❤️Gulf Breeze, Florida❤️

December 27, 2018-February 20, 2020

TL;DR: We came for two months. We stayed for over a year. We got to know the city of Pensacola and Gulf Breeze, but really just soaked up as much time as possible with Craig, Hil, and Duna, and will be forever grateful to them for hosting us. Suffice it to say that we are already plotting our next house together.

The sights

The Couch Bed

Hilary and Craig’s beautiful house is more than spacious, but we all usually ended up on the couch bed… which was, as it sounds, a mattress in front of the couch in the living room. Home to countless hours of snuggles, scary movie sessions, and Netflix binges. At one point, little miss Duna couldn’t even get up on the mattress she was so tiny!

Vinyl

Saw many concerts at this little venue. Highlights include JD McPherson (bought all of their albums on the spot), a Led Zeppelin cover band, and a Halloween burlesque show (any Predator lovers out there?)

The Sound

Craig and Hil live right on the Sound, and we had the luxury of taking out the boat many times (though not nearly enough). Would grab a bunch of beers and seltzers (oh, seltzer) and go find an island or peninsula to park the boat while we hung out in the water. Sometimes we scheduled it around the Blue Angels practice schedule and it all felt very, very American.

It was also very easy to pull out the paddleboards and jump in the water. Although we didn’t do that nearly enough either.

Perfect Plains

Great little brewery in downtown Pensacola. Solid beer inside, and they now also have a fun little outside patio with excellent cocktails. We also went here for NYE 2020, and they went all out with a VW van and drag show. They also allow dogs, so Duna got to enjoy it, too.

Union Public House

One of our favorite restaurants in town. Just really good food, great service, and a festive atmosphere that somehow feels intimate. (Also a Roadfood spot and our choice for our Valentine’s Day 2020 double date.)

Monster Truck Rally

Well. This was pretty excellent. It was definitely a Monster Truck Lite version, but had all the bells and whistles we could want—except for beer. How is there no beer?! Also, a surprising amount of children (perhaps why no beer?).

Pensacola Zoo

Big enough to have lots of animals, but not so overwhelming that you can’t do it in a few hours. Went here for Bri’s birthday.

Skopelo’s

Great bar and fun tastings, including a particularly festive evening with cherries jubilee (fire ‘n’ all).

Angelena’s

This was a new-ish restaurant by the time we showed up in Pensacola, and became our go-to for fancy Italian dinners with great wine and cocktails, and lots of pasta and cheese.

George’s

Really nice restaurant north of Pensacola and very near the skating rink with a great happy hour. And good lighting for photo shoots.

Flyer’s games

Went to a Flyer’s ice hockey game for Craig’s birthday, and got great seats right up front. The bar was in an event space just off the rink, which was a little weird, but worked well enough. A very nice gentleman bought Hil and me a round (and did not blink when we told him we also were buying for our husbands).

We also went a second time right before we left, and sat in an entirely different area. They almost won in overtime, and we discovered the best place to get nachos. There was also a small dog race on the ice, which is always a win.

Dreamland Skate Center

Jess’s one wish for her birthday was to go roller skating, and we finally went. Even though it was a Wednesday, this is apparently where all the Pensacola youth hang out. They were SO good, and would form little squads in the center to break dance. It was pretty impressive. Our skating, on the other hand …

Bamboo Willie’s and other beach bars

If you keep going south from Craig and Hil’s house, you get to Pensacola Beach. It’s touristy, but there are a ton of fun beach bars that have live music and every alcoholic slushie flavor you can imagine. A popular choice is the Bushwaker, which is essentially a piña colada without the pineapple, plus chocolate.

Naval Base Museum

Met our friend Erin here and got a good dose of naval history. Apparently it’s the world’s largest naval aviation museum and has over 150 aircraft. Pretty sure there was a whole section that we didn’t even see.

Details, details, details

Buying a shark pinata for NYE 2019 and naming him Frank was a great call.

There are bears in Pensacola! Bri went out to get a package one night around 10 PM and he was RIGHT THERE munching on garbage. We named him Barry. He came back a few more times.

We really got to experience all the different types weather: cold and very stormy, unbearably hot and humid, gorgeous and perfect. Who knew Florida had all the seasons?

When your friends are on night shifts and you also want to hang out with them when you can, things get weird/time doesn’t make sense anymore. Timestamp on the below: approximately 7:48 AM on a Tuesday.

On January 20, 2019 we saw the Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse right from the deck. We even had a heater and lounge chairs for easy viewing.

Whenever anyone went out of town, it became a tradition to bring Duna and beers for the pickup.

Brian ended up building a small side business of buying and selling computers and other equipment. He slowly took over a corner of the downstairs storage room (which Jess was very thankful for as it meant the computers could move out of their bedroom!). He ended up selling over 150 computers!

Brian also bought a Jeep at an auction from the Escambia County, AL Sheriff’s Department. She was in rough shape, but we came to love her and she got us around town alright.

Craig got a deep fryer in the spring of 2019 and we have since made fried okra, chicken, fries, and beignets.

Brian and Craig decided they wanted to get huge and started working out at Chip’s Gym. They were anything but consistent or disciplined, but still got pretty big nonetheless.

Oysters in Pensacola are terrifyingly large due to the brackish water. Hilary is in heaven.

At one point in spring, Craig and Jess made a sourdough starter and got pretty good at baking bread. Our starter’s name is Eleanor and is currently in the very capable hands of Craig (right, Craig?).

We also experimented with French onion soup, which we’ve found exists for Gruyere sourdough croutons.

Eagles! There was an eagle couple that lives on Soundview and Jess often saw one of them on her walks with Duna. One time, a guy in a pickup was standing on his truck looking at their perch, and told Jess that they were due to have baby eaglets sometime in spring of 2020 (!).

Pelicans like to hang out on the dock. And fish there. And hang out with cranes.

Ospreys often perch on the highway lights and also hunt around the dock in the backyard.

Dolphins sometimes visit the dock in the early morning and it was always pretty surreal.

More often than not though it was just drumfish or minnows.

We also had a few episodes of jellyfish.

Huge house-shaking thunder storms are totally normal here. Once when Duna was super small and Craig and Hil were at work, we slept out on the couch bed with her just in case she was scared (she was most definitely just fine). Thankfully, all of the hurricanes missed us.

And then this happened…

Craig and Hilary became puppy parents and Duna came into all of our lives. She quickly stole all of our hearts and became an indispensable part of the family. It was the greatest ever. She also now accounts for the majority of pictures on all our phones.

There was also a spiny orb-weaver that set up shop across the front walkway. Its web would survive most storms, and if not, it would just rebuild right in the same place. It made for very careful walks out front to the RV.

When we got back from Tahoe in August, the floor in our room had warped so badly that there was a huge bubble in it. We switched rooms just before Christmas and they got new wood floors in both guest rooms—and no problems yet!

At the beginning of 2019, someone that knew the previous owners of Craig and Hilary’s house parked their sailboat next to their dock after it came loose during a storm. It then slowly dug itself into the sand while he took MONTHS to come back and get it. He ended up needing to have it towed out.

Now we know

We can tolerate two people just about as much as we can tolerate each other. And those two people are Hilary and Craig. ❤️

We want a dog. I mean, we already knew it. But Duna just really sealed the deal.

Road food

Friendly local service and mimosas accompany crab cake benedicts and shrimp and grits at Native Cafe.

There’s spam sandwiches and half-off wine at The Magnolia.

Golden pancakes and sausage-and-potato burritos Polonza.

Sunset views and crisp fried green tomatoes with crab cakes at Shaggy’s.

Carmen’s is home to eclectic comfort food with a twist, like carrot-whipped mashed potatoes with bacon and Spanish lump crab toasts with buttery manchego.

Crayfish, mudbugs, or crawdaddies? Either way, Cub’s small, freshwater crustaceans were spicy and delicious.

Steps from Pensacola Beach, Cosse’s puts a New Orleans twist on breakfast with fried honey gator biscuits and bacon po’ boys (& cheap bottomless mimosas).

For bagel sandwiches, top-heavy muffins, and a view of Pensacola Bay with good morning coffee, there’s Bagelheads.

Union Public House is the place for great cocktails, crispy pork rinds, and the best boiled peanuts.