When we were in Pensacola we stayed at Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore. If you ever get a chance to take your family here, do it! I had gone to recreation.gov and purchased a national parks pass. It takes a while to come in so I had it shipped to Kara. It hadn't come in until a couple of days before we dropped her off so we couldn't use it until our return trip. The pass cost $85 but once we got there our reduced rate for an RV site was $10 instead of $20. Staying two nights really only saved us $20, but when you figure any other RV park is $30 to $40 a night you can definitely justify the cost of the pass. If it weren't for the website I would have never known about this park so the pass was worth it to us because this place was awesome!
Gulf Islands National Seashore is 160 miles of barrier islands that stretch from mile marker 57 (that is where I saw exit on the way back) in Mississippi to Pensacola. Everything is protected here. Animals, land, birds, grass. When you enter the park you drive for 4 to 5 miles until you get to campsites. You have the bay on one side and the gulf on the other. At some points you can see both at the same time. Being right by one of the nation's hot spots for spring break it is surprising to find such pristine virgin beaches. No hot dog stands, t-shirt shops. Nothing but white sand and clear water. Absolutely beautiful and a go-to destination for just about anyone.
Fort Pickens was a union stronghold during the war of northern aggression. Fort Barrancas is on the coast and was controlled by confederate forces. The visitors center has a short film that you can see that describes a brief but significant battle of the Civil War. The fort was briefly revitalized during WWII but has been rendered insignificant to national security and served strictly as a national park and wildlife preservation since. It is very hard to describe the beauty of this national treasure. I think this is especially striking because of its close proximity such a populous commercialized region and remains so untouched by the masses. In the morning, when the fog rolls in from both sides and entombs the island for several hours it is easy to imagine a more primitive time. Timeless almost. You can see nothing. Only hear the gulls and the waves. It is a unique experience that everyone should have.
From Houston Pensacola is a solid eight hours by car. You have to figure 10 to 12 hours if you are traveling with kids or pulling an RV.
The perfect family vacation from the Houston area would be to stop at the National Seashore in Biloxi for a couple of nights and then drive as far as you can (probably Tallahassee or so) and stay the night and then make the trip to Wekiva River RV resort near Sanford, Florida on US State Road 46 for as long as you can and then stop for at least two or three nights at the National Seashore in Pensacola before making your way back to Houston. WRRVR would be a great place to stay if you are planning on taking the kids to Disney. At about $35 a night and about 45 mins to the parks you can't beat it. We really do best when we don't have a lot of one night stops where you have to set-up and tear down within 16 or so hours. It usually only takes us about 20-30 minutes, but seems to add stress. I like to stay a minimum of two nights even if we have to get up on that second morning super early and get going. Most of the time you only have a couple of hours of daylight left after you get settled so I like to have a whole day to check out our new digs. Especially some of the nicer parks. Even if you don't have an RV a lot of parks have small cabins and such where you can stay for $50 to $100 a night. It gets more expensive the closer you get to places like Disney and Key West, but it is still cheaper and has a lot more amenities than a motel of comparable price. It also feels a lot safer. Another big plus is that these parks a generally very pet friendly and there is hardly ever a surcharge for our four-legged friends.
One of the best investments we have made is an eight-sided fence that keeps the devil dogs corralled. We didn't bring it on our maiden voyage and deeply regretted it. Well, Friday morning we headed back home and to the hell of moving!! Not looking forward to it, but it had to get done.
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