July 15th, 16th & 17th, 2001

No real journal entry for the next few days. A number of people back in Iowa have wondered where on earth I came from... hello all of you. Pensacola Florida, or PenSUCKola as me and my friends used to call it in our angst ridden teenage years, is the town in which I grew up... the pictures that follow are from places I grew up or places that had significance to me... so... no, I wasn't cloned or anything. ;)

The picture on the left is one of the entrance ways to the beach in Pensacola. The railroad bridge you see in the background is painted completely white every few years only to have it graffitied all over again in a span of a few weeks. I think putting your name on it is some rite of passage or something. Not that I'd know. ;)
The middle picture is Wayside Park... there's a tourist information booth there.
The third picture is 3 Mile Bridge, or the Pensacola Bay Bridge. It spans the bay and leads out to the beach. Long long ago it used to be a draw bridge, but they built the current structure and converted the old bridge into a fishing pier.

The left picture is of the old Muskogee Wharf. Back in the 50s the barges that came into Pensacola would tie up there... and you could walk out onto it. Over the years it fell into disrepair and many hurricanes later has been battered down into what you see now.
The middle picture is the Pensacola Beach Ball, and palm trees. To get out to Pensacola Beach you have to cross 3 mile bridge and then another smaller, toll bridge that spans the sound.
The right picture here is the view from the hotel I was at on the 14th to watch the airshow. That's the Gulf Of Mexico you see.

Heh... this is a good one. The pier you see in the left picture... it's been destroyed probably about a dozen times by hurricanes over the years. They finally got pissed off enough at this to build the pylons and base of the thing with concrete.
Um.. the middle picture is just a random shot.
Ah... the right picture is of one of the largest dunes left on Pensacola beach. Sort of the Guardian Dune... that's why it has the cross on it and is totally fenced in. Hurricanes Erin and Opal pounded the hell out of the beach... and flattened most of the dunes.

Left: Just a random pic down the main strip through the beach. Well, if the dunes are all gone at least they have buildings everywhere to take their place. :P
Center: The Gulf Of Mexico and nice pristine beach. This is how I'll always remember the beach looking from when I grew up...
Right: The entrance to Fort Pickens... a civil war era fort based off the beach. It used to be really cool when I was younger, but they've closed off most of the forts now as they've begun to age and crubmle. Notably, they held Geronimo there when they captured him.

Left: A Parking Lot. We used to go here a lot and park and walk out to where-ever on the beach. Note the white car... that's the Mighty Metro. *snickers*
Center: From Fort Pickens looking back towards Pensacola Beach.
Right: A picnic and beach and boardwalk area down a ways on the beach. These were constructed to keep people from trampling the dunes all to hell.

Left: Remember what I said about the dunes being beaten to hell? Well, this is how they try to spur they're regrowth. It's a long process though...
Center: How so very Baywatch, huh? ;)
RIght: Ah... note the scalloped appearance of the shore... like someone's scooped out chunks at regular intervals. Something happened after hurricanes Erin and Opal that changed the water currents in the Gulf... something was changed just off shore or something that has caused mass amounts of funky erosion all over the island. It's starting to threaten some developements along the Gulf side of the beach it's gotten so bad.

Left: One of the Gulf's less popular residents... a jellyfish. They like to travel in large schools and sting the living shit out of you.
Center: More of that erosion thing I was talking about earlier...
Right: Looking down the beachfront from around the entrance of Fort Pickens.

And somewhere I can taste the salty seas...

As a kite blowing out of control on the breeze...

Left: Um... some weird bastardization of kite flying, surfing and sailing.
Center: More of the same.
Right: Feeding the seagulls.

Left: Okay... this requires a little explanation. We call this the flying saucer house. Basically... some guy years and years back(like, before I was born, probably) decided it'd be cool to build what looked like a martian lander on top of his house. Now... they rent it out to people who want to stay in something odd when they're at the beach.
Center: The residential area of Pensacola beach.
Right: Remember that toll bridge I was talking about earlier. That's it... Bob Sykes Bridge.. or the Sound Bridge.

Left: Gulf Breeze cops SUCK. We're talking rent-a-cops with guns. Gulf Breeze is one of the largest speed traps in the states... so when passing through to get to the beach drive the speed limit or you'll get nailed. The cops are so bored they have nothing else to do.
Center: This sign has been around since the 70s. It looks like a refugee from the Las Vegas strip. I always thought(and still think) that's it's pretty cool. At night it lights all up.
Right: A souvenir shop that's been in operation since I was a little kid. Sort of a landmark.

Okay... one last little beach landmark. This used to be a Tastee Freeze, and has been bought out and renamed a few times over the years... but every place that's gone in there has been an ice cream shop.

This was depressing. This was my elementary school, East Hill Christian. I think they moved, and now they're selling the building. =( Damn, I feel old.

The PATS Center. I went there once a week as a kid.

Um... Cervantes St. Yep.

Hunan's Chinese Restraunt... I think this might be one of Pensacola's oldest Chinese places. That's Papa and Mimi posing there. =) Hi guys!

One of the houses I grew up in. It didn't look this nice when I lived there, owners over the years have really pimped the place out.

Let's see... spent about 10 years or so in this house. I've got a lot of fond memories of growing up here...

Left: Bayou Texar... grew up quite near it and used to fish there fairly often.
Right: Dunwoody Park. Large undeveloped park near where I used to live. Had lots of adventures there.

Okay... we're getting into borderline lameness here. ;P
Left: My highschool bus stop.
Center: The street I used to live on.
Right: The house I spent my middle and highschool years in.

Left: This really cool house in our neighborhood. Always liked it. =)
Center: Bayou Boulevard. This long and winding two laned road that runs along Bayou Texar.
Right: This really cool house in my grandparent's neighborhood.

My grandparents' house. =)

Left: My Uncle Pete. I was named after him.
Center: My cousin, Alyson.
Right: My grandmother, Mimi. (Bernice)

Left: Uncle Pete, again. Not sure what he's doing there...
Center & Right: Trying to get a good picture of Alyson...

Left: Alyson discovers Yahtzee. ;)
Center: Papa reading the news.
Right: Cruising around East Hill, a residential/business area of Pensacola.

Left & Center: East Hill Hardware. This store has been around for ages. The guy that runs it originally started his store in this old greasy barbeque pit that was here. Over the years he's turned the place into what you see today.
Right: A firestation that they converted into an art gallery.

Left & Center: Strange things are afoot at the Circle K, Ted. (Hey Chris! Look! A Circle K!)
Right: Jay's Bakery... another Pensacola landmark. It's been around for at least 20 years or so. They have the best smiley face cookies. =)

Wandering around Bayview Park

This next dozen pictures or so are from a place called Bayview Park. I spent every summer from when I was five up until I was about 14 here. They ran a daycamp all summer long. Walking through there unearthed a mountain of memories about the people I knew there...

One of the daycamp boundaries. Me and my friends used to hang around up here frequently...

Another hangout spot.

The community center itself.

The Senior Citizen Center. To this day, I've never been inside.

"The Dock" We weren't allowed to go out here because we might fall into Bayou Texar and grown some extra limbs or something. (the water is pretty icky...)

An outbuilding we used to play in all the time.

The gymnasium. It used to look bigger...

Bayou Texar bridge. On a clear day, you can see 3 Mile Bridge beyond it.

A huge Magnolia tree. Another frequently visited playing spot.

Picnic tables on a hill overlooking The Bayou.

A memorial gravestone put up for some guy who was waterskiing without a lifejacket, got knocked out and drowned. They never found his body...

The Roots. Hurricanes have taken down most of the trees, but once upon a time there were about 5 trees out in the middle of the water with their roots exposed so you could climb all over them. It was fun as a kid, okay? :P

Not sure what this is exactly... some sort of structure built to conduct religous services at, I think.

More park benches... another popular hangout...

Near the Magnolia tree from before...

Some huge cement steps. They used to show movies here on a screen down by the water back in the 50s, according to my mom and grandmother.

The End?

Some of my family in Pensacola: Uncle Pete, Mimi, Papa and Alyson. ;)

So... as I wandered around through these and some of the other old spaces I used to dwell I remembered a happy kid that used to run through the waters of the beach and through the trees and hills of the park. I now wonder what happened to that kid... the outgoing and vivacious child full of life and infinite cheer who was ready to take on the world.

As I wandered through the halls of my old highschool, some answers began to rear their head. I didn't bother taking any pictures... there wasn't a whole lot to see. Of course, I guess one could argue that about most of the pictures in this batch, if you aren't me at least.

I find, though, that now that I've gotten back to Florida... I don't really feel the desire to continue documenting my trip... writing down all the little details. Florida is known territory to me... it doesn't have the shine and the "oh-wow" feeling to it that everything else did. I just sort of want to visit with everyone I know here, take some pictures and that be it.

I'm not sure what form this will take in the last couple weeks of this trip. Probably something more similar to what I had originally intended... I guess I'll just have to see.

It's good to be here, in familiar environs near people I knew and grew up with. But, as the saying goes, you can't go home again. And as I wander and drive around, I realize the truth in that statement. Everything changes.

I want that kid back that had an easier time going with the flow...