We were able to take that trip to Pensacola by boat this time.  We had beautiful weather

As we drove down the intercostal we were greeted by Harry the bird.  See him wave to us?

The Coasties were out too

There were plenty of dolphin sightings

The Blue Angels were practicing their flights and ended up flying right over us

So cool!  See the refection of the air planes in the boat?

We saw two sunken boats on  our way

A Navy Ship

and a few other boats along the way

A Light house

We even had some lunch on the road

Unfortuneately, the seas were a little to rough for the Smoke Man

Poor Smoky

Will he ever get his sea legs?

Then the newest member of our crew did all the talking to the vessels that were hailing us

There were a few communication problems, but he did OK 🙂

We pulled into Palafox Marina, it was pretty windy but our able Captain got us to the dock without issue and no damage 🙂  And of course Captain Ron, the Dock Master (yes, that was his real name), was there to help us tie up.

We explored Pensacola and found some great resteraunts to eat at.  Even a coffee shop!  I was soooo excited, they don’t have many of those around down here :(.

While we were walking down by the bay we saw these big bumpers on the side of the sea wall

I bet there was some huge boats that pulled in here at one time, look at the size of the cleats for them to tie to

And who is that handsome man?????

Now that they put the fence up, that pretty much puts the kabosh on that.

Then there was this guy hanging from a generator, 

Worker with his hard hat on

whoops, guess not, just some stuff dangling from the generator

Just goes to show I still have an active imagination or I better get my eyes checked 🙂

Of course what would a trip be without the photo-op of the Touch of Class?

Look how little we look behind this Viking, ours looks like a toy.  Do you see that taller building in the back ground.  Last time they had a hurricane there all the boats were smashed up against  the wall in front of that building.

This is why we get out of dodge during the hurricane season 🙂

It was pretty quite on the boat after the smallest crew member went to bed.  Can you tell there was no TV or cable at this marina?

Their feet are all crossed the same way too.

We had a great time in Pensacola and a smooth ride back to Orange Beach.  For those of you wondering how far it was, it was about the same distance as a trip from Sunnyside to Prescott.  So nice, short but enjoyable trip.  The short trip helped sooth our itchy feet syndrome.  That should tide us over until we leave in a few weeks.

When we got back we took the little boat off the roof.  First time since we had the hoist adjusted.  We are happy to report that the adjustment was spot on and the arm of the hoist didn’t fall and break off when we dropped the boat into the water.  That would have been a real bummer.

We decided to let the kids take the first ride out, after a little instruction, of course.

Gary giving instructions

After a few hours of touring around they brought it back so we could give it a shot.  I figured, what the heck, they didn’t have any troubles, we should be fine.

So we finally got to see down those canals by us that I had always wanted to travel down.

Boats in the canal

House in the canal

We found that once canal lead us back out into the bay where we could plane off.

We got planed off!

Nice overcast day for me

We made it back with no troubles, then we would test the lifting of the hoist but first…

Hoisting up the boat

Flushing the motor

With the salt water down here you have to be careful to wash the salt off everything.  The old Touch of Class even carries the muffs to put on the outboard to flush out the engine on the little boat.  All went well and it hoisted real nice and in the correct spot.  That was well worth the money.

Whatcha doing Papa?

The next generation watches on so they can do the job when they get bigger 🙂

When all was said and done, it was a busy day for all of us.

The kids all left shortly after that.  We had fun and enjoyed their visit.  Plus we have the memories to remind us of their visit 🙂

Just like a plaster hand print 🙂