Chapter 3 - Birthday Celebration, Burned Computer, and New Friends

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Hi again,

This will be the third and last chapter on our Pensacola, FL trip.

On December 10, we were excited to go to Destin, FL to celebrate Corp's birthday.  Destin was a big disappointment.  😠  It was so commercialized and they don't allow dogs on any beach there.  We think their city slogan should be "we hate dogs".  We didn't even spend a penny there before leaving.  

On Pensacola Beach, we discovered they only had two small dog parks.  There were large areas of isolated beach so we would just let Charlie play around off leash.  We always thought this area would be way more dog friendly. 

                                            

Our 17 year old Charlie running on the beach.

on a positive note, on Corp's birthday we also met my cousin Chantelle from Rice, MN and her friends Steve and Kim who just moved to Pace, FL (neighboring town to Pensacola) about two weeks before we arrived in Pensacola.  We enjoyed lots of laughs with them at dinners, lunches, Farmers Market, and Gallery night.  😂  We were sad so say goodbye to them.  We look forward to our paths crossing again!  Maybe a long weekend trip this Fall???

Mermaids on the beach!  

We had to get a pic of the birthday boy with the vintage white bronco in the background. 
Too bad it wasn't ours.  I would love one!!!!

Chantelle and I smiling pretty on Palafox St.

Delicious dinner at Steve and Kim's.    
We were honored to be their first dinner party guests.  

Charlie meeting Frank, Mabel, and Opal for the first time.   🐕 
It was a bit chaotic at first, but after a few minutes they were hanging like best buds.

Kim and I at Gallery Night. 
We discovered some pretty yummy canned wines.

More dining with fun with Steve, Kim, and Chantelle!

While we were in Pensacola, I was working remote.  One day I had a pretty big oopsie.  I was working on the patio one morning with a candle lit next to my laptop.  You can probably guess where this is going.  I was loving the morning ambiance.  I went inside for breakfast.  The wind must have blown my work papers over the flame because when I came outside and papers were all burned up and my keyboard was melted.  Amazingly, my computer still worked.  Happy I brought a backup wireless keyboard and mouse.  I was back to work pretty quickly after I got over the shock!

Melted keyboard was a huge surprise. 🔥
I couldn't believe the laptop still worked.

We left Pensacola on December 19 to drive back home to Minnesota to celebrate Christmas.

On the way home we visited the Lake of the Ozarks area.  

View from the Bagnell Dam and Scenic Overlook.

Pretty nice view of the Osage River from our hotel room.

The Lake of the Ozarks seems like a really fun place during the summer.  A lot of it was shut down when we were there.  

We discovered a small town in Iowa that felt like the small town in the 1980s movie "Back to the Future" with Michael J Fox. 

 
   I bummed I can't remember this town's name.  Neat little place!  

The following driving routes are for our notes.  You can just skip this paragraph.  The route we took to Pensacola - Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, Cedar Rapids, IA, St. Louis, MO, Cape Giradeau, MO, Memphis, TN, Jackson, MS, New Orleans, LA, Mobile, AL, and Pensacola, FL.  The route we took home - Pensacola, FL, Mobile, AL, Meridan, MS, Tupelo, MS, Memphis, TN, Jonesboro, AR, West Plains, MO, Jefferson City MO, Ottumwa, IA, Des Moines, IA, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, to home.  

Miscellaneous random funny and interesting pics below...

Check out the long laundry line and pulley system on the electric pole that is used
to bring laundry in the house in rural Missouri.  Lazy or innovative? 
Not sure, but it made us shake our heads!  

Corp thought this beer hat Christmas tree topper was pretty funny!

The aliens have arrived!!!
This is the most unique house we saw in Pensacola Beach.

Interesting entrance to Souvenir City in Flora-Bama.  Reminded us of the 1980s.  

"Pants must be pulled up"?  What?

As previously mentioned, Chapter 3 wraps up our fun road-trip test trip to Pensacola, FL.  We loved exploring and have lots of great memories from our trip.  One lesson learned pretty quickly....we don't need to bring as much stuff with us!  Especially clothes...  

Stay tuned for Chapter 4 when we will kick off our wild and crazy Mexico road trip adventure.... 

And our adventure continues... 😉






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