Fort Pickens Museum

When the hurricanes hit Pensacola Beach, one of the areas that received lots of damage was the museum by Fort Pickens.   Matter of fact, it was knocked right off of the blocks the building sat on so it has been a long time waiting for it to reopen.   It finally did last week so we ate lunch at Shaggys on the beach and then took the beautiful drive down to Fort Pickens.  Today was a good day to do it because starting tomorrow the beach area is going to be crowded with people and cars because of the Memorial Day week-end.

The museum is small but very informative about the history of Fort Pickens and facts pertaining to a barrier island.  Here is an exhibit that shows different birds found on the island and we are supposed to guess if they are visiting birds (on their way south) or do they live here full time.   You can also push the green button and hear the call of each individual species.

A barrier island is always on the move.  The currents and wind constantly move the sands to the west and hurricanes can cause major changes.  Here is a picture of the break in the island after the hurricane.  It did not take long for Mother Nature to fill it back in and the road was again constructed out to Fort Pickens.

Here is a model of the layout of Fort Pickens.

This is a wonderful 15 minute you can watch telling the basic information about the history of Fort Pickens.   So much history and I never visit without thinking about the men that were stationed there in the 1800's and required to wear their wool uniform in the middle of the summer heat.   Can you say deodorant?

For all of you bikini beach babes, this is a typical woman's swim suit at the turn of the century.  I guess you don't need sunscreen if you are wearing this suit.  Oh, and it came only in this color.  Well, that makes shopping easy.

I just got off the phone with my cousin Sandy and all is great with that side of the family.  We try to keep in touch often - our family is spread out all over from Indiana, Florida, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Georgia, and Minnesota.  Thank goodness for cell phones and Facebook.

Memorial Day week-end begins tomorrow and like I said, we will probably stay away from the beach.  It will be so crowded and we get to enjoy it all week long.  Nicole and her family invited us over for a barbecue on Sunday and I know we will play badminton.   We played last night and hey, I wasn't too bad!  I know how much all my teacher friends love Memorial Day week-end -----it means the end of the school year is almost here!!!!!