Trip to Molino ... "Yeah, I don't know why everyone wants to get a picture of it, but they do," he wondered.

One of my favorite things about Pensacola is the diversity of scenery. Where else could you be soaking up the sun at the beach in the morning, and an hour later, be taking a peaceful drive through the country with a cup of coffee in hand?

It's just paradise for me...

So the other day, I took a little field trip out to Molino, a small town outside of Pensacola. I hadn't been there before, nor did I know anyone there, but as soon as I heard that it was "country," I made up my mind to take a drive out there.

After grabbing my Starbucks, I headed back across 3 mile bridge, hit I 10 W, exit 10B, then 29 N all the way out to Molino. Once I hit 29N, I thought "oh yeah, this is what I'm talking about."

All in all, it took about 30 minutes to get out there. I knew I was getting closer to the country and further from the city, when I started seeing more and more pick-up trucks. In P'cola, SUV's, Jeeps, and sports-cars are what you see alot of, but out toward Molino, the standard seemed to be nice big pickup trucks.

In P'cola, when you see a truck hauling something it is likely a boat - probably some people on their way to a beautiful local waterway. Out toward Molino - the pickup trucks were hauling four-wheelers and things of that nature. Tractors and tractor supply stores lined the side of the road.

I loved it!

I was amazed to see what I think were cotton fields, lining the sides of the roads as well. I hear about cotton in

relationship to the south all of the time, but actually getting to see cotton fields was pretty awesome. I almost

wanted to start singing Johnny Cash's "In them old cotton fields back home," (great song by the way) CCR's Version is great too! ... Just before

heading into Molino, I stopped for a fuel break at the Tom Thumb at the corner of Hwy 29 and 97.

I was so delighted to see more fields of crops on either side of the road. There was even a boiled peanut stand just across the street from the gas station.

The air was so fresh, crisp and clean. I was also quite pleased to see the most handsome, shirtless country boy pumping gas. His tan back turned toward me - I just stopped and stared. There was a girl in the truck with him, but I didn't care.

After fueling up, I headed into Molino itself. It was just how I pictured it, even better. I felt I had driven right back through the tv set into Andy Griffith world.

Everything was so quiet, so peaceful, so untouched by the commercial busy feeling that seems innate to bigger towns. I was delighted to see lots of trailers. Lots of people sat out on their front porches. One little girl sat on her front trailer porch, eating a bowl of cereal. Something just seemed kind of unreal about this life.

Part of me longed for this kind of life of just carefree simplicity. It's funny, while most people daydream about being rich and famous, sailing around on boats and parading around in fancy cars in fancy houses - I daydream about this kind of life - the Molino life - just hanging around on the front porch without a care in the world. I think that's why I like taking these little trips into the country - while I'm driving around I just kind of daydream about what it would be like to live in this world, with a simple job, a good country boy, and a bunch of kids running around that I'm always cleaning up after.....

Anyway, back to reality....So I drove up and down the quiet streets of Molino quite taken with its unique charm. When I saw this cool little old vacant-looking brick building, I pulled the car over and hopped out to get a picture. No sooner had I taken a picture or two, than a middle-aged man that was cleaning up brush nearby came walking over toward me.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

I, a little annoyed with his unexpected presence, said "Um, taking a picture of that building,” kind of looking at him like “Why do you care?”

"Oh," he said. "Well I live there."

He had that small town country ambience about him, and in some remote way he kind of reminded me of Conway Twitty, but I wasn't really in the mood to socialize and truthfully, I wasn't sure if he was angry with me, or just curious.

"Omg!" I exclaimed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that. It looked like a vacant building to me."

"No," he said. "I live there, and everyone is always stopping to get pictures of it."

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah, I don't know why everyone wants to get a picture of it, but they do," he wondered.

"Yeah, well it just looks like a really historic place or something. Anyway, sorry if it bothers you," I said, coming around to being more sociable.

...we chithchatted a few more sentences then I went on my way.

Not too much further down the road, I found a marvelous red dirt road that instantly reminded me of the Brooks and Dunn song "Red Dirt Road." It was quite bumpy and went slightly downhill all the way down to a set of railroad tracks

I was stopping to take pictures and video all along the road, wondering to myself how many people were looking out their trailer windows wondering "what the hec this girl was doing taking pictures of their neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon."

After I had my fill of taking pictures and exploring little side roads, I meandered around to find my way back out of town. "I'll eventually get there" is the attitude I had about getting back to town, so I didn't use my GPS, just kept making turns and heading in the general vicinity of where I thought the road back home would be.

And that is when I discovered one of the finishing touches to my trip to Molino, and that was a street sign that said "Joanna Ln." "Omg!" I exclaimed to myself, slammed on the breaks, turned around in a country church parking lot and headed back towards the road to get a picture.

It seemed the grand finale for my wonderful day in Molino. I went home that evening even more in love with Pensacola than I was before....I mean I really felt like I had been gone somewhere far away all day. Just that morning I was marveling at the ocean as the wind tossed the waves around wildly, and now, here I was 30 minutes away, short only the gas and coffee money, with a camera full of pictures and a heart full of new experiences.

3 Mile Bridge

This is 3-mile bridge - A favorite and familiar site for me. This bridge is right down the street from me, and it's another reason why I love Pensacola. Many a morning or Saturday afternoon, I head over it to get to my favorite Starbucks, located in Gulf Breeze, a small community just on the other side. This bridge is also the first of two bridges you pass over to get to Pensacola Beach.

There's something so freeing and refreshing to me about taking the treck across this bridge. Windows rolled down, the salty ocean breeze revitalizing every fiber of my being. So often, I have found myself stressed out with a variety of life's concerns, but as soon as I hit this bridge and head across the water, I feel I'm escaping it all - put some good music on, take in the views of the ocean, good coffee in hand - it really is like I can have a mini-vacation within 20-30 minutes.

I literally feel like a spring break kid hitting the beach for the first time, nearly every time I drive across it. Wind blowing my hair all around, I really find myself wanting to yell "Yoohoo!!!"

ECUA Water Tower

There stands the ECUA Water Tower in all of its splendor against a perfectly gorgeous summer sky. (ECUA is the local water company).

There's something about water towers that really stand out to me as a landmark of a place.

The east and west sides of the water tower say "ECUA," the north side says "Cradle of Naval Aviation," and the south side says "Blue Angels Classic." - There's just so much history here!

The second photo shows a bit of a hotel in town, regularly crowded with wild-eyed spring break students and tourists making all sorts of noise - likely quite buzzed after hitting the main downtown strip, which is walking distance away down toward the Pensacola Bay.