In the darkness of last night, we had missed the Gulf Islands National Seashore, which is still available to civilian visitors (minus closures for wildlife protection, restricted access around facilities and docks, and occasional closures for management). Fort Barrancas and the Advanced Redoubt are not available outside working hours, but we weren’t going to wait around, so we explored what we could — the Trench Trail, the Woodland Trail, and Fort Walk. This is roughly a mile and a half to cover the boundary of this park.

The Advanced Redoubt was built between 1845 (with enslaved workers) and 1870 (by free citizens) to protect the Pensacola Navy Yard from land-based attack, and the fort guarded the harbor entrance. They were able to stop a Confederate attack during the Civil War. Depending on whose side you’re on, I either tried to stomp a cactus to death or its spawn viciously attacked me and attempted to put my sandal in my foot. Either way, I pulled the tiny weapon out without impaling the skin under my fingernails, and we made our escape.

We drove over 650 miles, which wasn’t the plan, but when we arrived at a closed state park, it kept us driving later, again. This is the cost of adventure, but it put us in a situation we said we wouldn’t dare do again — the mosquitoes of the Everglades. We each grabbed a can of DEET, and I had a citronella candle that saw a bunch of the bloody bugs burn in the flame as we set up the tent. I learned that Google has an offline Dinosaur Game you can play that reminds me of Mario, but it’s a T. rex, and the screen switches between night and day in the desert.