On Tour - 4/5

I ate breakfast in the motel while willing the sun to push the clouds and rain away. It listened to me! I drove to downtown Pensacola, parked the car and wandered around. Later I drove to Main Street almost on the water and harbour. I walked along taking in the local sights. The sun got stronger and the skies lost the grey clouds. It was Mother's Day!

I was surprised to see a very large ship not far from Main Street with an amazing set of crane structures and shovels for dredging at the front. I had to take a photograph and thought about Jan as I did. He is discovering different ship designs as he gets more experience in his job. I am sure he will be able to tell me all about it the next time we meet.

I got talking to an elderly black lady on the sea-front. She was surrounded by old, young, tall, small members of her family. She just wanted a new face to talk to. Perhaps the family had heard it all before for they just stared at me and said nothing. The lady spoke for them all. I enjoyed talking to her and listening to how proud she was of her family on that sunny Mother's Day in Pensacola. How very different from German culture and language with its Du and Sie culture and distance, but then I noticed this on many occasions.  

Following Judy's notes, I got into the car and set out to explore the area. I saw more of the centre before going along the coast to see the sun shining in Gulf Beach and Perdido Key. Great! I wanted to stay longer than I did, but returned to Pensacola and finally headed for Avalon Beach over an incredible, long bridge. I then went to Pensacola Bay and took H98 to Navarre. Perfect holiday resorts with white, fine sand, almost empty beaches.

After taking this all in I moved on to Destin. This is a popular holiday resort and you can see why very quickly. The number of yachts in the harbour clearly indicated how popular it was with the 'sailing classes'!  I walked around, ate a snack and moved down the coast to Panama City Beach. This is larger and clearly designed for the 'classes without yachts'.

I decided it was for me and booked into a very reasonably priced motel built right on the beach. They didn't have single room so for the same price they gave me a two-double-bed room with small dining area, all mod-cons and a balcony overlooking the beach/sea/swimming pool. I took that offer immediately and decided to have a two day break there. A good decision!

That evening I drove to a restaurant and was pleased to be served by an American lady who had lived in Berlin for nearly twenty years. She thought I spoke English with a German accent and so only spoke German with me all evening. I enjoyed it - and the meal!

Back at the hotel I discovered that the w-lan connection was very bad, so I dozed off reading my book on the balcony before 'hitting the sack'.  Next day was perfect. I walked along the beach after breakfast, sat in the sun, paddled in the sea, read again, dozed, showered and shaved before going shopping. Took me all of three minutes to walk to some shops.

 Later I went to a restaurant for a light fish and salad dish, returned to my motel and spent the rest of the day reading, dozing and sipping a light white wine in the evening. In my notes I wrote: "A nice lazy day in Panama City Beach". It really was!