Florida and the Gulf Coast

Spectacularly inappropriate photo.

Along the Gulf of Mexico from Pensacola, Florida to New Orleans, April 2001

Pensacola, Florida

Blue Angels practice session, Pensacola Naval Air Station, April 10, 2001

The Navy's "flight demonstration team," the Blue Angels, is stationed at Pensacola Naval Air Station, the "birthplace of naval aviation." They held a practice session on April 10, 2001. Also included: a large archive of images for use as desktop images or with a Mac OS X screen saver.

National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, Florida

If you've seen the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, you haven't seen this museum: the quality is comparable, but the focus is all-Navy. Of particular interest is the Cubi Point Cafe, with plaques recovered from the Cubi Point Naval Air Station officer's club when the club was evacuated. The museum also boasts an IMAX theater.

National Museum of Naval Aviation, flight line, Pensacola, Florida

While the National Museum of Naval Aviation is large, it isn't that large, and many exhibits won't fit in the building. Some are on display on a flight apron outside.

Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola, Florida

Running along the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Louisiana, the Gulf Islands National Seashore has some stunning beaches in addition to featuring the warm waters of the Gulf. All these photos were taken near Pensacola (and, to be honest, were intended to work with a screen saver under Mac OS X).

Pensacola Lighthouse, on Pensacola Naval Air Station

Pensacola Lighthouse has helped guide mariners into Pensacola's harbor since -- well, that doesn't seem entirely clear. An interesting lesson in history.

Fort Perkins, Pensacola, Florida

Fort Perkins, a masonry fort built prior to the Civil War, was extensively modified before the Spanish American War, and again around World War I, before finally being abandoned in World War II.

Fort Barrancas, on Pensacola Naval Air Station

The oldest parts of Fort Barrancas date to the Spanish period of Florida's history. Later it was incorporated into the complex of forts (including Fort Perkins) designed to defend Pensacola, Florida.

Mississippi

Pass Christian, Mississippi

Pass Christian, known to most Americans as a frequent potential target of Gulf hurricanes, considers itself the "Riviera" of the Gulf Coast, and has some stately homes to back up the claim.

Louisiana

River Walk, New Orleans

River Walk (or Riverwalk; signs indicated both) is an extensive New Orleans development, designed to draw tourists to what had once been a run-down waterfront.

French Quarter, New Orleans

New Orleans' French Quarter. What is there to say?

Florida

Air Memorial, Elgin Air Force Base, Florida

An elegant open-air memorial to military aviators is located on Elgin Air Force Base, near Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Air Force Armament Museum, Elgin Air Force Base, Florida

Not in the same league as the National Museum of Naval Aviation, the Air Force Armament Museum is still worth a look.

Gulf Shore National Seashore

Video clip of the Gulf of Mexico (5.8 MB), taken with a Nikon CoolPix 990 digital camera. 1.9 megabytes, 320 x 240 pixels, 40 seconds, no sound. The CoolPix 990 can capture a maximum of 40 seconds of video without sound, so this is essentially the kind of video clip you can get with default settings (assuming you have enough memory on the camera's compact flash card). The clip was taken around 6 p.m., so the lighting wasn't the best for video, but was perfect for the mood: a relatively warm spring day, white sand, green sea, overcast clouds.

Alabama

USS Alabama Park, Mobile, Alabama

Permanently at anchor along Mobile Bay, the USS Alabama, a Washington-class battleship and World War II veteran, is the centerpiece of a park that features an eclectic collection of military aircraft and armored vehicles.