My GGGUncles and their sons were bar pilots from the early Pensacola days. Growing up on Bayou Grande and having access to all of the waterways around here has been one of the really nice parts of my life. My first 'tour' on the Juan Sebastian de Elcano was the one I won't forget. I think I was in the 6th grade and that was my first walk through of a Tall Ship. We've watched the shipyard here build some grand looking 'riverboats' the went up the Mississippi to be gambling boats in the last few decades. They still looked wonderful on the outside. One of my best moments in Natchez was being under the hill when two of the riverboats docked. They didn't quite have their music timed together right and it was sort of a big noisy event. They looked so inviting though and one could easily imagine them in the past and how the scene must have looked. My Grandfather was in the Navy. He served on the USS Patoka. Strange name and one of the few that fueled the 'blimps'. He had some stories and I heard em all. I was a girl, but he never held that against me. I was the one who would listen when he talked. Heck,, I was just happy to go fishing with him. That's when I learned of his Grandfathers service in the 15th Georgia. He even let me help him clean an old 8 guage double barrel that he said one of them owned. Rabbit Ears is about all I really remember and it was heavy.
Y'all come on! We can have a big party at some of the Forts. Maybe even tell the 'tourist' a 'true' fact while we're there.

Pam