Pensacola area... stuff to do?

[d3500ram]

I need to fly into Pensacola next week for work. Have a sister who lives nearby and instead of flying home right away the next day I am going to take a looong weekend and spend some time there.

Have a motorcycle rented for a couple days and am looking for idea destinations to make a couple of separate day trips...

Looking for ideas of places to ride to, spend some time and return back.

Points of interest, museums, historical areas, etc...
Looking primarily to ride with a destination as a an excuse.

...what recommendations do you have... 200 to 300-ish miles.

[d3500ram]

OP here with a follow-up...

Thanks for all the recommendations. The trip at the end of October was not as long as initially thought. I did rent a Road Glide for 4 days and made the most of it putting on almost 1,000 miles.

One day consisted of a tour through the rural ranch and farming areas of the NW panhandle of Florida into Alabama with a group of about 25 bikes. Amazingly beautiful areas that I would not think of when I think of "Florida."

Another day I went to the USS Alabama. Great museum for history buffs! My only regret about that visit was not allowing enough time to really take it all in. Next time I visit I will allow at least 6 hours there... only "skimmed" it in 2 hours which was a decent overview, but not enough to delve into the details.

Other days were tooling around with family who also ride, riding along close to the shores of the two states... and eating dome decent seafood. This was the first time visiting the Pepsicola area and look forward to returning again sometime.

[twichers]

Continuing the military theme - the AF Armament Museum in Fort Walton Beach.

The drive between on the island between Pensacola Beach and Navarre beach; it's part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

[MikeDupont]

Not too far away is the USS Alabama and associated park.

[bgum]

agesilaus wrote:

Not to be missed: Wenger museum at Pensacola Naval station.
It is a display of the US Naval Security Group. The other silent service.

I cannot find any mention of that museum online, Admiral Wengler is mentioned, but no museum. I was interested since my father was in the Army Security Association and I think he taught at the Naval group school at one point.

Could be because you are spelling Wenger incorrectly. The items in the museum were originally located at 3801 Nebraska Ave Washington DC which was headquarters of the security group and also a security station. It now is Homeland Security and what was (new name) the security group headquarters is at Fort Meade. Also see USNCVA.org. once there click on cryptologic command display and it will take you to a page that tells you about it.

[agesilaus]

Not to be missed: Wenger museum at Pensacola Naval station.
It is a display of the US Naval Security Group. The other silent service.

I cannot find any mention of that museum online, Admiral Wengler is mentioned, but no museum. I was interested since my father was in the Army Security Association and I think he taught at the Naval group school at one point.

[bgum]

Not to be missed: Wenger museum at Pensacola Naval station.
It is a display of the US Naval Security Group. The other silent service.

Check it out and learn a little bit about what us "******" did for our country.

At one time an advance pass had to be obtained to visit the museum.

[Dick_B]

Do a Google search for `Pensacola tourism' and read on.

[mleekamp]

Ft. Pickens --- a great Civil War fort with lots of hisotry...on Santa Rosa Island

[agesilaus]

Naval Air Museum is well known. Beaches of course.