Pensacola Beach 2014

Although James loves the Caribbean blue (as evidenced by most of our beach vacations the past few years), my heart belongs to the Gulf of Mexico.  I grew up on those beaches (Texas side of course), spending almost every summer I can remember in Port Aransas.  So when we decided to go to Pensacola Beach this year for a summer get away, something felt right about those warm gulf waters (even if the beautiful, white, seaweed-less Florida sand is something, admittedly, I am not used to.)

Let me tell you - a beach vacation with a 10 month old is something else.  Very different, very fun, but also extremely exhausting.  Thankfully we were in a condo, which gave us access to bedrooms, a kitchen, and a place to contain the little rascal.  It also meant that when he went down at 7PM (after getting up at 5AM - why, JB, WHY!?), James and I could enjoy a glass (or two) of vino out on the balcony with our home cooked meal.   There are definitely worse things in life, folks.

Sunset view from our balcony

Sunset view from our balcony

I've only crashed my computer a few times trying to upload the hundreds of photos, so you've been warned.  Get ready for lots of pictures!  (And, I've purposefully pulled out all the pictures from our trip to the Pensacola Naval Museum for another post - stay tuned.)

My Daddy trained me right - when you're at the beach, you go to…THE BEACH.  (Growing up, he would get personally offended if we wanted to hang out at the pool, with the surf only yards away.)

So of course we took advantage of the beach.  Several mornings we would be out walking in the sand, enjoying the calm and (relatively) mild temps before most people were awake.

Although the public beach was right in front of our condo, we opted to lounge on the beaches of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.  The National Park Service maintains the private beach, and the crowds (families, birders, etc) were more our speed.

One morning we were there so flippin' early (thanks, JB) that we were nearly alone on the beach.  We could see a storm brewing down the coastline, and, as a result, enjoyed hours of cool breezes and overcast skies.  Perfection.

JB really enjoyed the water and sand!  It was impossible to keep it out of his mouth, so I'm just going along with my Mother's assurance that it's good "roughage".  He was a huge fan of the salty water, and I'm sure he snuck a few sips while we played in the surf.  

We also had a blast in the pool, but no pictures because I rarely brought my camera down.  Between all JB's water crap necessities and our beer cooler (priorities), there were no hands for the Nikon.

One day we ventured over to the city of Pensacola, spending a good amount of time walking the historic district.  What a lovely part of Florida!

Main Street had many great restaurants to choose from, but a build-your-own-burger joint caught our eye and proved a wise decision.  James got a bison burger with cheddar, onion, tomato and romaine lettuce (boooooring), while I enjoyed a turkey burger with dill havarti, green olives, sprouts, arugula and garlic aoli with bacon-infused house made chips (for the win!)  JB was quite upset that his meal consisted of Puffs and purees.

Gimme...

Do they make bacon-infused Puffs?

Speaking of eating, we did a lot of it.  And who can resist some nice Gulf shrimp when you're right there on the Gulf?  Pensacola is home to Joe Patti's Seafood shop, located right on the bay and seemly a favorite among every single person within 50 miles.  The place is quite chaotic.  It took us a while to figure out how to order, but then we were set with our shrimp.

Got our skrimps!

They steam the shrimp for you, which was worth it (once we figured out how to ask for it.)  We waited patiently until they were done, entertaining ourselves with the lobster timer.

Worth the chaos!

Sadly we did not catch anything to eat, but one afternoon we enjoyed watching others fish off the pier.  Not sure what they were catching, but something had everyone all excited.

When we weren't beach bumming or eating, we were just hanging out and being silly.  That's JB's favorite thing to do right now:  be silly.  :)

Honest to goodness, I probably took 200 pictures of this child on the trip, beyond his more "formal" beach pictures.  But can you blame me!?

Such a wonderful trip!! A few days away in Florida with our little family of three resulted in some very happy Sassers once we got back to GA.   I'm ready to go back!