The Sanguine Sixties

Ahhh, spring break. To me, those are magical words. When I was a kid, I looked longingly at the families who would go off to Florida around the Easter holiday. A couple times it seemed like I came tantalizingly close to being invited along. But it never quite happened.  I dreamed of the beach and the ocean and collecting seashells, to go along with my rock collection. I finally made it to the Sunshine State when my parents began traveling there in February in the late 1990's. Since then, I've probably been there at least a dozen times. Most recently, John and I were there earlier this month, courtesy of a condo stay at Ft. Walton Beach on the Emerald Coast that we won at last year's St. Mark's School Auction. Below are some photos of our trip, in no particular order. Beautiful pool with the Gulf beyond. Here we are on the first day of our trip. I spent a lot of time walking on the beach. Our condo complex abutted Eglin Air Force base, the largest air force base in the w...

I like museums, so I took advantage of the one overcast day we had on the Florida panhandle to visit the Air Force Armament Museum on the Eglin Air Force Base, the largest air force base in the world.  As with most museums, it's not possible to cover everything and it's easy to go down rabbit holes. Here are some of the highlights. Above and below is the cool-looking jet with the cool name, the F-104D Starfighter. The F104 made its first flight in 1954. It was the first aircraft to hold world records for speed, altitude, and time-to-climb all at the same time. The version of the jet pictured here was a trainer with a second cockpit added. The Starfighter could fly 1,150 mph and reach a ceiling of 58,000 feet.  One of the reasons the Starfighter was interesting to me is a sad one. This very type of jet was the jet Bradley graduate Major Robert Lawrence was in when his trainee crashed the plane and Major Lawrence perished. I wrote about the recently dedicated statue of Major Law...