Moving Pictures

I have such a fascination with the brick fortresses of Florida and Georgia I sometimes wonder if I'm channeling feelings from a past life. More likely I'm just astounded by the beauty and incredible waste of these structures. They were built so strong yet rendered useless in such a short time. Fort Pickens is one of many I've toured with my daughter. Even though this fort has a longer history than most, it is still a relic never to be more in the future than a tourist attraction. The bricks fired to create it could have been churches, warehouses, bridges, restaurants, skyscrapers, apartments, or even homes. But no, they were created to defend a political agenda then destroyed or abandoned by a sudden advance in technology. What is left behind is a footnote in history that barely registers the tremendous human effort and sacrifice to create them. I stayed at a beautiful beach hotel then drove my car right up to the fort and walked in through the gaping hole in the...

Part of my six week tour involved moving my daughter from one Florida gulf coast city to another. After getting her packed and on a truck, I took a rainy, late night drive past one of the most untouched beaches I've ever seen. Sorry...No photos.... It was pretty damn eerie, all alone in the dark and not 100% sure the road was fully accessible. Water and sand on the road kept my speed down to about 15 MPH and my fingers cramping on the steering wheel.  I was driving through the Gulf Islands National Seashore between Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola Beach. In the morning I took an early morning drive past another protected beach west of Pensacola,  Not as big, a little easier to access, nice morning light, and certainly as pristine. There are few places to stop and one was completely underwater and full of sand. Even the road had sand washed acrossed it. Pretty much all the foot traffic I encountered was confined to a few narrow strips. This is definitely the road less trave...