Pensacola
I went to Pensacola as part of my plan to do something exciting every month. I originally planned to go to Pensacola on Saturday and, if I liked it a lot, also on Sunday. The drive turned out to be longer than the two hours I estimated (180 miles or approx. 2.5hrs), but I decided that a motel wouldn't be cost effective. Unfortunately, I couldn't get myself up on Saturday. But I doped myself up that night, so I was able to get out the door by 10am the next morning.

Pieces of Pensacola are part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, which stretches from Florida to Mississippi, skipping Alabama. Why didn't I just go to the Mississippi portion? Well, if Waveland, where I've lived before, is representative of the Gulf Coast found in Mississippi, it's nothing special. In fact, last time I was there, the bugs had me wiggin' out, and the sand had an unpleasantly damp quality everywhere. Plus, the Mississippian portion of the park is only accessible by ferry, and not nearly as cool as driving really, really far.

So my first stop was in the Naval Live Oaks Area. As you may have guessed, they used trees in the area to build some ships, way back when. My plan was to explore some of the nature-y areas before relaxing at the beach. My expectations for the nature part of my trip were fairly low, since I usually need relief changes to be satisfied when traveling on foot, and my expectations were met. It was kind of nice, but dull. I spotted some wisteria, but they weren't really abundant enough to be worthwhile. On the drive to work every day, I see tons of trees (bushes? vines?) in full bloom with wisteria. It's a nice effect. I walked about an hour into the park before being compelled to turn around by boredom.



The beach part of my journey wasn't going to go as I had anticipated earlier in the week. As I packed my things, I couldn't find my bathing suit or discman, deciding that I had left both in New Jersey, by accident (I later found my discman under some papers). So going in the water was out of the question (I didn't even have any board shorts with me), and I suspected lying on the beach would be rather dull without some sort of aural company. Plus, I rationalized myself out of buying a beach towel, so I only had my much too tiny spare bath towel with me.

Things worked out alright, however. I drove across to Santa Rosa Island, and headed east. After a couple of miles, I pulled into a small parking lot to scope out the beach. And I didn't have to pay any fees, so I guess I hadn't entered the NPS portion of the island. I don't know how crowded it is during the peak summer season, but it was a pretty nice weekend, and of the approximately 50 spots, only 40-45 were occupied at any given time. I strolled onto the beach, where I was greeted by immaculate sand. There was very little debris. My first order of business was to walk to the water, where I discovered the water was too cold for me, even if I had brought a bathing suit. Looking both east and west, the beach extended beyond my vision. It was at least a couple miles in both directions from where I stood, and it didn't look like the quality of the beach diminished at all. There was a weird sort of haze on the horizon, which I couldn't explain. My best guess was that the mild wind caused some particulate to hang over the beach, which could only be noticed when stacked for a long distance.

I picked a perpendicular direction, and I started walking. Turns out, I actually kind of like the trite "walk on the beach," although I don't think I'd like it with someone. The tranquility, the sun, and the soft sand were enjoyed as a private experience. The houses that lined the beach were pleasant to look at, mostly painted in unique, solid colors, with white trim. And they were seated far enough away from the water that there was plenty of beach for the public to enjoy. After my feet started to tire, I turned back to retrieve my towel from the car.

Returning to the beach, I wandered past the people already settled on the beach (just a few houses down), so no one could see my cheap towel. I picked a spot that had been smoothed out by some adjacent tires and prepared to relax. I dug out a small crevice beyond the head of my towel, to put my rolled up t-shirt in. It served as a nice pillow. My towel only extended to my knees, but my lower legs didn't feel uncomfortable in direct contact with the sand. I did feel silly, however, in my khaki-colored shorts and the waistband of my flannel boxers showing. But that's why I had moved past the other beach-goers.



After about five minutes of soaking in the sun and the pleasant sounds of the waves (a fine substitute for a CD; the Waveland beach is almost devoid of waves), I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to set my VCR before I left. It's sad to let the little box dictate my life, but it hadn't been too bad of a drive, and I really would've been upset, missing my shows. Anyway, I was able to enjoy another half-hour of slipping in and out of consciousness. It wasn't like the unpleasant dozing off that happens in class, but just a relaxing, slightly disorienting sensation. I imagine it may be like being hypnotized. Or a good massage. I easily could've stayed until the sun went down, but I pulled myself away, resolving to return the following weekend (I may try other parts of the park instead).

As a somewhat inconsequential detail, the birds on the beach weren't the seagulls I was used to. Instead, there were flocks of some bird whose coloration reminded me of the black-headed nuns I'd seen in pet stores. Well, those (finches) are generally brown, but just the sectioning of colors reminded me. Hopefully, someone can identify them.

I drove back to Mississippi, where I caught all of my shows, but not before I made a stop to capture a final image:



I wanted to just catch something while I was driving (I was getting pretty good at it; there are a lot of unused photos on my computer), but the signs facing me were all backlit because of the setting sun, so I had to stop in a rest area.

All in all, a pretty good use of a Sunday.
- posted by roger @ 11:18 PM (0) comments