On September 2, 2004 Hurricane Ivan was born as Tropical Depression #9, out in the Caribbean Sea. Just 14 days later on September 16 around 2 in the morning, Ivan made landfall at Orange Beach, Alabama near the Florida/Alabama state line, just a few miles west from this location. The nearby city of Pensacola, Florida received the full fury of Ivan, and it was unbelievably devastating. But Ivan was late in the hurricane season, and the media had grown tired of hurricane coverage so it was barely mentioned nationally. But Ivan was the strongest hurricane in the 2004 season, and the strongest to hit Florida in a long time. Although it's been just over 3 years now, the damage and destruction it left behind is still a daily reminder to those who remember Pensacola as it once was. This is Big Lagoon State Park, on the western tip of Florida's panhandle just a few miles east of Ivan's landfall. This entire area is but a shadow of what it once was. The once lush pine forests are mostly skeletons now because the 20 to 30 foot storm surge deposited salt water there killing many of them off, as you can see here. But Mother Nature is on the rebound. The intercoastal waterway (to the left of the white sand), and the lagoon (on the right) appear as they always have. And although many trees met their fate in either Ivan's winds or the surge of salt water, new ones are now sprouting up. If Big Lagoon State Park can avoid any more direct hits for a while, one day it will resume looking as it used to. Thanks for stopping by! marshall