The main reason we came to this particular area of Florida was to visit our dear friend Louis and his significant other Linda.   Louis was the best man at our wedding, so we’ve known each other for a very long time.

We spent some time relaxing in their house which has both a sunrise AND a sunset view over the water.  One evening, Louis and Linda treated us to a magnificient Italian dinner which included the world’s best eggplant parmigiana.  There is really nothing like home cooked Italian meals.  And fortunately, while at their house Angel did NOT have a run in with any of their three cats.

Later that week, we hosted Louis and Linda for dinner on Island Girl.  It’s so much fun to share our new home with friends.  She’s really quite comfortable for four people to hang out.

Another day we headed to Pensacola to take care of some errands, including picking up and sending out Hector’s absentee ballot.  Long story short, the transition to fulltiming created some challenges to voting due to the timeframe during which we were trying to change our residence.  But persistence and stubbornness won out and we were both able to exercise our right to vote.

We took advantage of the trip to Pensacola to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum.  Hector was beside himself with joy about going to this museum, he just loves airplanes.  It was surprising how extensive the museum was and how many beautifully restored aircraft it contained (and it was free!).  Their collection included aircraft from World War I to the present, Marine One, which was used by Presidents Nixon and Ford, and also some of the retired Blue Angels’ airplanes.  Pretty cool.

We enjoyed some beach time at Henderson State Park, got to see a few sunrises and do a little bird watching.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t take Angel with us to the actual beach at the state park as it’s not a dog-friendly beach :(.  Angel did get to enjoy a couple of nice paths at the park.

We spent some more time with Louis and Linda, hitting some fun bars and restaurants in the Destin area with them.   It was great to spend time together, as it always is.