I'm Blue (Da da dee da da da)

Perhaps you already know that Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels, the Navy's show group of F-18s. What you may not know is that Pensacola is also the home of one of the oldest lighthouses in the United States. When you combine the Blue Angels and a 180 foot tall lighthouse, here is what you get.

On Tuesday morning, we dropped our baby off with her very first non-family babysitter (thank you, Miss Bonnie!!), and headed out to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. I had reserved a spot for Mr. Darling, My fantastic father and myself to climb all 177 steps of the Pensacola lighthouse and watch the Blue Angels practice at our eye level.

In case you were wondering, 177 steps inside a lighthouse is A LOT of stairs to climb. As in "whoa am I out of shape" a lot. The tour guide said the lighthouse keepers used to have to climb the stairs every two hours with 45 lbs of kerosene to keep the lamp lit. That is NOT a job I plan to sign up for.

The view from the top makes it all worth it. The trees look so different from the top. And we could see about 27 miles away.

 Best of all, we could see the Blue Angels up close. Like, really really close.

After an hour of trick maneuvers, rolls, dives, fleur de lis with 4, 5, and 6 airplanes, the Blues landed back on the runway and we made our way down the lighthouse stairs. Then, of course, we took a few more pictures of the historic landmark and myself, and our photographer:

We headed over to the Naval Air Museum to see what was new. While wandering through, my dad came across a helicopter he had actually flown. As in the very same one, not just the same kind. It was pretty cool to see him talk to my dear husband about it.

It is really fun to go through the museum and see all of the cool airplanes that have fought and protected our great country. All of the war exhibits, the historical exhibits, and just plane cool exhibits (haha, aren't I punny?) It was a really fun day with my husband and dad and I am once again grateful for digital cameras.

So, thanks, Dad, once again. We had a great time. We love your stories about the airplanes and the knowledge you share about the military and about life in general. And, I think I might even like lighthouses, stairs and all.