things to do?

Bayfest this weekend

Pensacola:
Seville Quarter... Rosie O'Grady's, piano bars are awesome!  Hopjack's has a great selection of beer, and pretty good pizza.  The Jellyfish makes a good Mojito.  Stay away from Flounders... lest you like the drunk barely legal crowd... McGuires is OK, their congressional navy bean soup is really good.

Joe Pattie's is an awesome fish market... they have a restaurant adjacent, and a sushi joint right there inside the market.

Make sure you hit up the National Museum of Naval Aviation it's on NAS Pensacola, but that's not a problem..  I burned about 3-months there restoring old airplanes.

Pensacola just happens to be one of my favorite places on the planet..

You MUST go to Pensacola beach... I prefer the secluded part of the beach so if that's what you like as well when you cross over the bridge and pass the toll booth ($1.00 per car), go to the spotlight and turn left. Follow it down until you pass portofino towers (tall resort condos they will be on your left). Once you pass those really anywhere you stop shouldnt be crowded..also on your drive that way be on the lookout for the ufo house (that will also be on your left). if you want the more touristy part of the beach just go straight after the toll bridge and you can park in the parking lot and walk around the shops and the pier..but also if you go to the secluded part that's where the kite surfers like to hang out..sunsets are amazing.... now if you go to the right and follow the road down you'll see the cross landmark that's kinda cool..also there's a picnic area and if you keep following it down you'll get to fort pickets which is also very cool..
At Pensacola NAS the air museum is a must as punx said. its open to the public so you dont need military id but you will need to show your drivers license. Also on base that you can see is a lighthouse, another fort and there is a national cemetery..oh and its the blue angels home base and you might be able to see them practice..you can check their schedule online...
mcguires i actually like a lot..its an Irish restaurant & pub but their steaks are delicious! really everything ive had there is good & they have a cute little gift shop and make sure you have a dollar to write on and staple to the ceiling (its all part of the experience)
Joe pattis also thumbs up..but even if you dont want to buy anything at the fish market its pretty cool to see all the fishing boats and pelicans

as for mobile really the only thing ive ever done there is tour the uss Alabama but that was pretty cool..i dont know what your plans are exactly but if it were me id focus more on Pensacola than mobile...

Also, again not knowing your exact plans Montgomery, AL is about 2 hrs from pcola & the state capital is there and other historic buildings and also the Hank Williams museum and gravesite is pretty cool.

my mom used to live 2 miles from pcola & when i visited i pretty much lived at the beach. When the rather is good the water is so clear and the sand is so white. i used to sit for hours watching the little ghost crabs run around and dolphins and stingrays swim by..and shells are everywhere...

u can take me with the family, I'll be your tour guide

Thanks for the info all!  Keep it coming!!   

Spent 3 or 4 summers at Gulf Shores, Alabama.  At the time, there were just some mom and pop cabins to rent on the beach.  Miles and miles of deserted pure white sand beaches, beautiful water, sea oats, bluefish, king mackeral and sun.  All condos, and human detrius now but it was really something before the crowds. 

Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan might interest you.

Have fun IZ! 
Unlucky for you, the Blue Angels are currently in San Francisco.



lucky for me, the Blue Angels are in my hood! Fleet Week w00t!

Mobile? Go see the USS Alabama (WW2 Battleship) and USS Drum (WW2 Submarine). Both are actually pretty freaking cool.

Then come north and hang out in Birmingham!  

Quote from: The Zombie Pip on October 09, 2011, 09:47:48 PM
Mobile? Go see the USS Alabama (WW2 Battleship) and USS Drum (WW2 Submarine). Both are actually pretty freaking cool.

Then come north and hang out in Birmingham!  

Barber!!  Yes!! 

Quote from: IZ on October 10, 2011, 03:14:37 PM
Barber!!  Yes!! 

Precisely! If it is during the week, I will meet you. I'll be in MS this weekend though.

I grew up on Navarre beach and thought I had it tough....

  Now, I'm doing what I can to get transferred back to Pensacola TRACON.  Can't remember much about the riding (isn't any..) but beach, water, seafood....

Quote from: TAftonomos on October 10, 2011, 04:57:05 PM
I grew up on Navarre beach and thought I had it tough....

  Now, I'm doing what I can to get transferred back to Pensacola TRACON.  Can't remember much about the riding (isn't any..) but beach, water, seafood....

you thought you had it tough on navarre beach?? .... oh we are so silly when we are young aren't we?

Mobile is nice, claims to be the birthplace of Mardi Gras.  Much more 'southern' than NOLA; blues clubs downtown are seedier in a good sort of way.  The Mobile Museum of Art (in Langan Park) is a nice contemporary art museum on the northwest side of town.

In the area:

* Fairhope is a cool little town on the east side of Mobile Bay; a slice of San Francisco on the Gulf Coast and on the way west from Pensacola - especially if you take the coast roads.

* Two pre-Civil War forts on either side of the mouth of Mobile Bay....heading west from Pensacola take Rt180 to the end to visit Fort Morgan, then the ferry over to Dauphin Island and Fort Gaines and the aquarium.  Barnacle Bill's good for peel-em-eat-em steamed shrimp and cold beer, then drive north to Mobile about 45 minutes away, or....

* Head north and then west to Bayou La Batre; it's one of the most authentic southern towns I've ever visited - and great local food.

Be careful when driving between the big cities. You're deep in the south. Only been to Pensacola to pick up my brother when he graduated from his MOS. We celebrated by going to his favorite local dump. never got a chance to really see it.

You moving back to FL?

check out the "mobile leprechaun" on YouTube... it'll make you not want to go to mobile