Day 4 was arguably the strangest single day of the trip. Yet, it was also, arguably, the most exciting one, as well.
How so?
Well, it was the only day of the entire trip when we got up and out the hotel door at what some might consider a ridiculous hour. We woke up quickly and left at about five in the morning, in order to reach the Florida state line, and to see a bit of Pensacola Beach.
Why so early? Why not spend more time in Florida?
Two reasons, although one clearly outweighed the other. Mostly, my ex was worried about how Florida led the entire nation in coronavirus cases. Originally, I was expecting to spend a night in Pensacola. But after her quite legitimate concerns, we scrapped that. Still, since we were so close to Florida, and neither my son nor I had ever been, we finally wanted to go and see it. But we also understood that the time constraints on the trip might get in the way. So that is why we left so early, and my son was a good sport about it, very willing to do it. We figured that at such an early hour, there likely would not be too many people either on the road, or on the beach, and we could see just a little bit of Florida, while minimizing the risk of Covid concerns. So that is what we did.
We arrived in Florida just before sunrise. Mostly, it was still dark out, but it was just getting a bit light enough to see. The "Welcome to Florida" sign on the side of the highway is clearly still lit up, and it was darker than the camera suggests. Not much later, we stopped at the visitor's center, which was one of the coolest ones that I have ever been to. Scratch that, probably the very best one that I have ever been to. It felt like a tourist destination unto itself. They had a jet propped up and on prominent display. They had an assortment of palm trees, which nobody else but me seemed to find fascinating. A couple of other things, as well. We stopped for some pictures, cleaned out the car a little bit (it was getting a little too messy), and went to the bathroom, before getting back on the road and heading to Pensacola. Towards the end, it was getting fully daylight, and by the time we reached Pensacola, it was indeed full daylight, if a bit overcast. Also, it was cool, and although we had gotten lucky with how cool the weather had been to this point of the trip, I knew that the forecast from here on out until the end of the trip would be for scorching temperatures. My son actually wished that it was hotter and sunnier for the brief time while we visited this tiny corner of Florida, which of course is known as the Sunshine state. Personally, though, I was fine with it.
The visitor's center had lifted my spirits, but our trip to Pensacola Beach really made me feel like this excursion, if you will, was definitely worth it. There was hardly any traffic, we did not even have to pay for parking and got a great spot right next to the beach. Then, there we were. Finally, here was the Gulf of Mexico, right in front of us! Also, a real, legitimate Florida beach, something that I had heard about, but never actually seen, all through my life. Palm trees, sand, and a whole lot of salt water. We walked over the pier that went maybe somewhere between a quarter of a mile to half a mile over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. There were a bunch of fishermen there, and one of them was playing with dolphins, making them jump up out of the water. Never managed to get a great shot, although there was one shot with both dolphins in it, which I felt was good enough for this morning. Never before had I seen dolphins in the open water, and not merely behind some glass or something in an aquarium, somewhere in captivity. Finally, we walked back and then onto the beach itself, and dunked our feet on. I went a little bit too deep, almost to my thighs, but did not care too much. It was a great morning, and actually, one of the highlights of the trip!
We headed back after a couple of hours, knowing that we still had a full day ahead of us. I had wanted to leave before the beach started getting back, again mostly because of coronavirus concerns. And that is what we did, but both of us feeling satisfied with our admittedly brief excursion into Florida. We went back to our hotel, this time to relax for just a little while. I shaved and showered while he rested, then I rested while he showered. We then checked out and headed towards Louisiana, but before we did, I stopped and did a bit of research. One of the things that I had almost booked - but not quite - before the trip was an Airboat tour. This time, I booked it for four that afternoon, apparently on the other side of New Orleans. That gave us plenty of time, almost too much, but I thought we would find a way to make good use of that.
Once again, we drove through Alabama, which was very short and narrow so close to the Gulf Coast, and then through Mississippi. During my research, I had seen at least two different versions of the "Welcome to Louisiana" sign, but I admittedly wanted the one with the fleur-de-lys and which would be bilingual. Sure enough,we lucked out, because that was the one that we got. We snapped some more pictures, then stopped at the welcome center. Again, it was a cool ne, although admittedly, not as cool as the Florida one had been.
Less than an hour later, after driving over a number of bridges over water, we were near New Orleans. We had seen the skyscrapers as we approached, but we grew excited once we were near. I saw an exit for the Vieux Carré, and seeing that we had some of that extra time, I decided to go ahead. We drove a bit through the old streets, which were reminiscent of Europe, or of Vieux Montréal or Vieux Québec in Canada, although different. For one thing, it was never quite this hot that I could remember in those Canadian cities, or really, anywhere in Canada. By then, the temperatures were easily in the triple digits in Fahrenheit, and it was hot and sweaty. For now, we were driving in an air-conditioned car, but I wondered how uncomfortable the boat ride would be.
So I snapped some few pictures of the French Quarter, and then headed off to the Airboat ride. That was great fun. Some of the alligators came on the boat, one of them right up onto it, albeit briefly. Some of them were very big. My son actually fed some of the alligators, including the big one (ten and a half feet, apparently). And we both held a baby alligator. The tour was about an hour and a half to an hour and forty-five minutes, and it was a truly great experience, also a highlight. My son said that, someday, he definitely wants to come back and do it again. That cheered my heart up, made me feel that I had made the right choice with this trip overall, and this boat tour in particular.
After that, we were both starting to get tired. So we went to our hotel, had to switch rooms when the toilet would not flush, and then relaxed. We had seafood for dinner, but nothing strictly New Orleans or Cajun, although I figured we would get the opportunity. Initially, I had wanted to visit the French Quarter at night, but we were just both too tired. I made reservations for the steamboat tour along the Mississippi for the next evening, and then, for the most part, we called it a night.
Mobile, Alabama
Pensacola Beach, Florida
Airboat Tour Near New Orleans, Louisana
Welcome To (State) Signs:
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