricey option. So, in order to keep up our thrifty reputation we decided to spend 4th of July night in the van. All 5 of us. I figured Dave and I had done it many a time in our early marriage years, and even with Isaac. So why not christen the other children? We drove out to a beach parking lot at the edge of town and got comfy... or not. Dave slept in the passenger seat, me in the driver's. Mason was in his carseat. Isaac layed out on the back seat, and Ethan slept on towels arranged as a bed on the back floor. Perfect! Except for the partiers blasting off fireworks and shouting profanities in our beach parking lot. And perfect except for the mosquitoes attacking us when I tried rolling down the windows. And perfect except for the extremely hot humid night where I had to start the car every 1/2 hour and let it run to give us air in the van. It was fun though to wake up early in the morning and go for a stroll on the beautiful beach!

After Pensacola we headed to Grayton Beach State Park. The water and beach were just beautiful and the kids were so happy to be somewhere else besides the car. Me too! Ethan got his first jelly fish sting, not fun, and I saw another shark, fun, since I was on the beach this time! It was nice and relaxing but not long enough stay at Grayton.

(These last two pics are from a nature walk we went on while at Grayton. First shot, so tender! Second shot, this snake was coiled at the edge of the path. I walked right by it and luckily Dave then saw it before he and the boys passed. I do believe folks that this was a real live water moccasin.)

And that's it for our latest road trip. It was short and sw..., well, we all admit it wasn't our favorite vacation. But it sure was fun just being together as a family, making memories together!