Day 3: Down came the rain

We were up early and headed to breakfast.  Right outside of the hotel there was a Waffle House.  Our kids have never been there so we decided this would also be a new road trip tradition. The kids loved it.  I'll have to admit, the food was pretty good.

 After breakfast, we headed to the National Museum of Naval Aviation at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola.  I am so glad this was our plan for the day because to flood gates were open.  It rained all day long.  I don't recall the last time I saw so much rain. 

All I can  say is WOW.  This place is amazing.  They have some of the coolest planes and the kids were able to get inside some of them.  I am not going to attempt to name them or give info about them because I don't know much other than what I read on the signs.  This is the home to the Blue Angels and sometimes they are there signing autographs but not today. It took us about 3 hours to look around.  Anther plus for this is that it was FREE!!!!  Everyone had a great time.



This was found under water and you can watch a short film to learn more about it.

 

My dad was in the air force and his job was loading bombs like this one on to airplanes.

 

They were practicing putting on the seat belts.

This was the Navy's first aircraft. 

If you are ever in Pensacola this is definitely a place you should visit.  The pictures don't do it justice.

 

There is also a light house that you can visit but we only stopped long enough to take a picture. 

 

This was the first day the kids fell asleep in the car.  Three hours of quiet other than the radio or adult conversation.  We may pay for it tonight because they will not want to go to bed but it was so nice!!

 

 

 

Our next stop was Tallahassee.  It rained (poured) on and off the entire way.

We decided to see the capital building since on our many trips out here we have never stopped.

The Old Capital Building

The "New"  (not so impressive) Capital Building

Disappointed but I guess it's hard to compare it to the one in Texas

 

Then it was dinner time.  We missed the exit for one restaurant that we wanted to try.  Since the turn around was 5 more miles we weren't going to turn around and go  in the opposite direction. 

We came across this joint.

 

 

 

The food was very good.

 

This is David's new found food... a burger with an egg...   that's not for me. 

I'll just stick with a traditional burger and have eggs for breakfast.

 

 

 

Connected to Rays' was a candy store.  I found some candy I haven't seen in many years and I tried to get the kids to try some "good" candy.  Some of this candy you can get in stores now but the sweet 'n sour pops, I haven't seen in years.  Haylee wanted the mint toothpicks but I did convince her to get the cinnamon ones mainly so I could try them.  Now that everyone is hyped up on sugar, we are driving on to Gainesville for the night.  We will be up early again tomorrow for another adventure.



 

 

 

Day 2: Happy 4th

The plan for the day was to be at Vicksburg National Military Park when it opened.  David and I were up...  well the kids were another story...

Once we were all up and dressed, we headed out for the day.  We grabbed breakfast and headed for the park.  The last time David and I drove through the park we took my nephew who was about 10 at the time and now he is 19, so it's been a while.

It was a perfect day.  The park is 16 miles long.  We rolled the windows down and heard the birds.  The wind blew through the windows... the weather was just beautiful.  The kids were most excited about the cannons so we stopped at several different ones. 

Carson is pretending to shoot the cannon, while Haylee is down in the trench pretending to shoot a gun.  The had a great time.

This is the only original structure left here from the war in 1863.  Federal soldiers referred to it as the "White House." 

The next stop was the USS Cairo....  well what's left of it.  It was hit by a torpedo and sunk in the Yazoo River.  Some of the original pieces are still there but much of it has been rebuilt through a process called "Ghosting."

This is where it was hit by the torpedo.

More cannons...

National Cemetery

Texas Memorial

In a trench

Since we had arrived early, we missed most of the reenactments that were set for the day.  We were able to find one park ranger in war time attire.  We had a great time at the park, especially on the 4th as the war ended during the same week in 1863.  We left there and headed on to Alabama.

 

In Alabama, we made plans to eat at one of our favorite places....LAMBERT'S...  There are only 3 of these in the US.  One is near Branson, another one also in Missouri, and the third one is in Foley, Al.  We checked the website before leaving to be sure they were open on the 4th and they were.  We arrived for an early lunch because there is ALWAYS at least an hour wait no matter what time you go.  We got there a little before 4 and I drop David off to put our name on the list.  As I am getting the kids out, he says to get back in because they are closing in 10 minutes.... WHAT!!!  No where on the website did it mention they would be closing early..  needless to say we had some very disappointed people in the car..  so here is what we opted for instead.  There's no comparison but it put everyone in a better mood.

You guessed it!!! Krispy Kreme!!!

And they were HOT and fresh....  that's really the only way to eat them.

The kids did pick the patriotic ones....

Then we were off to Pensacola...  the kids are dying to go to the beach..

 

 

We arrived in Pensacola and found it to be PACKED with people.  The wind was blowing so bad that there was a red warning so we told the kids we could walk along the beach to look for shells.

They were impressed by the white sand. 

As you can see, Carson could not just walk down the beach.  He was covered in sand and was soaking wet because the waves knocked him down a few times.

 

 

 

 

This pose only took about 10 minutes to set up....

He looks so sweet and innocent.....with a hand full of sand...

Haylee couldn't stand it any longer.... now she's covered in sand

I do have a tip if you are planning a trip to the beach.... Baby Powder.... if you rub the baby powder where the sand is, it comes right off...  thanks to pinterest for this tip.... 

 

Next we found a local eatery....

It was soooo good!!!!

David had the Chicago dog, while I opted for the standard chili and cheese...

The kids had a good time too....

We stayed for the fireworks show which were fired from the water and played to music.  Despite the thousands of people it was an awesome firework display.

 

 

 

I almost forgot....  we did introduce the kids to a new travel tradition....

 



On the road again.... Summer Vacation 2013

We love to travel, especially to new places.  This summer we decided to go to a place the entire family loves....  Disney World.  Usually we leave early, drive until we get tired, and arrive in two days.  This time we decided to visit some places along the way that we usually fly right by.   One thing we like to do when we travel is to stop if we see something that we want to do.   We have a big plan of our trip but not every stop is planned out.  One pit stop we made was mainly for Haylee and David.  We did not tell her we were stopping until we pulled up and she could see the Duck Dynasty trailer.   Godwin was there signing autographs but we didn't have anything for him to sign.  We went into the store to buy postcards and when we came out, he was leaving so no autographs for us this time.

Trying to stay busy in the car to pass the time...

We finally made it to Mississippi for the night.  We are staying in Vicksburg in hopes of seeing the battlefield tomorrow.

A few pictures from the visitor's center

 

Mississippi River

 

 

 

We also try to eat a local places when we travel.  We founds this drive-in called Bumpers.  The food was very good.