The South was not on my bucket list. I thought about traveling through the southern states but except for Louisiana I could not get motivated to pull the trigger. Louisiana, after all, has Mardi Gras. Other southern states to do, I later found out, but Louisiana seemed more familiar. Alabama, Mississippi did not. Too much history of bigotry, segregation battles and the Civil War.
But Nancy and I decided to take a trip to Florida via some southern states. We started out in late January and made our way through Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. Our goal was the Gulf Islands National Seashore where we would spend four days at the campground outside of Pensacola Beach. We made it without any problems and arrived on a beautiful sunny day with warm breeze. Then it got cold.
Coming from Nebraska, we were used to 50-degree temperatures. Some of our fellow campers were not. They walked around with winter jackets and stocking caps. We enjoyed our stay and made frequent trips into Pensacola to dine and shop. We also toured Fort Pickens, used during the Civil War to protect the coast from Confederate ships. We also learned that Geranimo was held captive there at one time.
We celebrated my birthday in style by dining at Hemingway's and dancing at the Paradise Inn in Pensacola. Then we decided to move down the coast.
