Owen Reynolds Personal blog

My parents used to live as snow birds in Gulfport, Florida, which is close the city of Tampa. I visited them at their Florida home 3 times over the years, and I really enjoyed my time there

They sold their Florida home in the spring of 2024, and around Dec of 2024, I missed it! So, I started to think about planning a solo trip. This time, I’d visit the NORTH part of Florida, which is quite distinct from the southern part where Miami & Tampa are located. The Southern united states as an outsider can be kind of confusing. A lot of people see ‘red’ due to the region’s traditionally conservative state-level politics, and write it off, but that is a short-sighted view. From 2019 onwards, via personal and tech industry related events, I’ve visited Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas and Alabama. Each Southern state visit has been more exciting than the previous

Pensacola, Florida is about 30 mins from the Alabama state line, and from my time in Alabama last spring, it DEFINITELY has the southern charms that I’ve enjoyed so far: Southern hospitality is REAL, ya’ll

Sunday & Mon – Arrival & Boat day #1

On Monday, May 19, 2025, I went out on a boat to the Pensacola inner coastal area

Tuesday – Buckee’s / Cabellas and AAA baseball

Buckee’s is this EPIC gas station chain from Texas. There aren’t any in Pensacola, so we took a drive to Robertsdale, Alabama which is about 35 mins drive from Pensacola, Florida

That being said, Florida does have Buckees! 2 now, with 3 more planned in Ocala, Fort Piere and Tallahassee (the state capital of FL)

From earlier this year, I’ve taken up an interest in legal firearm ownership here in Canada. Gun ownership in Canada is VERY different than the states. Most estimates have just 8% of all private citizens in Canada as licensed firearms owners, this contrasts against 40% in the states. To own a firearm, you need to attend a day long course that includes a written test, and practical exam at the end. The name of this course is the CFSC (Canada Firearms Safety Course). I recently completed the non-restricted CFSC course and passed. The Non-restricted category mostly covers shotguns and hunting rifles that I plan to use at an indoor & outdoor shooting ranges here in Montreal.

While I wait for my license application to be processed , any visit to the states will include a trip to the gun store / range 🎯. I visited this MONSTER-SIZE Basspro shop in Spanish Fort, Alabama. We have Cabelas here in Canada, but not of this size. DAYUMMMM

At night, we attended a AAA baseball game ; the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. I’m not a big sporstball dude, but I enjoyed that the event was low-key. It wasn’t non-stop noise like you get at big league stuff, where the crowd is cheering all kinds of stuff, and you have to get up to do that stupid ‘wave’ thing. Tux the wonder dog also came long and caught a ball 🖤

Wed – Working on my ‘tan’ and Dinner w friends

During the day, I continued to put in work on my SUN BURN outside with the dogs. At night, I got enjoyed some at a local restaurant 🍕

Thursday

I visited a local seafood market called Joe Patti’s and had some nice surf and turf at home

Up to this point, my little Coffee bean had done pretty well with the other 2 dogs, but, at some point, she did take refuge in my suitcase 😂

Friday – Indoor range day & Naval Museum

I visited an indoor shooting Range in Pensacola. After a brief intro course, we hit the range and got to shoot 2 different types of pistols (9mm and .22). The highlight, though, was the mighty AR-15 in 9mm format. So much fun!

I visited the Naval air museum which was a lot of fun 🛩️

Saturday – Trap shotgun shooting & boat day #2

I visited Santa Rosa Shooting center, using golf carts to move between the various shooting stations. This was my first time with a shotgun, and first time shooting a moving target. The previous night, I watched various YouTube videos on the basics of trap shooting, so I had some idea what to expect, but no joke, trap shooting is difficult. As we progressed through the various stations I was able to connect with about 15 targets / 50, which I’m very happy with for a first attempt at the process

Here’s a nice slo-mo of me connecting with one of the clay flyers

on Sunday, cool dog and I returned back to Montreal, I got a chance to observe the damage done to my hams

thanks for reading and have a great day 😎🌞

Owen