Jacksonville Beach

We spent 3 nights in Jacksonville getting our somewhat annual physicals at the Mayo Clinic. This time we spent both evenings down in "the Beaches"...Jacksonville Beach, ATlantic Beach, and Ponte Vedre. The first night we walked around the cute little Atlantic Beach "downtown". They have a very nice independent bookstore called The Book Mark...Jerry got a new Denise Mina book. The store owner recommended Sliders for a seafood dinner which was just 2 short blocks away. We ate outside,played dominoes, and had good food. I had shrimp and a rice/beans mix. Jerry had oysters and mahi/mahi. There was a guy playing guitar and singing (old eagles, eric clapton (acoustic), jimmy buffett). He was pretty good and we enjoyed it. The evening was quite nice with a stiff breeze coming from the southeast off the ocean. After dinner we walked on the hardpacked sand and watched kids look for shells in the low tide, laughing gulls take baths in the pools left behind by the escaping tide, other walkers enjoying the soft air. it was really delightful

The second night we went down to Jacksonville Beach for a walk. There are a lot of bars (many with music). This part of "the beaches" must REALLY be hopping during spring break!!!. Also many restaurants...we saw another Joe Crab's (sister to the one in Nashville) right near the Red Cross LIfeguard Station and Tower. Jacksonville has a great municipal pier...quite long We walk to the end and watched the endless parade of people fishing off the pier...there had to be at least a hundred! Coming back to shore we looked over the side and saw a large group of rays gliding through the water...really graceful and beautiful. There were many, many of them.

The homes in Jacksonville Beach and ATlantic Beach were lovely...a much nicer area than expected. Not pretentious but also a cut above the barren beach cottages of many areas. There was lovely landscaping at most homes...

All in all...two lovely evenings. Now we head south to Winter Park and then St. Pete.