My wife posted on FaceBook that she “loved, loved, LOVED the Gulf”. I do agree that it fun to visit but we scratched it off our list of places to retire due to hurricanes. We are finishing up at our first stop on Perdido Key, Pensacola. Our first adventure was to walk the beach at Gulf Islands Nat Seashore here on Perdido Key. The park includes islands from the coast of Biloxi MS to Destin FL. Just beautiful unspoiled shoreline. Next day we travelled across the state line to Gulf State Park. Although more commercial, these Alabama beaches are beautiful, too. We got to get some great hiking in at Shoreline Park, Big Lagoon SP, and Tarkiln Bayou Preserve. We also got to see Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. The fort was active until 1947. Although civilians are still not allowed on the Pensacola Naval Air Station, a tour service has a retired Coast Guard pilot that takes small groups on the base to see the Lighthouse and the Air Museum. even though there are a good number of aircraft on display, too many are hung from the ceiling and are hard to view. Still, it is a worthwhile stop so call Go Retro Tours if you are in the area. Lastly, NAS Pensacola is the current home to the Blue Angels and we were lucky enough to see them several times flying overhead.