Big Lagoon State Park, Pensacola, Florida

Tuesday, Feb 27, we were off and rolling again. This time we were headed to Big Lagoon State Park west of Pensacola, Florida. The campground is located on a big lagoon, but inland only a few miles from the Gulf beach. We are now seeing much more destruction from past hurricanes. The beach area here was wiped out in hurricane Ivan 3 years ago. There is lots of building going on now.

Our campground had a 16’ water surge and was inundated with boats, refrigerators and trash. It’s in surprisingly good shape now, but the campground host said it was terrible just a year ago. We understand that the campgrounds and facilities to the west of here (Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) are in bad shape. That area was hit by Katrina.

Pensacola and surrounding area has 3 military bases. Pensacola Naval Air Station is just a few miles from our campsite and its flight pattern passes right over the campground. Those jets can really make some noise. It’s been fun to watch them come in. It’s the home to the Blue Angels and we saw them practicing. The base also has a Naval flight museum that is quite impressive.

The highlight or our whole trip was a visit to see Major Freddie K (son of good friends Debbie and Fred from our hometown) who is stationed at Hulburt Field outside Ft. Walton Beach (just an hour’s drive to the east of us). Freddie went out of his way to give us a personal tour of the base. It is the only Air Force special ops base in the U.S. The special ops command was established by President Reagan after the failed rescue attempt of American hostages in Iran. These guys’ job is to fly behind enemy lines, usually at night! Freddie flies a MH 53 (jolly green giant) helicopter and has been to Iraq two times already.

We walked out onto the tarmac and visited one of these helicopters. Look at the photo to see the pilot and copilot. It was a kick. Next, we were on to the building with the simulators. We actually got to fly a C130 troop transport simulator. They are very realistic. The “cockpit” is an actual mockup of the real thing, in a small room. The room is controlled by hydraulic pistons, driven by computers. So when you turn the airplane, the cockpit actually moves. In addition, the views out of the cockpit are computer driven visual displays. They use Goggle maps and can pick any area and practice flying over it. We flew over the Pensacola area and it looked so real. What an experience.

The last stop of the day was a visit to the control tower for the airfield. We took an elevator up 9 stories and got an orientation about the equipment in the tower and how it worked.

You really have to appreciate all these men and women and what they all do for us. A special thanks to Freddie for the tour.

We topped the day off with a visit with our friend Jane M. who lives in Niceville. It’s about a half hour north of Ft. Walton Beach. We got a tour of the area and a lovely dinner at her home. We hope we have convinced her to visit us at Rose Parade time.