I pedaled from the Gulf Islands National Seashore Park back to my hotel so I could get cleaned up for dinner before heading across the street to the Four Points where Danita was staying. While the girls were getting ready for dinner, I hung out on the balcony enjoying the view of the Gulf.

The photo above is of the nearby Okaloosa Island Fishing Pier.

There were a few people still out on the beach at the Four Points Hotel.

Sundown was still a few minutes away.

I was starting to see color appear in the sky to the west.

The color got more intense as the time passed.

Clouds, weather, and the colors in the sky have always been a favorite picture subject of mine.

The problem was that where I was sitting didn't offer a direct view of sunset.

Beautiful colors continued to appear. I wonder if I can get a better view of all this ?

While the girls were getting ready, I decided to see if there was any way I could get a better view of the sunset.

The Four Points hotel has a six-story tower that faces the Gulf. I headed up to the sixth floor walkway of the tower, which faces the island, to see if I could see anything from there.

As expected, I had a great view of the island from here.

But the walkway's north/south orientation meant sunset was still out of direct view.

Three-picture panorama of Okaloosa Island as seen from the sixth floor walkway of the Four Points Hotel.

The Four Points Hotel features a water fountain area next to the hot tub. Water jets are built into the ground surface and shoot water upward.

I've seen something similar in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina at the entrance to Coligny Beach.

The photo above is of the Brooks Bridge that connects Okaloosa Island to Fort Walton Beach.

The Okaloosa County water tower I saw earlier was visible from here.

The Okaloosa County water tower.

Unfortunately, I still didn't have a direct view of sunset from here.

The best I could do was some great color over the Emerald Coast water tower.

The familiar Emerald Coast water tower.

Looking at the photos now, I see where the top of the Brooks Bridge would be a great place to view the sunset.

I had one last idea and headed down to the walkway to the beach to see what I could see from there.

The result was the same. There were too many big buildings in the way.

I still managed to get some great color shots, though.