Chapter 20 – The Florida Panhandle

Christmas is just around the corner, dear readers. Since last I wrote, we have visited Pensacola and Panama City, turned my husband 64 years old, and bought our next home!

How’s that for an opening line? Patience, dear reader, I promise to fully explain.

First let’s start with Pensacola. I would swear this was not our first visit. I’m convinced I asked Dale to stop there when we moved from Charleston, being the huge movie nerd that I am, I would have felt the need to stop and check it out since it was part of a significant moment in the movie Contact, when the benevolent alien presents himself to Jodie Foster as her father from a favorite childhood memory in Pensacola. But, I can honestly say, none of it was familiar. Which means we had a terrific time exploring. It was Dale’s birthday time, so he defined the agenda.

We arrived on Sunday, with enough time for us to set up camp at Pensacola Beach RV Resort and order a Lyft to head into downtown Pensacola for the Pensacola Children’s Choir Christmas Show at the historic Saenger Theater. We were looking forward to a different holiday celebration, and those kids did not disappoint. The kids ranged in age from 6 to 18, so can imagine the music ranged from real talent to “OMG how cute is that!”. It was quite an impressive production being fully choreographed and with multiple impressive costume changes, we were so entertained and feel so lucky we found it! It ended early enough that we were able to wander downtown and find a fun dinner. The Lyft ride back home was with a gentleman who spoke little English, and of course, any Spanish I have learned over the years has evaporated unless we are talking beers and bathrooms. So I tried to converse using a Translation app…..I believe I embarrassed myself a bit. But he was a good sport and got us where we wanted to be without issue.

On Monday, Dale’s agenda included a bike ride before we prepped for dinner. It was a cold morning, but we dressed appropriately and headed East down the beach. It was a nice ride, very safe along a bike path the whole way. It is important to note that Pensacola Beach seems to be a land of rental units. We couldn’t figure out what hurricanes had scared to devil out of all the homeowners with For Sale signs hanging out front, until we realized they were For Rent signs. Then we were stuck imaging what the place must be like when all those units, as well as the massive resort hotels, are full with Spring Breakers. Sooooo glad we visited on the off-season! After a ten mile round trip, the last five miles enjoying the wind at our backs, we stopped for lunch at a very fun little burger place. Obviously a favorite with the locals. We were both a bit afraid we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our fancy dinner. So what else was there to do but keep riding! So, off we went to the west. Figuring we’d head to the end of the spit and visit Fort Pickens, yet another old Fort established in Civil War times. I got a bit excited about the potential for another bonus stamp, as we had to enter another National Seashore to get there…..but no visitor center was open. So we just had to be happy with the bonus 20 mile bike ride instead. We like to believe we worked off our lunch and earned our dinner, and I wasn’t grinch enough to remind ourselves that it wasn’t true. It was his birthday, after all.

We dolled ourselves up and headed back to downtown Pensacola for dinner at Angelena’s Ristorante Italiano. We were told on the way that the restaurant was started by two time Food Network Chopped winner James Briscione. We were pretty excited we might see the chef, only to find out he has since moved onto a private social club. (where is the pride and loyalty??) The current chef still pumped out some fantastic food, though. And they had a great birthday desert for Dale. Then we wondered across the street into the Old Hickory Whiskey Bar, Dale’s choice. But it was pretty impressive to see the enormous wall of Whiskey choices. I enjoyed a pretty tasty Christmas themed concoction while Dale had a Manhattan made with his fancy bourbon of choice.

Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels, and we had been told that the practice every Tuesday and Wednesday from 10am – noon and that they buzz Pensacola Beach where we were staying. Turns out, though, that only happens during their “season” – March through November. One of the downfalls of traveling here during the off season. All in all though, Dale had a lovely birthday, and we enjoyed a chilly visit to Pensacola.

Our next planned stop was Panama City, 90 minutes further east. So we took the slow scenic route along the beaches. And we were stunned at the number of HUGE resort hotels and beach front Condos along the entire route. From a business perspective, I simply can’t believe they ll can run at a capacity that keeps them in business, and from a personal perspective, the thought of when they do, when the beaches are wall to wall people, well, just, wow. By the time we rolled into our spot at the Panama City Beach RV Resort, we expected it to be packed. But instead, in another parks with 100 spots, we were 1 of maybe 10. We were right next door to St. Andrews State Park. So we took a bike ride to explore and find the advertised Gator Pond. We found it, it was a pretty ride, but WAY too cold for any gator sightings. But the great herons were nesting! We did discover the state park campground was packed full! But then again, it was located right on the water, some of the spots had a pretty sweet view. We were whining a bit about how our campsite finder app seems to missing some state parks that we would have loved to consider. but then, the fog set in. And I do mean a literal fog. We were quite sure that the sweet view was long gone.

The morning dawned and everything was wet with humidity. I guess the good news was it was warm enough for shorts, but the bad news you couldn’t see anything. Any thoughts of taking a beach walk were dashed by the realization that you would see nothing but grey. We did find a pretty cool network of hiking trails about 30 minutes away, and a little sunshine peeked out, but it stayed pretty humid. We had high hopes that the fog would be gone by the time we got back, but to no avail. It was a quiet afternoon.

Day two dawned and it was foggy and humid again! We couldn’t help it, we started talking about our future living arrangements. The biggest thing we constantly discuss is when, and where, we think we might want to buy a home again. Or should we never buy a home and simply rent. But do we want to always have a home base and travel from there, or just keep living a nomads life? As you can imagine, we can spin this one around the block a whole lot. The foggy weather started to bring back how small of a space in which we were living. And we were both realizing we weren’t ready to settle anywhere yet, we really like moving around, and we really like being able to see all our friends and family around the country where they are. And we both realized it was time for more space. We finally realized we were past the “camping” lifestyle, but still enjoyed the roaming, so it was time to find a home on wheels. As it turns out, Panama City has one of the better RV dealers we’d seen. So, since we were looking for something to do, we decided to go check things out. I swear the Universe is an amazing thing. We drove into the dealer wanting a Super C, willing to look at ClassA diesel pushers, and even maybe a gas powered rig. They had 2 SuperCs on site. The first was a no go – it had bunk beds for kids…..then they took us to the back lot, to the other one that arrived 2 days earlier from the manufacturer. It was PERFECT. A king size bed, two bathrooms, table for 2, theater seating for two, residential refrigerator, dishwasher and a stacked washer and dryer. A Tiffin Allegro Bay 38BB, a nearly 40ft moving condo on a Freightliner chassis. It is a beast! And we took the plunge and have now bought our new home. We have spent the last 36 hours loading it up, learning how to do things like turn on the heat (Its freaking cold in Florida right now!) and turning it into a home. We really do feel like we have bought a condo. We are starting a newer chapter that includes deciding where we want our condo to be for awhile, and then the next while, and then the one after that!

For now, we will be spending quality time in St. Petersburg, Charleston, and Orlando. We’ve validated that our new home will fit into all the spots we have reserved, and we have found where he’ll be tucked away for our trip to Europe. I can hardly wait to share our next experiences, dear readers! Until then – let us all enjoy our holiday celebrations, however we all are doing so!

Wishing you all great cheer, Lady Wanderingwise