Two rainy days out of 27 isn't so bad, but it still happens.
Yesterday morning the sky opened up and we decided to go exploring. We headed west toward Pensacola Beach. It's 93 miles (150 km) to our west. Before we'd even cleared the Panama City Beach limits the rain became torrential. It was so heavy John pulled over to the side of the road to let the worst of it pass.
In Destin our jaws dropped as we passed by the Emerald Grande and Harbor Walk Village. You have to see it with your own eyes to grasp the scale of this complex!
We continued on to Fort Walton Beach and from there it was a hop, skip and a jump to Navarre. There, we crossed over the causeway to Navarre Beach and the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
That's when the landscape took on an other-worldly appearance. We left behind the man-made goliath structures and came face to face with Mother Nature's under-stated glory. Just sand, water and sky!
Btw, that's SAND, not snow drifting across the road!
Although the sign says the road is prone to flooding, the old route is buried under the sand dunes to the right.
Pensacola Beach is a much smaller community than PCB, yet it has its very own version of the London Eye! It also has these impressive looking condos, but they're situated on the outskirts of the community and seemed to be out of place to us.
With a few stops along the way, it took us almost three hours to reach our destination. Having missed lunch we chose to refuel at Peg Leg Pete's.
John ordered the shrimp and I opted for the catfish. Both were fried to perfection and FRESH, FRESH, FRESH! By this point it was almost 4PM, and time to head home. Once again the complete isolation and raw beauty of the place was amazing.
Mid-way between Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach, John pulled over, and headed toward the Gulf of Mexico.
But, it's a LONG way...
A really long way!
Can you see him above? He's that tiny speck on the right hand side of the photo.
Thank goodness for this bench parked right in front of the van!
We drove most of the way back in the dark, but the full moon shone down on our little adventure. While it was spectacular, we're both kind of hoping it'll be our last day away from the beach...at least until we head north to Boston for Christmas!
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