Parks in the Pensecola, Fla. area

[Wordsmith]

When my mother passed away two years ago, I was able to forge a relationship with my uncle, who had been a chief petty officer in the navy. He had always stayed away from the old hometown, eventually retiring to Pensecola, but we hit it off when he came to the funeral, and it was reassuring to have family out there somewhere, so we have stayed in contact.

I was talking to him the other day, and he has just learned that he has lung cancer and will start chemo. Though his attitude is wonderful—he says he is going to be killed by a jealous husband when he is 125 —I am thinking about taking the Montana down to that area sometime and see him.

Where I need help is any good parks where we could stay. I have always been partial to state parks as opposed to RV parks, but have not stayed in one in Florida since the 60s. Can anyone name a nice state park campground in the Pensecola—Milton area or a nice RV park in lieu of that?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[prariepoodle]

J.D. I do not know about the state parks in this area but we are at the Eagles Landing park in Holt FL. It is 37 miles from Pensacola, It is at exit 45 on interstate 10 and is only 3/10s of a mile off the interstate. They have 60 nice large spaces and are very frindley and helpful. I will be happy to send you the phone number if you are interested.

[padredw]

J. D., your inquiry give me the opportunity to send greetings and best wishes with fond memories of our most pleasant afternoon together at Stone Mountain.

One of our favorite parks in the entire country was Ft. Pickens in the Gulf Shores National Seashore out on Santa Rosa Island (across from the Naval Air Station), but it was totally destroyed by hurricane Ivan last year. I'm not sure it has ever opened again, and certainly not sure of the condition, but we have spent many happy days there, from the time our daughter was John's age to just before the hurricane hit.

There are several private campgrounds in the area but we never wanted to stay in any of them because we were so fond of Ft. Pickens. You would have plenty of good choices, I'm sure.

The first time we camped there it was "Ft. Pickens State Park" and that was in October of 1962. I do hope the park will be restored, if it has not already been.

[Wordsmith]

Linda, I found the web site for Eagles Landing and it looks nice as well as reasonably priced. Thanks for the tip; I will probably call and see if they can send me any brochures.

David, we too have fond memories of meeting the two of you at Stone Mountain. I was checking the Florida state parks web pages and it seems like most of the parks along the coast took a hammering from the hurricanes. I understand how you feel about honing in on one campground that you like to the exclusion of others. Marsha and I feel that way about Unicoi SP.

[pandew]

The KOA at I-10 exit 31 (Milton KOA) is nice if you want the amentities like cable TV. We live at exit 22 but went over to the KOA with the Monty during Katrina just to stay higher and dryer then where we live (just in case of one of those funny tidal surges). There is an old KOA (out of the system now) at exit 26 which is less expensive but no cable and you don't do much with an antenna in the Pensacola/Milton area.

[OntMont]

That section of the Gulf coast has been badly damaged by several recent hurricanes. There were some nice parks along there. We were at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, AL recently, Although it is horribly damaged from what it used to be, some the campsites have been rebuilt with new large paved pads and full services (50 amp power at all sites). They have pretty good off-season rates at this time of the year. There were lots of open sites when we were there. I think it is about an hour's drive away from Pensacola.

[paparonsr]

Have stayed at Big Lagoon State Park, not far from Pensacola, a few years ago. It was a nice park then but not sure if it received damage from any of the hurricanes or not---I would definitely go there again if I were in the area.

[Wordsmith]

Thanks for the tips; I will look into them!