ON THE ROAD WITH THE MARINO'S: 2015-04-12

APRIL 16 - 18 - HUNTSVILLE, AL.

This visit is extra special as my brother Jim will also be visiting so it will be the first time all three of us brothers are together since my Dad passed away in 2001. Strange being older now and two of us retired and Jerry semi retired to see just how much more we have in common over our growing up years when we had very little in common. From left to right my brothers Jim & Jerry, Mom in the center with JoAnn and I to the right.

On Friday us three boys & JoAnn take a misty rainy drive up to Lynchburg, TN for a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery and lunch at our all time favorite MISS MARY BOBO'S BOARDING HOUSE. Meals here are the finest example of Southern cooking you will ever taste

Once stuffed full of awesome Southern cooking we are off to tour the JACK DANIEL DISTILLERY for the third time and we are still amazed. We have done many tours and this ranks as one of the best along with the Sierra Nevada Plant in Chico, CA. and the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Oregon.

After three days of family stories, revisiting my alma mater Huntsville High School for one of their fine theatrical productions of "Once Upon A Mattress", and eating at our favorite restaurants it is time to leave our soggy rain flooded campsite on the Tennessee River and head to Georgia to hopefully end our streak of 9 straight days of RAIN!

We spent the last week in Pensacola FL. There is a lot to see and do here, from old forts to beautiful beaches to the Blue Angles at the Naval Base. Pensacola is on the AL border close to Mobile AL.

04/07

Today we drive to the Gulf Breeze where Ft Pickens is located. This is quite a drive across two bridges, the first is 3 miles and is called the Pensacola Bay Bridge and the second one is short and is called the Bob Sikes Bridge.. The beaches out here are quite beautiful. You drive to the end of the Gulf Islands National Seashore Rd to reach Ft Pickens. The speed limit is only 35 most of the way then drops to 20 when you reach the area where sea birds are nesting. Ft Pickens is a treat, most of the old forts we have been to have been pretty decimated, but Ft Pickens is still pretty much in tact a little worn and shored up in places but you can at least see it was a fort.

There are many of these windows which the guns could shoot outs of to protect the Ft and its boarders.
The picture to the left is believed to be where they stored the mines used in the Gulf.

The big canon below is the Massive Smoothbore that you can read about in the pic to the left.

The building below was once part of one of the Bastions on the corners of the fort. This one was damaged when the powder be stored in it blew up.

After leaving the fort we went to one of the beaches to just sit back and relax!

This turned into an all day adventure. We found out that Bands on the beach starts tonight and really want to stay for that. Tonight the Emerald City Blues Brothers are playing. Should be a good show. We get to the parking area around 4pm and went for dinner at the Dock bar and grill. Set up our chairs by the stage so we would have a place to sit and not have to hurry and eat. The show starts at 7pm. Once fed we grab our beers and head on over to our seats. The show is really good, so glad we stayed. The band dresses like the Blues Brothers, they even have all the great moves. Joe went for a little walk waiting for the show to start and discovered that they even have the Blues Mobile with them.

This has been an awesome day.

04/08

Today we are going to see the Blue Angels. Tried to get an early start and thought we were doing good but when we got the Naval Base it was already packed. We ended up sitting on the grass on the side of a hill. It doesn't matter as it is all up in the air anyway. It is a fairly warm day and the crowd is getting anxious for the start of the show. Once they start bringing the planes out everyone stands up and stays that way until the end of the show.

In this last picture two of them are flying upside down. The show was very cool to watch. This is actually training they do before there big shows. In their next show in South Carolina they will have the first ever women pilot participating in the show. I would like to be able to see that history maker.
After the show we toured the museum, it was pretty interesting. If you are interested in airplanes the Naval Air Station Museum is the place to be with historic planes EVERYWHERE!!

Now on to the light house. It is on the Naval Base just across the road from the museum. It is quite a unique lighthouse as the lighthouse keepers room is up the spiral stairs and then built in behind them. This is the first we have seen done this way. The view was amazing from the top. This is also a working light house and you could watch it lights flash every 20 seconds.

View from the top

Another great day!!!!!

04/09

We are going to Mobile AL today to tour the USS Alabama. Very overcast skies hope it doesn't rain. A very nice 35 mile drive to the Battleship Memorial Park. Once there we discover that we also get to tour a submarine, the USS Drum. Two for one!

The USS Alabama was commissioned August 16, 1942, she earned 9 battle stars and shot down 22 enemy airplanes during World War II. We started our tour below deck. Really tight quarters. Once done viewing below deck Joe takes the steps up to the top of the ship, at least as far as they allow you to climb. I stayed on the deck not much for those kind of heights.

The USS Alabama