Panhandle Nature: a Colorful Spectacle

Collage of six pictures. Two shades of pink azalea, a thick, fern covered tree branch, Southern pines against a clear blue sky, a branch with a lot of small white flowers, and small purple and yellow flowers in grass.

Hey lovelies!

There’s a lot to see around Pensacola, and my absolute favorite is nature! From the deep green pines and stunning red clay to the pristine white beaches and emerald waters, there are amazing colorful sights to see all year round! Let me take you on a little trip and show you some of it!

All pictures in this blog post are taken by me and David over the past couple of years. I am still trying to get comfortable using a camera in public, and there’s a lot of the city I haven’t seen yet. So until I post more pics Soon™, I definitely invite you to do some Google image searching.

Land of Flowers
Have you ever wondered why Florida is called Florida? Well, it all started in 1513, when Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted land near what is currently St. Augustine. He named it La Florida: “land of flowers”. And even after all of the humongous changes the land has gone through since then, this still holds true. 

At the start of Spring the Magnolias and Azaleas start blooming. Big, beautiful, sweet smelling flowers everywhere. I haven’t been able to get pics of the Magnolias yet, as on our side of town most of them are on private property, and they are only in bloom for a very short period of time. But I do have some Azalea pics, and random flowers that pop up late February, beginning of March.

Collage of five pictures. Four close ups of four different shades of azalea flowers. One white, one vibrant, almost fuchsia pink, one light pink with darker accents, one more like washed out red. One picture from further away shows bushes with dozens of the light and dark pink azalea flowers.
Collage of nine pictures. Nine types of white, yellow, pink, and purple wild flowers.

Trees
My absolute favorites are the pine trees. Especially how amazing their dark green looks against the deep blue sky. I hope one day I’ll be able to capture exactly that, I haven’t quite succeeded yet. 

Collage of six pictures. Southern pines against clear blue skies.

The second most seen tree is the mighty oak. The big, old live oak trees have massive branches that look very inviting. Even a fat person like myself could easily chill on those. (But fire ants exist, so I’m not trying. ;p)

Collage of 5 pictures. Big, old, live oak trees. Some covered in ferns and moss. One of the pictures has a small church in the background. One picture has a house and pedestrian for scale. The tree makes them look tiny.

Emerald Coast
The Gulf Coast area is often called the Emerald Coast for a reason: would you look at those waters! And the sand is even whiter than it looks in these pictures. I’ve always hated the beach, but the first time I saw this, it actually made me cry! Now this is a decent drive from where we live, so we don’t get to go there a lot. No matter how much I see it though, I don’t think it will ever get old.

Collage of six pictures. The Atlantic ocean seen from Pensacola Beach. The water has various shades of green, blue, turquoise. The sand is pristine white. One of the pictures shows pelican footprints in the sand.
Close up picture of the Atlantic ocean, as seen from the very edge of Pensacola Beach. The water nearly touches the camera, and has various colors of green, blue, turquoise.

Fauna
A whole other part of nature that I absolutely love, are the animals around here. However… They are all extremely fast… So no pics yet, but you bet I will be yelling it from the rooftops if I manage to take semi-decent pics of lizards, birds, butterflies and other colorful animals! 

Oh, and squirrels. Y’all I love squirrels so much. As a kid I was obsessed with them, but I unfortunately happen to come from one of the few squirrel-less parts of The Netherlands. So being able to see them every single day now, brings me much joy! Here’s some crappy pics of a little curious friend I met at a park the other day. Their family cautiously stayed far away from me (as they should, people are dangerous), but this one kept me company during my break. 

Collage of six pictures. A curious brown-grey squirrel with a white belly and white mittens is running, sitting, and watching me from a concrete path, grass covered in brown leaves, woodchips, and acorns, and a tree.

Challenge me!
What would you like me to write about next? And what kind of pictures would you like to see? I’ve been here for respectively 3, 2, and 4 months and still hardly have any pictures. It seems like I need a challenge to take them. 😉

Thanks for being awesome!

Big hugs,
Didi

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