Still Got Sand In My Toes

Last week Andrea and I left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and headed south for a little relaxation in Pensacola, Florida. We had a fabulous time. Caught up on our sleep, enjoyed some fresh seafood, soaked up some sun and, well, got sand in our toes.

The drive took a little over 13 hours from Illinois; straight south through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama into the Florida panhandle. A pretty easy trip compared to our typical epic grinds to Idaho and back.

I smell the ocean! Pensacola Beach is two long bridges south of the city of Pensacola, on a narrow island that separates the bay from the Gulf.

Ahh, white sand and palm trees. Andrea didn't stop smiling for four days.

The view from our hotel balcony.

The same, in panoramic, with the sun coming up over the ocean. Click the picture to see more detail.

I spent most of my time on the beach, collecting sea shells. There was an unbelievable number of shells washed up on the shore - nothing big and fancy, but tons of little perfectly smooth white shells, lots of miniature colorful ones and a few larger spirals and frilly shells if you kept a sharp eye out.

In a few spots on the beach there were just piles of random shells washed up on shore. We don't know what any of them are called, but we collected as many as we could carry anyway.

A very happy couple.

We hated to leave, but were glad we got a chance to leave a few footprints in the sand.