Gulf Islands National Seashore & Fort Pickens & Emerald Coast - Florida

October 2 

We started out at Gulf Islands National Seashore & Fort Pickens. 

 Great Blue Heron is hiding behind the sign

 Battery Worth

 Fort Pickens from a distance (really zoomed)

 cute little crab on the road

 the fort in the distance

 pelicans

 lighthouse across the water (where we were yesterday)

Fort Pickens was past its prime since the new rifled artillery could penetrate the brick walls. The U.S. Army created a reinforced concrete Battery Pensacola. So, essentially it was a fort within a fort.

We didn't walk the whole fort area as it was huge. We visited the small museum and walked around a bit.

 the fort within the fort

 we took the walkway down to the beach, though we found no new birds

 cute crab

 across the water

 jellyfish

The white sand here was once granite in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Of all the minerals in granite, quarts is the one that survives the long trip from the mountains to the Gulf relatively intact.

It was lunch time so we stopped at The Shrimp Basket.

 Boom Boom Shrimp 

 fish basket

Next we stopped at a boardwalk. It was short and we really didn't see much. (wrong time of year really as it's a rookery) 

 Great Blue Heron

 turtle poking his nose out of the water

The last place that we stopped at had no public access. Often times, guides can gain access for their group, but it was clear that it was not open to the public. So, we headed home.

The Emerald Coast is an unofficial name for the coastal area in the US state of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico that stretches about 100 miles through five counties, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, and Bay, from Pensacola to Panama City. Some south Alabama communities on the coast of Baldwin County, such as Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Fort Morgan embrace the term as well. Recently the region has increasingly been dubbed the Redneck Riviera.

Also called LA (Lower Alabama) but most affectionately called the Redneck Riviera. A strip of surf and sand that stretches some 95-miles along Florida's Highway #98. The most beautiful beaches in the world. Sugar white sand, gently washed by an azure sea.

Popular vacation destinations include Pensacola, Pensacola Beach, Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Navarre Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, WaterColor, Panama City Beach, Destin, and Seaside, a planned community whose iconic pastel-paint and tin-roof construction was made famous in the Jim Carrey movie The Truman Show, filmed in the area from 1996-1997. Other communities on the Emerald Coast include Perdido Key, Navarre, Sandestin, Mexico Beach, Grayton Beach, Inlet Beach, and Santa Rosa Beach.

I honestly think they are some of the most beautiful beaches in Florida. Wide white sand beaches and not as built up as the ones down south. It made for a beautiful drive.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2LVUz9KCFk8o4vhe7

Oct 3 – we took the day off, but we did go out for lunch at the Fish House to have Grits à Ya Ya. Seriously tasty dish. Flavorful (not quite too spicy) shrimp and the sauce on the cheesy grits is amazing.  Sonya, the recipe you found looks similar, but the shrimp are sautéed in something flavorful and the sauce is cooked down more so no large chunks of veggies. Their cheesy grits that everything is served on are great by themselves. More like a soft polenta than "plain grits". I'm sure you can make a great dish with the recipe online.

Tomorrow we leave for Tallahassee.