Pensacola Beach

During the week of July 13, 2015, while both of our kids were involved in our church's summer youth camp, my wife and I decided to take a quick vacation down to the gulf coast of Florida. Believe it or not, there aren't as many full-service RV campgrounds on the beach as you would think. I found one in Destin and one in Pensacola Beach. We ended up going to Pensacola Beach and camped at the Pensacola Beach RV Resort.

We arrived at the campground around 4:30pm that Tuesday afternoon and were quickly assigned a site.

The view from our campsite

Site 53, while not a "premium" site, had a great view of the campground beach on Santa Rosa Sound. Pensacola Beach RV Resort is a really nice campground. It is walking distance from most of the restaurants and shopping, and most importantly, the beach. Right across the street from the campground are 2 public beach entrances. Pensacola Beach RV Resort also offers complementary Wi-Fi and Cable TV. Both worked really well, which was probably a first for us. Usually, when a campground offers free Wi-Fi and/or cable, the service usually leaves much to be desired, if working at all. The campground also has a pool and 4 private and very clean shower/bathrooms. 

After getting camp set up, I headed over to the beach to see what it was like. By the time I got there, the rentals had shut down, but the beach was really nice and not crowded at all.

The only bad thing about being on the Gulf Coast in the middle of July is: it's HOT! I think daytime temperatures were in the upper 90s with high humidity - much too hot to be enjoyable. Because of that, we tried to limit our out-door activities to the mornings and evenings.

Just as the sun was setting, we decided to leave the comforts of our air-conditioned camper and go exploring. This view of the sun set is from our campground beach. I love that I captured the silhouette of the kayakers in the shot.

We enjoyed a relaxing stroll along the beach.

As the sun dipped further below the horizon, it cast a pink glow over everything. Didn't need rose-colored glasses - just a beautiful sun set.

The next morning, we headed out to the beach after breakfast and stayed there a few hours - until we couldn't take the heat any longer. After lunch, we ventured out and explored some of the shops. Pensacola Beach has 2 dog parks - one on the west side of the island, and one on the east side headed toward Navarre.

After dinner, we took Angel out to the dog park at park west. This was her first time ever seeing the ocean.

She didn't know what to think at first, but definitely wanted to check it out.

She was a little scared of the surf and the waves...

But all in all, she enjoyed the experience.

Again, as the sun began to set, we got a display of God's artistry.

Sea Oats set against the sunset sky.

The colors in the sky were brilliant.

The next morning, I got up early to try and catch the sunrise over Santa Rosa Sound.

I walked out on the campground beach, just a few feet from our campsite, and was able to catch this shot. The sun was behind the clouds, but still made for a beautiful start to the day.

After breakfast, we decided to take in a little of the area's history. The Pensacola Bay area was actually the home of the first European settlement in the United States. Tristan de Luna landed on Santa Rosa Island in 1559. St. Augustine, FL wasn't settled until 1565 and Jamestown, VA in 1607.

Santa Rosa Island was also the location of the very first Christian Mass held in the United States. The cross marks the approximate location of that first worship service. Earlier this year, I got to visit the very first cathedral ever build in the new world when I was in Santo Domingo. Then I got to visit this place - the location of the very first Christian worship service on American soil.

The cross was placed here in 1959 by the Knights of Columbus to commemorate the 400th anniversary of de Luna's landing and the introduction of Christianity to the area.

Pensacola Beach is also the home of Fort Pickens. Fort Pickens, located at the Western end of Santa Rosa Island, was completed in 1834 and remained in service until 1947.

Fort Pickens was built almost entirely by slaves. Ironically, the same government that used slave labor to build the fort, would later use the fort to defend the nation against those who wished to maintain slavery in the south.

One of the things that impressed me about the fort was the quality of the masonry work. The slave masons were obviously incredibly talented and skilled. They built this fort so well, that it still stands 181 years later. There is a portion of the fort that was destroyed, but that was due to a freak explosion of black powder - not shoddy workmanship.

The officer that oversaw construction of the fort was Colonel William H Chase. During the Civil War, he actually joined the Confederacy and even demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens to the Florida Militia.

The demands for surrender were refused, and on November 22 and 23, 1861, Fort Pickens opened fire on numerous Confederate positions in the area and successfully defended Pensacola Harbor and the Navy Yard from Confederate control.

A little over 20 years after the end of the Civil War, Fort Pickens was used to imprison captives from the Indian wars in the west.

Geronimo and several of his Apache warriors were imprisoned at Fort Pickens during 1886 and 1887, and became somewhat of a tourist attraction.

During the late 1890s and early 1900s, Fort Pickens saw numerous "improvements" to respond to the change in military technology and warfare. The concrete structures in the picture above are thought to be the remains of a shelving system built to hold and store naval mines.

Several "modern" gun batteries were constructed in and around Fort Pickens. The gun above is a Civil War-era cannon, and in the distance is a gun battery built during the turn of the 20th century.

Fort Pickens is now part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The surrounding area contains a primitive campground, a bird sanctuary, and protected sand dunes.

After touring Fort Pickens, we went to Red Fish Blue Fish for lunch. After lunch, we headed across the bay into Pensacola.

While we were in Pensacola, we stopped by the local cupcake shop so Lea could try out their cupcakes. They were good - but I think Lea's cupcakes has their's beat.

For our last evening, we decided to have dinner on the beach - so we headed to Crabs We Got Em. While there, Lea wanted to experience the Island life, so she enjoyed a tasty Piña Colada (without the rum, of course). The food wasn't bad either.

After dinner, we went for a nice walk on the pier: a beautiful end to a wonderful time away in Pensacola Beach.