National Aviation Museum - Pensacola

Saturday, January 5
I had heard some great things about the Naval Aviation Museum. It is situated on the grounds of the Naval Air Station in Pensacola which also home to the Blue Angels, the Navy Air Demonstration Team. Oh, and admission is FREE!

Security gate at Pensacola Air Station. The Air Museum is on the grounds.

Pensacola Lighthouse is across the road from the Air Museum. We didn't get the chance to go up but I hear the view of the Gulf is great.

F-14 Tomcat greats us.

We started by taking the free trolley bus on the flight line tour. The driver was an ex-Navy pilot and had some great stories about the planes and his experiences flying in the Navy.

Mitchell Bomber

Heavy helicopters

Awaiting restoration! A lot of work ahead.

A retired Blue Angels Hercules. They use a newer one now. It hauls air support crew and spare parts to the Blue Angels airshows.

The Blue Angels practice from this airstrip. The public is invited to watch them practice, but they are in California this time of year.

This is also a training base. You can just see one under the canopy. 

An early AWACS radar plane

A T-38 Talon. They used these as 'bad guys' for training purposes. We saw these out in Arizona too.

Good ole DC-3

The business end of a F-14 Tomcat

Inside the cafeteria was filled with names and insignia's of former operations units.

Awesome carvings

Back in the main building we took a docent-led walking tour of the museum. It was supposed to take 90 minutes, but we finally finished about 2 1/2 hours later. Our docent was an ex-Navy pilot and served in Vietnam. He had amazing stories about his time as a pilot. As a Navy pilot he was based on the aircraft carrier Midway. His stories of carrier landings during day and night, and the final days of the Vietnam War were amazing.

Cobra helicopter

Early flying boat. One of the Navy's first plane.

No fancy hangar for these guys. They fixed their flying boats on the beach.

German WWII Fokker 

The first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic

Early aircraft carrier. They added a wooden frame to the back of a ship. They slowed the plane down by sandbags attached to a rope that the aircraft landing gear snagged.

Early WWII fighters. Our docent is standing in front. He had some great stories.

WWII fighter that saw action......

.......with the bullet holes patched.

The famous FU-4 Corsair. Very powerful and fast.

A Corsair radial engine. About 1200 HP.

Mock-up of a carrier bridge.

Intake of an F-14 Tomcat.

A modern radar surveillance plane.

Retired Blue Angels F-18

The landing gear of the F-18. Heavy duty for carrier landings

Interesting that the Blue Angels actually fly old F-18 that have carrier-expired airframes. Turns out that airshows are easier on a plane than carrier landings. Then the Blue Angels finally retire a plane it heads to a museum.

Vietnam-era A-8. This is the plane our docent flew.

This innocent little Cessna has quite a history. It landed on the carrier Midway off the coast of Vietnam in the final days of the war. Meant to carry two people, there were seven people on board. Our docent was onboard the Midway and watched the whole thing.

They have over 120 aircraft in the museum. Amazing place.....and FREE!

Ex-Blue Angels planes

Love these aircraft museums. This was one of the best and the docents stories really added to the experience.

.....and that was Our View From Here!

Mobile Bay area

Thursday and Friday, January 3 & 4
We drove east on Hwy 64 from the campground toward Daphne, AL. Daphne is a small community on the shores of Mobile Bay, just across the bay from Mobile, AL.

Pretty flowering bushes all over town.

Some folks have nice looking decks on their docks. This is Mobile Bay.

The skyline of Mobile, Alabama across the Bay.

Plantation-style homes

Some big homes along the shore.

Just south of Daphne is another bay community of Fairhope. These are both very pretty towns. We decided to stop for lunch at Panini Pete's. Very tasty sandwich!

Panini Pete's restaurant in the 'French Quarter' square in downtown Fairhope.

Lots of shops and restaurants here.

Daffodil-type flowers and Dianthus

Historic downtown Fairhope

Ornate railings

Huge tree......

.....and the roots! Looks like a foot.

Fairhope Pier extending out into Mobile Bay.

Beautiful countryside.......

......and large homes.

We headed back to the campground. That was enough beauty for one day. Next day we went south on Hwy 59 to Foley. It was about 11 AM and we were pretty hungry so we stopped at Lambert's Cafe, home of the 'Throwed Roll'. This is one good restaurant. Food is excellent, lots of it and at a great price. You can have as many rolls as you like, you just have to catch them as the server tosses them about the restaurant. They also serve 'pass-arounds'. These are bowls of side dishes that the servers walk around handing out. Things like fried potatoes, tomato and macaroni, black-eyed peas, fried okra and apple butter for your rolls.

Downtown Foley

Lunch at Lambert's Cafe.

Town Square in downtown Foley

Hotel Magnolia. Beautiful veranda.

After lunch we stopped at the Tanger Outlet Mall. Lots of good January sales meant we headed home broke and with a truckload of stuff. Well, maybe not a truckload but we did get some good buys.

Foley is a very pretty town and also very busy. Lots of new construction and in close proximity to the Gulf Shores and all the tourist traffic. I'm sure this place is a real zoo in the peak of the summer. Busy enough for us in January.

......and that was Our View From Here!