Our Last Week In Florida

Wow, this week has flown by. We didn’t do an awful lot except enjoy it here.  I did some Christmas shopping, a little at least. Thursday we headed over to Pensacola to do some shopping at the NAS commissary. Oh my gosh, it was packed… I had a list but didn’t get everything on it because if you missed it while going down your isle, there was no going back.  Don’t think I’ve ever been in a grocery store this crowded.  Anyway I think I got what I needed for Thanksgiving. 

After shopping we made our way to Pensacola Beach. We drove down to Ft Pickens Campground. They have really done alot of work since we were here in May, but they are still working at bringing it back to where they were before they got hit with a hurricane several years ago.

We stopped for a last walk on the beautiful beaches.

We just had to head to Crabs on the beach..We sat outside here looking over the beach and listening to some good music.

I finally got to have my She Crab Soup. They have happy hour wings and shrimp for .35….Yummy!!  Oh and wine was 2 for 1!!

They are still working on the beach, overturning the sand and scooping any remnants of oil.

Too cloudy for a sunset..

We finally took our 1.5 hr drive back to Santa Rosa Beach….with full tummy’s…

Yesterday we were back on duty at the store. The park is not very full and we are not busy at all. Luckily it is just a 6 hour shift.

Kevin can usually be found in the back room…

Today we were a bit busier. It was an absolutely beautiful day and people were out and about. Sold lots of ice cream…

So tomorrow will be our last day working. I think Kevin will stay back and start packing up, checking air pressure and so on.. We will leave early Tuesday morning for our trip back to Texas. It will be hard leaving here but we are sure looking forward to seeing 3 of our grandsons….

LIG

Lunch with Friends

Kathy & Chuck pulled out Sunday morning. Kevin & I spent our usual lazy Sunday, watching football. 

Monday got some laundry done and then I felt like exploring some stores. So after lunch, I headed out on my own. I had some fun, but with so little space, there is little I can buy..

Tuesday, I got an early start to getting  paper work done. It was a beautiful day so after some lunch, I headed to the beach with my book in hand.  I loved it. Even took a nice walk. There were at least 30 workers patrolling the beach looking for oil. I have heard they are finding oil on the beautiful beaches in Pensacola. Very sad..

Wednesday, we got an early start. We headed in the direction of Pensacola. We were meeting Donna and Nolan for lunch.. On our way we stopped at the small Camping World.  We really didn’t need anything inparticular but we always HAVE to stop..  We also made a stop at a Walmart. 

When we arrived at our chosen meeting spot Crabs, they were closed. They don’t open until 4pm. I had made a call ahead of time, to check on this. The recording was long and said they are open for lunch and dinner….WELL……..they weren’t!!!!! I was disappointed because I love the she crab soup and always make a point of eating here when in the area.  I immediately texted Donna and told her to meet us across the street at Flounders.

Kevin and Nolan

Donna and I

It was so good to see both of them again.

We enjoyed our lunch, and the time flew by much to quickly.  Seemed like we talked travel the whole time!  Funny how these friends, we meet in this lifestyle, seem like we have known them forever.  We sure hope to meet up again soon.

Our drive back home through Destin…

 

Thursday was Veterans Day and back to work for us.  It was much busier this week. Alot more campers had arrived.  I rented several bikes, sold ice and firewood.  When we got through work, we headed to Applebees for dinner. It was crowded but we got seated right away.  Veterans get complimentary dinners. They let them choose from 7 entrees.  By the time we left, the line was out the door.  There are alot of military in this area.  Such a nice gesture for them to do. So many Veterans never got the thanks they should have, including Kevin when he got back from Viet Nam. It makes him feel good when things like this happen.

Friday and Saturday more work days. We kept fairly busy.  Now we are off for 6 days.  I’m not minding this store gig, but Kevin is very itchy and would rather be doing other things. 

Not sure what’s in store for the next week but I’m sure we will find something to do with ourselves. Just hope this fantastic weather continues.

LIG

Back to Work and Fun with Friends

Well, we arrived at the store for our work assignment Tuesday morning at 10am. We have never done this job before so we had one of the rangers go over a few things  before we were left on our own.  Little did we know we would be on our own for most of the day. I think we sold $6. worth of stuff. I looked forward to the mail being delivered so that I would have something to do, when it did, it took me all of five minutes to sort it..  Wednesday and Thursday were just as slow. Guess we could say this is a cushy job!  We do have a television, full kitchen and I always bring a book and my computer. Its a tough job but somebody has to do it! Kevin is missing the tram, but they too are very slow. The weather has really cooled down here.

Friday morning Kathy and Chuck were arriving. Kevin got busy putting up signs in their site, advertising Jerry Brown for Governor. You see, Kathy doesn’t have much use for Jerry Brown…

Not sure she appreciated it, but she knows Kevin’s humor..

Once they got settled we all piled into our truck and started the tour of the area. They have never been in this part of the state and we have  raved about it so much. We headed to Destin harbor for lunch at the Dewey Destin. It is a fish shack on the harbor, where you put your order in and find a picnic table, all outside, however they had heavy plastic covering the sides and heaters overhead. We always come here and have never been disappointed in the food. Very fresh and delicious!

Kathy & Chuck, on the outside deck…

Kevin and I… You can see we are all squinting, with the sun in our eyes..

Once finished with lunch, the tour director drove us past the beaches of Destin.. We just had to show them the vibrant color of the water. This area is called the Emerald Coast. It sure was showing its colors today.

We walked a bit on the beach…

When the tour ended, we headed back to the campground and got a fire started.. (We were missing Tony’s fires)

We sat out chatting for some time, but boy the temperatures we dropping. We did get to enjoy some s’mores before the cold drove us into our homes…

Saturday morning.. Kevin and Chuck headed up the street to the Donut Hole for coffee and donuts. They let us girls sleep in just a little, and brought our donuts home to us.  About 10:30  we loaded up into Kevins tour truck, for day number 2.  Today we headed the other direction on 30A. First stop was a beach that we often frequent.

It was empty and beautiful….  

Kathy just had to make a sand angel…

The sand is like powder..

The next stop was in the town of Watercolor..

A quaint little town with a small festival going on. We had to stop..

We then drove past a wine festival that hadn’t quite started yet…

Lots of boxes of wine..

And then some pretty houses across from the ocean…

But this one really caught our eye…

Kathy and I had to walk down to get a closer look. It was protected by this fence and was still under construction. The whole area seemed deserted, so we wonder did someone run out of money… Lots of glass and very interesting architecture, right on the beach….  Hmmm. maybe if we win the lottery!

Then we were onto the “white town”…

Everything was white……rows and streets of white houses…. even the town center was white….

Our tour ended back at our side by side sites at Topsail……

What a neat outing it was.  A nice day for exploring the area with friends…..

Back to Where We Love It

We left Panama City this morning for our short trip to Topsail in Santa Rosa Beach. It was an easy drive. When we arrived and checked in, we got our schedule for the month. I didn’t even look at it until we were in our site and all set up. Then to my surprise, I noticed that we were not scheduled to work the tram this month. Darn, we love the tram and getting to meet and talk to everyone.  Our boss is now gone and I guess things have changed a bit.  We start work tomorrow in the small store. The good part is that we only have to work 10-4. When we drive the tram we work a 10 hour day. The schedule is the same with 3 days on and 6 days off. So in the long run, I guess we may be better. Time will tell. I am afraid of being bored.  So since we start tomorrow and it didn’t look like they had anyone scheduled to train us, I went on up to the store and asked lots of questions of the couple working today. They were very helpful but I doubt I will remember it all.  The first year we volunteered here I worked in the office/store but always with a paid employee by my side, so I am a little familiar with it.  Things have changed since and the office is now located elsewhere on the grounds. 

I will give an update after working our three days…so stay tuned!