Florida Beach

 Location: Fort Pickens National Seashore Campground, barrier island off Pensacola, Florida

Well as I said in my last post, I walked to the beach area to see what I could see. I decided to wear my sandals and debated with myself if I should wear socks. I have been advised pleaded with admonished by my daughter, granddaughter and others that I should never do that and that sticks in your head after a while. But, I was feeling rebellious and since I didn't know a living soul around this campground, I made an independent, executive decision as a man, and did NOT wear socks. My decision entirely.

I sent this picture to my family so my daughter and granddaughter knew I was complying with their demands. My X-wife (yeah, we're still friends) said my white feet below my tan lines looks like I'm wearing socks. I just shake my head sometimes. 

After a mild case of shame, I hung my head and started on my walk to the beach. The entire walk would be about 1.5 miles with half being in sand. I was pretty sure without socks that I would end up with some blisters on my feet and I intended to take pictures of them to send to the "no sock with sandals" people. But alas, no blisters occurred. Not sure why.

There is an elevated walkway that goes from the road to almost to the beach. It's in bad shape with loose boards which created tripping hazards. I was fully expecting to see the business cards of some "slip and fall" lawyers pinned to the loose boards. It wasn't quite as bad as I'm making it out to be, but whoever is in charge of maintenance needs to step up and do their job or look for a new one. No excuses.

I'm actually appreciative that they built the walkway. It would be a chore to trudge through the sand and brush to get to the beach. Oh wait, they didn't do this for people, it was so we wouldn't hurt the plants and stuff. Ok, I get it. 

This is some of the more mild disrepair. There were locations that could easily trip a child or adult. I'm still glad it was there, just wish it was maintained better. 

The end of the line for the boardwalk. Nothing but sand now.

The water looked nice and the sand looked clean but not the typical touristy beach. The tide was in and ebbing so it was somewhat peaceful. The sand is pure white and blinding in the sun. Yep, I forgot my sunglasses. I think I prefer the Texas beaches.

You top out over a sand dune and rewarded with this view. At first I thought that couple were arguing since the guy was raising his voice and they were face to face. After a minute, she turned away and I could see he was talking on the phone and she had been listening. It wasn't a good thing in public, but not as bad as I originally thought.

This is not the Florida beach that people are used to seeing. It is more of a place for surf fisher-people (look how PC I am) or people just sitting and watching the waves come in. 

This was two nice-looking, my age women. One was fishing while the other laid out on a towel. I talked to the fisher-woman for a few minutes. It was a nice but short visit.

That is an older couple that I've seen in the campground. They were sitting and enjoying each other's company. A complete contrast to the other couple. 

The campground has a lot of late teen/early twenties campers but I didn't see any of them on the beach. They were mostly tent campers and hung around the campground. I assume they are locals and have better beaches to go to when that is what they want. They were well behaved and respectful. Congratulations to their parents in raising them right. Since it's Sunday, most are packing up and getting ready to leave. 

Today will be an exploration day. I plan to explore old Fort Pickens which is only a couple miles away from this campground. I've visited many old Forts and battlegrounds in my travels. Some give off good vibes or neutral vibes. A couple have given off "bad ju-ju" vibes. The kind that makes you shake as tingles run up and down your spine. You get the sense that someone is there but they're not. The worst of these places was Fort Jackson on the Mississippi River below New Orleans. I felt lucky that I was able to walk away from there. My post about it is here >>> https://gozatravels.blogspot.com/2023/12/where-mississippi-river-ends.html

I am curious how my vibe-meter reacts to Fort Pickens today. I haven't done hardly any research yet, so I don't know its history. Fingers crossed that all goes well.

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe, I'll Cya down the road.