Toes in the Water, Toes in the Sand

I decided to make a career change at 55 (Yikes!!) and Friday is my last day at this job before starting another next week.  I gave my two week notice but added a couple of days to it as I still had two personal days that I could use that I wouldn't be compensated for.  We left town Friday night after work and headed to the beach!  Tricia had booked Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday at Fort Pickens National Park near Pensacola, Florida.  We would be tent-camping and were looking forward to it.  Russ took care of all the animal chores while we were gone.

We arrived in Pensacola after a six hour drive.  It was after midnight.  We pulled up to the campsite and began to pitch our tent in the dark but found out that the poles were broken!  Defeated, we found a hotel for the night and purchased a new tent in the morning.  Home Sweet Home for the next few days!

We cooked on a little Coleman stove for the next few days.  Camp food always tastes great.  I don't know why that is.

The further you can get away from the Mississippi River, the whiter the sand is and the bluer the water is.  There's a reason they call it the "Big Muddy."

We saw bottlenose dolphins jumping out of the water, sandpipers poking in the sand, and two stingrays gracefully flapping their "wings" in the water.  That's them below:

It was SO RELAXING!!  No agenda.  No plans.  Just soaking up the sun and napping.

The days were very comfortable, but the nights got cool - into the 40's.  We made campfires and had s'mores!

Tricia and I were able to spend a lot of uninterrupted time together.  We read the Bible, we sang, we laughed and talked.  Just before 5 PM, the sun put on a performance on the western horizon.  We didn't miss it. 

If we could just catch it and make the days on vacation last longer!

Going....

Gone...

Relaxed and Refreshed!

A nice beach vacation...