19201, 0937hr, florida time.

i'm in pensacola right now, spent the whole day here yesterday, today we're gonna explore a little more, before leaving for fort walton tonight.

pensacola has been pretty interesting - or it might just be that we're all so excited to finally see the sea. we went to the visitor's center, where we also got excited over the internet terminals they had. after grabbing a few brochures, we headed outside, where we climbed over the railings, down some rocks to just touch the water. hahaha...it's hilarious, we're such tourists. i had my shoes on [instead of sandals] so i didn't wade in the water. but truly, it was exciting. the salty air. wide expanse of clear blue waters. the sky was clear too, the sun rays beating down on my face, i felt so alive, so happy.

the navy aviation museum was pretty interesting, though after a while i got sick of looking at the planes. at one part, we could climb into the cockpits, and frankly, i had such an adrenalin rush just sitting there holding on to the clutch, which has control buttons and switches that go "missile select" and "fire". woohoo! heh. we also watched an IMAX film about the blue angels, the navy stunt performance squad. the pilots have to be really fit, to be able to endure through the enormous gravitation forces as they spin through the air, and all that kind of wicked stuff. maybe it's just my imagination, but i think the pilots are really hot. yum.

my favourite memory of this place [so far] is still the sunrise this morning. at first i was so reluctant to get out of bed, but i'm glad i did. tk had a tough job finding a spot along the beach for us, we missed the initial part of the sunrise. the sun was barely visible through the clouds, there was a beautiful velvety covering of mist over the sea, the water was perfectly calm, the reflections of the bridge and buildings in a distance, a boat emerged out of the mist, sending waves through the quiet waters. as the sky gradually lit up, the blue sky and the blue waters became more apparent. a lone pelican glided through the air and stood in the water just out of our reach. it struck a lonely figure, backdropped by the misty waters. i felt a little cold, shivering slightly, but very at peace with my surroundings. i wish alvin were here with me.

so far the weather has been perfect, i'm very blessed. and my travelmates - tk, yahui, priya and shuyi - have been really fun, and tk takes very good care of us, so it's a truly relaxing trip for me. very blessed indeed.