Naval Air Museum & Air Show

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Geo: 30.4208, -87.2172

We timed our trip to coincide with the Blue Angels Air Show which is held only 2 days a week. It was quite a show starting with Fat Albert which is capable of very short take-offs and landings. Next came the actual show with the Blue Angels who fly F-18's. It was a very impressive show. Lots of acrobatics and low level flypasts. We then toured the indoor and outdoor exhibits. The aircraft date back to WW1 and have been restored by service volunteers - many of them retired. The Air Museum was very impressive and we also took a bus tour of the outside planes. The tour guide was quite a character and had lots of stories to tell about many of the aircraft some of which had been retrieved from Lake Michigan. Later we drove around the Naval Base which is very large and seems like a small city on its own. Bill retired from the services so had access to the base. We saw a couple of the beaches as well as an old lighthouse which was established in 1858. We also discovered that the Pelican is an image which we would see repeated in town as well. The day ended with a visit to Joe Patti's which is a seafood vendor well known to the local residents. It is a family run business which has a long history in Pensacola. Seafood of every sort was available and Bill purchased a number of items which we enjoyed for dinner.

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