Cradle of Naval Aviation

I left Lemoore Friday night for a month of Aviation Commanding Officer training in Pensacola, FL, known as the "Cradle of Naval Aviation" since all Naval Aviators start training here. It's been 15 years since Jolene and I lived here while I went through flight school. I don't remember it being this hot and humid!! Today it was 97 degrees, and the humidity put the heat index over 110 degrees. I haven't stopped sweating since I got off the plane! At least Chick-fil-A still makes good ice cream to keep me cool. The first picture above is of the Naval Aviation Memorial Chapel here on base at NAS Pensacola. The next two pics are of the quadplex apartments we lived in when we lived here. They weren't nice apartments back when we lived there, but now they are even less so, with several of them seeming to be without power/ac and some with eviction notices on the doors. What was I thinking making us live there?? I guess we did alright. The next two pics are of UWF, where Jolene went to school. They've done a lot of work on campus and a pic of the new university conference center is also posted. Many cities we've lived in have "official symbols" placed as statues around town - Virginia Beach has dolphins on each corner, Norfolk has mermaid statues - and it seems Pensacola has taken to Pelicans....including one for each branch of service on a corner downtown. I snapped a picture of the Navy pelican as I drove by.

I took a walk on the beach, but didn't see any oil. The beaches are still as white as I remember, and the heron in the next to last picture didn't seem bothered by me or the spill. I had heard oil had washed up on P-cola beaches, but I guess it hasn't affected the area as bad as the media is reporting. Hopefully it cools off this next week. Alaska sounds pretty good right now.