Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, or simply JAX, is on the eastern seaboard of Florida on the Atlantic Ocean. While I've spent a good part of my life on the West Coast and the waters of the Pacific, this would be a different experience as I'd never been to the Atlantic Ocean.

With that in mind, we headed east for a day trip to the JAX Beaches....

Our site at Suwannee River State Park. Pretty spacious with full hook ups. Lots of trees, but phone service and DirecTV worked well so we had wifi and television. Several hiking trails and the river was just a short walk from our site.

Our first glimpse of Jacksonville was from the bridge separating Jax from Daytona Beach.

Beautiful weather, white sands, picture perfect. 

The water was a balmy 86 degrees, and I forgot to bring a bar of soap!

Average water temperature for the Pacific is just 65 degrees. A twenty degree difference was awesome. I could have spent hours in the water.

I'm trying to remember a Southern California beach this uncrowded. Even with the many hotels lining the beach, there weren't many people near the water.

Looking the other way, we could see a pier in the distance. There were a few more people sunbathing and even a few in the water. No waves to speak of and oh! did I mention how warm the water was?

Since this was a day trip, we decided to go into Jacksonville and grab something to eat. My taste buds were screaming "Fish and Chips".

The St. John's River connects Jacksonville with the Atlantic Ocean and provides the City with a Port for ocean going vessels. This is just one of many of the bridges spanning the river. The dock on the right side is for the Jacksonville Landing, a local landmark featuring eateries, clubs and shops.

The Jacksonville Landing caters to the local patronage of over 65,000 downtown office workers and residents of North Florida. It has been "an icon" for Jacksonville and, according to travel sources,  "one of the most recognized attractions in Northeast Florida. It opened in 1987.

Yes! I got my fish and chips. We sat at an outdoor cafe on the upper balcony overlooking the river. The food was excellent, with generous portions and the service very good. Our waiter even brought out a dish of water for Jasmine.

Jacksonville is home to the Jaguars of the National Football League. Here is EverBank Field and although a beautiful field, we were more impressed with Packer Stadium in Green Bay Wisconsin.

This baseball stadium, simply called the "Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville" is host stadium of the Jacksonville Suns, a minor league affiliate of  the MLB Miami Marlins. It is located across the parking lot of EverBank Field.

A frontal view of the Baseball Grounds, also known as Bragan Field. Across the street from this stadium is the Veterans Memorial Arena, which host a variety of venues, from preseason NBA games, Hockey, Musicals and other community events.

Four things I find interesting and beautiful are barns, farms, trains and bridges. Since this is my blog, I thought I'd include a couple more on these pages...

Dames Point Bridge....one of the largest cable-stayed bridges in the United States. It spans the St. John's River. It features over 21 miles of cable. The main span is 1300 feet and is 175 feet above the river. 

You may remember this bridge as it was featured on an episode of Rescue 9-1-1, where several workers were rescued when a cable snapped holding a bucket in which they were being transported and they were rescued without injury.

Jacksonville also has a very large seaport. It is the newest port in the United States carrying over 21 million tons of cargo each year. It receives the second largest delivery of vehicles in the United States with over 700,000 vehicles received annually.

A closer look at the cabling supporting the Dames Point Bridge.

Finally, after a beautiful day in Jacksonville, we returned to Suwannee State Park. This guy was wandering along the road leading into our campground. He measured over a foot across....