GULF COAST: PENSACOLA TO NOLA

I decided I wanted to sleep on a beach a long time ago. But being more realistic, I decided to camp at Fort Pickens on Pensacola Beach, FL. Camping in Florida in late May in 90+ degree heat may not seem like a good idea.... and you're right, it wasn't. It was sweaty and sandy and sticky and moist. But it was beautiful. It was squishy sand between my toes, historic forts with an air conditioned museum and all of the shorebirds soaring and dive-bombing that I could dream of.

Most of the west part of the island was the national park and fort, batteries and other fort related things that I don't know the name of. Plus, bonus shorebird nesting land! Osprey, snowy plovers, least terns, sanderlings, black skimmers all the weird named birds! And of course, the usual gulls and pelicans for normalcy.

(L) The grumpiest shark to ever grump "Get off my ocean-lawn ya dang kids!"

(R) A wonderful little storm that blew in while I was trying to play with some birds.

After a quick stop through Mobile, AL (for the BEST sandwich I've had in my entire life at Regina's Kitchen) and rainy Baton Rouge, I headed to meet some friends in New Orleans for a birthday celebration and general exploring/debauchery (it's New Orleans, come onnnn).

We took a tour through the St. Louis cemetery (the oldest Catholic cemetery) in the morning. It heated up real quick in there, apparently the cemetery can be 15 degrees warmer inside of it, weird huh? We saw the tomb of the Queen of Voodoo, Marie Laveau, Nicholas Cage's future tomb and a whole bunch of other old ones! Our guide had a lot of interesting stories about most of the tombs, including how they work, how often a body can be put inside a tomb and all a few superstitions.

That night we went on a haunted pub crawl. Our tour guide was a little less informative and fun but I'm pretty sure we all had a good time. Absinthe may have been the cause, maybe being 'stuck' in a bar while it poured buckets of rain outside, one or the other.

New Orleans had it's hiccups. A ton of rain, an incident outside an oyster bar, more rain. But I had a wonderful time celebrating an old friend on her birthday with other friends I've missed. It wouldn't be New Orleans without a few hiccups really. It was also interesting to see NOLA outside of Mardi Gras (last year we did Mardi Gras in New Orleans) not nearly as crowded, much less beads and we did more than just Bourbon Street. But of course, we still did some of the same things...

(L) Fish bowls are a must. (Also: hand grenades, daiquiris, and purple drank from Lafitte's)

(R) First time I made it here, Pat O'Briens for a hurricane, I knew my ma wouldn't let me live it down if I didn't get one this time

Up next: My final location post! As most of you know I'm back in Dallas trying to get over a bit of a nasty cold and get back on my feet.

Ghosts experienced: ~1 but maybe it was gravity and air flow

Seafoods eaten: shrimps, fishies, charbroiled oysters, raw oysters

Final stop: Czech Bakery in West, TX for a kolache. Tradition dictates I go here, it was unavoidable... and delicious.