64     |    VIPPensacola.com

story by

 

Liesel Schmidt

 

| photos provided by

 

The City of Pensacola & Laura Bogan Photography

W

ith so much of our lives being 
spent with faces buried in 
a screen of some kind and 
out of touch with the world 

that’s all around us in real time, it can 
sometimes be hard to see the forest for the 
trees—literally. It’s an unfortunate pattern—
we go about our days without stopping to 
take in and appreciate the beauty of nature, 
dashing from place to place and swiping 
out way from one mobile device to the next 
and practically forgetting to breathe. We’re 
stressed out and strung out—and one of 
the best ways to fi x that isn’t downloading 
another app. It’s powering down the devices 
and getting away from the digital to fi nd an 
escape in nature. 

Even if you’re not really the type to get 

all hashtag happy about trees and the idea 
of camping makes you clutch your tablet 
to your chest in fear, fi nding a way to get 

outside in the fresh air and sunshine can 
actually be a walk in the park—and, thanks 
to Play Pensacola Parks and Recreation, 
parks can be found in abundance. 
Maintained and managed by Play Pensacola, 
more than 600 acres of park areas and 
outdoor spaces can be found all around the 
city, beautiful places to enjoy and be active. 
All it takes is a little stroll to discover that the 
city of Pensacola is a community rich with 
every type of scenery and activity, and each 
of them offer an enriching experience and 
a great way to connect—to yourself, to the 
environment, and to the people around you. 

“It’s amazing to see the effects that having 

access to the city’s parks and its recreation 
programs can have on a community as 
a whole,” says Play Pensacola Director 
Brian Cooper. “From an environmental 
standpoint, it improves the quality of the 
air and the water and provides a habitat 

XX-XX AdventureOut.indd   1

2/22/17   9:28 AM