As most of you know we moved to Florida this summer! We made the drive from Dallas, Texas and wanted to stop at some fun places with our kids who are 5 and 7. We have a lot of family who have served in the military, so when we planned our trip we knew we wanted to tour the USS Alabama in Mobile, Alabama and the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Both of these are on the gulf side of the trip. You can always omit this and take the northern route.
I will say these places exceeded our expectations!
The USS Alabama in Mobile, Alabama we visited on a week day in June and it was pretty warm. You can take a small bag or backpack that you can have waters in to cool off. There is also a snack place to grab food and drinks inside where you buy your tickets. If you get dizzy or have an issue with small spaces, I would recommend staying on the deck of the ship. We went down several decks and had to do lots of steep stairs and some of the rooms didn't have lots of air, but then other rooms had great AC so overall you are good going from room to room. It was really family friendly and there were a lot of families with kids of all ages. It is not stroller friendly unless you stay on the top deck. The restoration and visual elements of life on this ship are so amazing. It is so crazy to see how they lived, operated, and worked on the ship with all these small spaces and no windows. We spent close to 3-4 hours here and still didn't see all of the ship.
They also have the submarine that you can tour. This is much smaller and very tight spaces. They have so many people who served during this time and maybe even with these vessels there to share their stories with you and let you know what some of the secrets of the ships were.
There is also a hanger there to see some fighter planes and other military history that really sparked our interest to see if there was another place we could visit the next day. They had a really neat and touching exhibit on 9/11 which even to this day makes me just tear up and hurt for all those families who lost loved ones. Showing our kids some of this was so surreal.
We noticed several of the planes were there on display loan from the Naval Aviation in Pensacola... so we checked it out.
Highly recommend going here with your family and kids. You pay a 1 time price to see all 3 venues!
The Naval Aviation Museum and home of the Blue Angels in Pensacola was maybe my favorite. When we got to the museum we walked into men and women in uniform and the kids were given these cute wings to wear on their shirts. I can remember as a kid flying and always asking for wings on the flights. It made me feel so important! We were looking for a place to pay for tickets to find out that they don't charge to get in. That was crazy since this place is immaculate and has so many huge planes, interactive things, so much history. There were retirement ceremonies happening, awards , changing of the guard and so many people in uniform around. It was really amazing and neat to see how all these planes had been restored and taken care of. There are a lot of interactive places for the kids to get into planes and 4d movies to experience life on the air craft carrier deck. As we were heading down the stairs from an area a kind older gentleman saw the kids and asked them if they wanted to each pick an airplane. He had credentials so we figured he served somewhere at the museum, everyone there is so sweet to the kids. I think they love seeing their eyes light up when they see the huge aircrafts. We proceeded to go into this huge office with a lot of pictures of fighter planes, a picture of George H Bush and a flight suit hanging on a stand. The kids got to hold a gear stick from a fighter jet and he told them how to use it, put on a helmet, Reagan was obsessed with the eye piece which was from a bazooka, and so much more. Luc and I were so curious who this man was, almost like walking into the room with Santa but he never tells you who he is. He is just really gracious, smart, and loves seeing the kids and how interested they are in facts and the history. Bella who answered all these questions was flooring us with her knowledge and she told him her interest in Amelia Earhart. He then takes us to a spot where we read all about her and see the plane replica that she flew. He also gave us his card and told us to call him when Bella is ready to come to flight school. It was then we found out he is the President and CEO of the museum. A 39 year marine veteran who was a decorated LT. General.
Luc and I kept looking at each other and trying to figure out how to convey to the kids how awesome this was for them. Honestly, this museum was so amazing! There were schools on tour there, so many people but it never felt crowded or overwhelming. The care and heart of all the men and women that are there is shown in the way they greet you, show you around, and on the one favorable day you get a private tour with a really knowledgable and special gentleman. It was by far one of the coolest things! They also have a hanger with Marine 1 from several sitting Presidents, as well as Coast Guard exhibit, and Tom-cat planes (AKA Top Gun) planes. I did tell Luc we now need to go watch Top Gun after seeing all of this again. I honestly can't say enough about how informative, neat, unexpected, and honoring this place is. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is in the area. The crazy thing it is all free.
We will go back again for sure!
XO Kristine
If you have any questions I would love to answer any!