Happy Monday! so the temp here in Nashville keeps dropping and rising whenever it wants which has me craving warm weather so badly. I am sitting here thinking of the trip we took in November to Pensacola, FL and how we had such a great time.
Arrival – Friday, Nov. 8th:
Cameron and I got out things packed and headed to BNA airport to depart for the Florida beaches. It was pouring down rain here and cold so we couldn’t be more exited to get to warmer weather. We arrived around 10 o’clock or so to the Hilton on Pensacola Beach. It was a great hotel and our room overlooked the ocean which was so nice to hear. The waves crashing up against the shore and the cool breeze made me realize how much I missed Summer. We were very tired from the day and from traveling and knew we had a busy day ahead of us so we headed to bed.
Saturday, Nov. 9th:
We awoke early and took a stroll down the beach to gaze upon the sunrise before heading out. We were both starving at that point cause we hadn’t eaten anything for dinner except a coffee and some airplane peanuts so our stomachs were yelling at us. We got dressed and hitched an UBER to downtown Pensacola. We dined at a place called Polonzo Bistro. It was such a cute and quaint little restaurant. We had eggs, toast and grits with coffee to energize ourselves for the day.
After breakfast we walked across the way to where the market was going on. Local vendors from all over came to share art, produce, music, food etc. It stretched a pretty long ways so we got to see a lot. I swear we walked around the entire downtown of Pensacola that day but it was fun. We stopped at some random house that had a checkers board out front and I beat the crap out of Cameron at a game. Per usual. haha!
After walking around for about 3 hours we headed to Jaco’s Bayfront Bar & Grill where we split some crab cakes and some sort of chicken lettuce wrap that was sooo good. Finished stuffing our faces we headed down to the dock to meet our sailing instructor, Captain Kirk. Yep! that’s his real name. haha! He whisked us away on his trimaran to take us to see the Navy Blue Angels. The spot he took us was literally right over where they fly so they were able to get pretty close to us. It was really cool. We spent the next 3 hours watching stunts and chasing dolphins and exchanging stories about life which was very relaxing. After sailing for a bit and the sun starting to go down, we headed back to shore where we said our goodbyes.
Cameron and I were going to go back to the hotel before dinner but we didn’t have time so needless to say we looks a bit ravished. We met our friend, Nicole Stacey, who had invited us down for dinner. She was the one who set us up to come down to experience Pensacola so it was great meeting up with her. We dined at Angelina’s Ristorante Italiano which is helmed by Food Network personality and nationally renowned chef James Bricione. The food was AMAZING to say the least. I think our eyes were bigger than our stomachs because we all had so much food and wine that we could have fed a family of 24. But we wanted to try everything. It’s not very often you eat at a place with a food network celebrity.
We had such a wonderful time with Nicole and meeting James but we were full and super tired from the days adventures so we got an UBER and headed back to the Hilton where we washed up and relaxed and watched “Skyscraper” before falling asleep halfway through.
Sunday, Nov. 10th:
We slept in on Sunday before our friend, Lindsey Steck, came to pick us up and take us to experience “Pensacola Eggiest”. Let me just say. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much food in small amounts in my life. There were literally about 200 or so competitors there cooking in the Big Green Egg grills. They had to come up with a unique recipe to share and everyone that was there got 6 tickets to give to their favorite recipe and then a winner was selected at the end of the day. I swear we ate our body weight in food and then you add the cocktails they were serving there to it and…yeah. You could imagine. It was so much fun though.
After we stuffed our faced and bellies Lindsey took us to some of the local hotspots in Pensacola including a little bar in downtown that was so cute. It sat behind a beer garden so it was like a speakeasy but open. It’s hard to explain but was really cool. We sat and talked for a long time just learning about each other and where our different backgrounds. I love learning about other people.
After we chilled for a bit it was time to head to the airport. The weekend seemed to go by so fast but it was such a fun time and hope to visit Pensacola again in 2020. If you guys are ever in Pensacola definitely stay at the Hilton and checkout the Condour Sailing along with the Foo Foo Fest that they have every year. It was such a fun experience and can’t wait to go back. Be sure and checkout the links below for accommodations and things to do.
–StayFoxx
