AN EXTENDED VACATION

Our six weeks in Pensacola are almost at an end. I can't believe I won't be able to see the Blue Angels on a weekly basis!  :(  The Pensacola area has lots of stuff going on - we've been attending the weekly (free!) concerts in Seville Square on Thursdays,



the Bands on the Beach concerts on Pensacola Beach on Tuesdays,



and the concerts each weekend at the Portofino Boardwalk. There's just so much going on around here, lots of it free! We visited the lighthouse at NAS Pensacola as well as the Naval Air Museum, also located at NAS Pensacola.

The Naval Air Museum is amazing - something for everyone. If you only have a passing interest in aviation there are plenty of displays and interactive activities, and if you're interested in learning more there are many videos playing throughout the museum, as well as the guided tours. The tours are led by volunteers, who obviously have a love of aviation, and the guide we had was an aviator himself and had been flying since the 1940s. He was so knowledgeable and his personal recollections about so many of the planes made our tour really fascinating.



There's also an IMAX theater at NAS Pensacola with three different movies playing throughout the day. When the Blue Angels practice (usually on Tuesday and Wednesday) the museum is much more crowded, but the bonus is that after the Wednesday practices the Blue Angel pilots come to the museum to sign autographs, pose for pictures and answer questions.

We drove to Perdido Key one day and didn't think it was as nice as Pensacola - and it's much further away from.....anything. If you're a beach bum and want to laze away the days by the pool or on the beach I guess that really doesn't matter, but if you want a variety of things to see and do Pensacola seems to have it all. If I were planning another vacation to the Pensacola area one of the first places I'd look is the BLUE ANGELS WEBSITE, just to make sure they'll be here at the same time!