Day 72: Pensacola Family Visit

The morning started off with an al fresco breakfast near our site, after some Minecraft time. We then strolled along the Intracoastal Waterway to check out the water views from the campground. The campground shows small amounts of damage from Hurricane Sally (which hit in mid-September), but they have been very busy repairing everything.

We then got dressed for the beach and brought a ton of stuff with us. The boys realized this is likely our last family beach day for the year, so they wanted to bring all the sand and water toys to make the most of it. The beach was pretty empty, partly due to it being November, but also because many of the hotels in the area still closed due to hurricane damage.

The beach time was mainly focused on building race tracks for their monster trucks, which they smoothed and regraded over and over again with the shovel and rake. Rob and I took a walk down to the pier and saw a dozen very large rays moving through the water. It was really cool.

Next, we packed up to get ready to see Rob’s Aunt Zoe and Uncle Ed and have our first home cooked meal since we left. Zoe and Ed were amazing hosts and we all had such a wonderful time getting to see them again. Mark, Rob’s cousin, was able to join us for dinner, too, which made it extra special. They had offered to have the boys fish from their dock which had them SO excited; it was all they have been talking about all day. Using shrimp as bait, these boys were casting and having a marvelous time within minutes of us getting there. As luck would have it, they both enjoyed catching their very first fish ever today. Cooper caught a red fish and Nicholas caught a catfish.

The boys loved running around and playing with their dog, Jim, too.

We enjoyed an amazing flank steak, which is one of the meals we have missed most since being on the road. The adults sat at one table while the boys enjoyed a space just for the two of them. They enjoyed having some more freedom with their own meal, especially when it involved a battery-powered salt grinder. It was so fun to be together again with some of our family in the South.