Gulf Islands National Seashore

Today dawned cold but sunny.  Our projected high was only going to be perhaps 61F.  We decided to bicycle out to the Gulf Islands National Seashore to explore the dunes, the ocean, the bay and Civil War era Fort Pickens.  Fort Pickens is most notoriously known as the place where Apache Chief Geronimo and his followers were held in 1886-1887 after his surrender.

Here's a photo of Kathy at the park entrance.  You can see from her clothing that, even though it was nearly noon, the day was quite chilly.

We parked the bikes at a signpost and took photos of them from each compass direction.  Sand, sea and sky every direction!

Our first stop was Langdon Battery, a brick and concrete emplacement buried in a sandy hillside.  Here's a photo of David atop the battery with a good view of the Gulf of Mexico and the dunes below.

 Fort Pickens is similar to some of the other forts designed after the War of 1812 to protect American ports.  However, Fort Pickens differs markedly from some of the others in that its design departs from a rigid 5-sided or 6-sided polygon and includes open elements.  Many tunnels survive.  Here is a photo of Kathy in a mine tunnel - a place where mines were stored before laying them in the harbor to protect against enemy ships.

 Look carefully at the photo above.  We were completely alone back in one of the tunnels when we took the photo, but if you look above Kathy to the left, you'll see a head and shoulders looming from around a corner.  We can only say this:  That face and shoulder poke out from a slight indentation at a dead end of the tunnel where the light hangs.  We walked down there and no one was there.  Park rangers tell of sightings of the ghosts of Civil War soldiers in the tunnels, and we wonder whether, perhaps, this was one of them.  We'll never know.

On the other hand, this photo is definitely NOT a picture of Civil War or Apache prisoners or their ghosts.  As we walked out on the parade grounds, we heard giggling shouts of "Let us out!  Let us out!"  We looked over and, as I took the photos, the kids hammed it up for the camera.

After touring the fort, we pedalled back to Pensacola Beach where we had parked the truck.  We had a hearty lunch.  Kathy had Oysters Rockefeller for the first time.  David had fish chowder made with grouper.  We poked around the tourist section of the beach and rode a very large Ferris Wheel, which gave 360 degree views of the island.  Here's a photo of Kathy looking West along the island toward the National Seashore.

By the time we finished our stroll around the beach and out the Pensacola Beach Pier, it had gotten much warmer.  We enjoyed the sun a bit before driving back the campground and a hearty dinner of 13-bean turkey chili.