Catching up on my travel log, this post will be the beginning of my 2019 road trip through the Midwest with my friends, which started in Pensacola. I’ll try to keep each stop as its own post, but it all depends on how good my memory is.
After making the drive up to Tampa to meet with one friend, we then made our way to Pensacola, Florida and met another friend there. This is where my epic road trip of 2019 began. Pensacola may not seem like a particularly exciting place to most people, but for us, this was an important stop.
See, the friend I started the road trip with went to grad school there, where she met a new friend who would become an important person in her life. It’s during this stop I met her as well and she became a dear friend of mine, too. I was excited to see this city that had become a part of my friend’s history when I hadn’t been there for that time. I loved being led around like a tourist as they showed me their favorite spots in town.
Accommodations
We rented an adorable Airbnb, where we followed a narrow staircase up to the attic for our room, complete with a spiral stair that led to a little writing desk. However, as charming as the accommodations were, getting a couple of suitcases up that staircase was no joke. But our lovely hosts, Bruce and Tony (yes, MCU fans, I swear those are their names), more than made up for it with a delicious breakfast delivered to our room the next morning. A spread of donuts, muffins, croissants and yogurt served with orange juice and coffee is enough to make anyone forget the cardio workout to get up those stairs.
Beach Day
We made a day of it at the Gulf Islands National Seashore, a beautiful stretch of white-sand beach and soothing ocean waves. As we spent a lazy day on the sand letting the water lap over us, we enjoyed some seltzer drinks and snacks. It was a perfect day under the sun.
Flounders Bar
As we left the beach and drove the neighborhood, my friend pointed out the UFO house she so excitedly had been waiting to show me. I was not disappointed. It looked like a flying saucer had landed on the roof and made its home there. Who knows? Maybe there is life among the stars that has now made their home in Florida. Frankly, they couldn’t have picked a better place.
My friends took me to one of their favorite bars, Flounders, they’d patroned during their time as grad students in Pensacola. Here I guzzled down a drink called Diesel Fuel that lives up to its namesake. I didn’t realize it may have had energy drink in it, which I notoriously react to and for me results in a fever. Only this time, I also got heart palpitations to go with it. I felt it as we got in the car (with the sober one driving of course) and made our way around town just taking in the city. No regrets though. It was a great drink and good time, but definitely won’t be doing that again.
Ozone Pizza
As the night wound down, we went to another one of their favorite old haunts, Ozone Pizza. I use the word haunt to mean something spooky as well, because as we approached the building, I said, “This place looks haunted AF.” It turns out, it was built in an old assylum. And rumor has it, the building is haunted by the spirits of those that once dwelled there. At least, that’s the local lore from the grad students. I believe it though. Regardless, the pizza itself was delicious. But when I had to use the bathroom, I was glad to have my friend come with me, because something about walking the halls of an old assylum was eerie.
I did end up throwing up the pizza anyway later that night, but probably not the ghosts’ fault. I don’t usually eat or drink as much as I did that day, but I had desperately been trying to keep up with my new friend and her appetite. Turns out, that was a bad idea as she has a hyper metabolism. Whoops!
All in all, a good start to the perfect road trip. Keep following me on my travels here.