Greetings from Pensacola Beach

It is currently storming in the Florida panhandle, but I don't care because I got more than an hour in the Gulf of Mexico in the early evening, where the water was warm, the air was relatively cool (it was nearly 100 in Mobile earlier in the day), and there were few people and lots of seashells. I didn't know what to expect, having never seen the Gulf before this afternoon -- I didn't find mole crabs, but I did find little burrowing coquina clams like in the Carolinas, and there were herring gulls, laughing gulls, and pelicans all flying over the water which had fairly good-sized waves in the wake of the afternoon's thunderstorms.

Earlier in the day, we left Georgia and drove into Atlanta, where we picnicked at a very warm rest stop before heading into Mobile to visit the Museum of Mobile in the Southern Market, which used to be City Hall. There's a temporary exhibit on Florida's East Coast pirates -- pieces of eight and artifacts from the Atocha wreck, plus maps, weapons, and illustrations of Drake (considered a pirate in these parts apparently), Teach, Bonny, Read, Gambi, Lafitte, et al. There are also history exhibits on the city and the region, including a replica of the hold of a slave ship, the interior of a Confederate submarine, one of Mobile-born Hank Aaron's home run balls, several historic carriages and house models, and an exhibit on Mardi Gras in Alabama.


Daniel and Adam in the pirates exhibit, which had videos of old pirate movies...


...as well as guns, cutlasses, armor, sailing equipment, and treasure including silver coins and copper blocks.


Here are the boys in the model of a Confederate submarine, which looks considerably less fun to travel aboard.


One of the many early artifacts of the region in the historical exhibit downstairs.


A statue in downtown Mobile of Confederate naval hero Raphael Semmes, captain of the commerce raider Alabama, which took dozens of prizes. After the war and his trial for treason as a U.S. naval defector, he taught philosophy at LSU.


The USS Alabama, which saw a great deal of action in the Pacific in 1944-45, is in Mobile Bay's Battleship Memorial Park.


The view from our room at the Hampton Inn in Pensacola Beach.


Here are the kids when we first arrived at the beach, before they determined that the water was warm enough to take their shirts off and stay a while.

Tuesday after some morning beach time we are off to Biloxi and New Orleans! I hear there was a coup in Honduras, but the news here still seems to be the All Michael Jackson, All the Time channel, except for five minutes on Billy Mays...