Florida Discoveries 38: Our Day as Parrotheads

JimmyBuffettTourPoster

Dave and I went to a Jimmy Buffett concert last week! The Pensacola show was at the tail end of the Lounging at the Lagoon tour.

Cross that one off our Florida bucket list!

We honestly didn’t know what to expect. We read about folks tailgating hours before the concert, but since the concert was on a Tuesday, and we’d have to deal with babysitting on a school night, we elected to pack our camp stove and take some marinated chicken to grill.

Dave and I also packed plenty to drink in our cooler: Margarita, whiskey sours and plenty of beer.

We left as soon as the boys came home from school, and arrived at the Pensacola Bay Center at 4pm. Four hours till showtime. We got pretty good parking, with the venue less than a 5 minute walk away. There were plenty of things to do, lots of people-watching!

Everyone dresses in tropical apparel; Dave wore one of his numerous Hawaiian shirts with flip flops, and I wore a Hawaiian dress.

I didn’t get good photos of the concert itself, but the Parrotheads of Pensacola did and put their album online here.

Our awesome tailgate setup!
Our awesome tailgate setup!

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Florida Discoveries 34: Fort McRee / Sand Island / Admiral’s Island / Dog Island / etc…

Our friends and neighbors, the Scotts, took our family out on their boat last weekend.  It was so kind of them to offer; their boat seats 4 adults and 2 kids pretty well, but no more passengers than that can fit, so we had to find a weekend that didn’t involve other visitors. We here … Read more

Florida Discoveries 28: Pensacola MESS Hall

I could have sworn I had heard about the Pensacola MESS Hall from the Pensacola With Kids blog, but I can’t find the reference article.  Oh well.

Trust me when I say that I had first heard about it through Pensacola With Kids, but I can’t find the original review now.  But what I did find was this story in the Pensacola Digest that came out not long after the facility opened in June.

This facility currently is only scheduled to be open through the 3rd week of August (August 18th according to their Facebook page).

So what is the MESS Hall?  Well, for starters, MESS = Math, Engineering, Science and Stuff.  It’s a science center unlike anything I had ever seen.  And trust me, I have been to many many science museums and explorer-type centers in my days.

The MESS Hall is in downtown Pensacola just a block off Palafox Street near the center square.  After spending time here, the family can adjourn to a nice dinner nearby.

The MESS Hall has attempted to capture the feeling of a traditional mess hall, which is a military term for where servicemembers eat on the base or on their ships.  The kids will walk in (after paying the $5 per person admission), and are greeted with a open space with tables and assorted areas for free play with wind tunnels, marble run parts and pendulums.  The walls are covered in posters featuring optical illusions.

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Florida Discoveries 3: National Museum of Naval Aviation

From 2011 01 23 Naval Aviation Museum Pensacola This past weekend my parents came to visit, mainly for my youngest’s birthday, but I’m sure that Dad was super-excited to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola. On Sunday after breakfast, we ventured the 30 miles west and arrived at around 11am.  We … Read more

Florida Discoveries 3: National Museum of Naval Aviation

From 2011 01 23 Naval Aviation Museum Pensacola This past weekend my parents came to visit, mainly for my youngest’s birthday, but I’m sure that Dad was super-excited to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola. On Sunday after breakfast, we ventured the 30 miles west and arrived at around 11am.  We … Read more