For our last weekend in the States, Anna and I had the pleasure of visiting the Florida panhandle to visit our good friend, Tom. Since he was at SOS with us, it was convenient to follow him home after we graduated from the class. We drove the less than 3 hours down to the coast. He lives in a very nice condo right on the water in Fort Walton Beach. Since we got there in the late afternoon, we decided to watch the sunset at the Boardwalk. Here’s the pier at the beach.
Tom and Anna enjoying the cool evening.
My supermodelesque wife…
The next morning, Tom took us to the state park where he volunteers from time to time. We rented a canoe for Anna and me, while Tom took a kayak. Our goal was to see the “real” Florida. That meant paddling up a small tributary creek that feed into the bay. As you can see, we found the real Florida.
In the bay, there was lots of life. Fish jumped all around us, while pelicans and other birds worked to gorge themselves on all the fish.
Since Tom had the more nimble craft, we let him go in and explore the possible routes to take. However, after a short while, we found the large river that led us a mile or so up the river. The current wasn’t overwhelming, but it was present. So, that made the trip back down to the bay, very pleasant as we drifted along with the current. We didn’t see any alligators (we were hoping to), but we did find some fish and turtles.
After our workout on the river, we decided that the beach sounded like a perfect destination. The sugar sand there was very enjoyable. When we first got there, dolphins greeted us from the distance. I jumped in the water for a swim, but unfortunately, they had already departed. In fact, I didn’t see any fish. After all my open water swimming in Guam surrounded by aquatic life, it was strange not to see anything in the water.
This couple had decided to take a dip in the water as well.
As Tom and Anna soaked up the sun, I went off to watch the ubiquitous seagulls. I really liked this image shows the distinctive gull wing, forward swept, as it took flight.
This is the sleepy-eyed seagull enjoying his day on the beach as well.
Even though the Gulf doesn’t really produce much in the way of waves, there was a group of teenagers scurfing.
Again, there were more pelicans.
Eventually, we followed the sound of music, and made our way to a nearby hotel. This man was a one-man band who sang his own version of country music, along with various covers of other artists. We listened to him for over an hour as we enjoyed the perfect weather on the beach.
The next morning, we got up and headed back to Montgomery. However, spending the weekend with Tom in Florida was a great send off before we left for Germany. Not only is Tom a good friend and host, we also learned that he’s quite a good tour guide.
Until the next adventure…
–Jim
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Our Family Story.