Jacksonville Vacation 2012 edition
trip to florida was fairly unevental. We did stay overnight in Savannah. The clerk told us about Love's Seafood which was fairly close by. A very nice restaraunt and it has a view of one of the tributaries even has a dock for boats to dock on. Food was super and they even had a blues band play out on the terrace. We found out from the waitress that a couple of scenes from Forrest Gump were shot there. A bridge scene and I can't remember the other.
When we got close to the campground the next day, we did see one poor guy that was driving an old camry with a window busted out, dents over, and not one but two doughnut tires. That car and its owner have lead tough lives.
fun to people watch on the beach, particularly when there is someone that can rock a two piece bikini. Of course there are others that you want to throw rocks at for wearing a two piece - Ouch you're making my eyes burn. There comes a time when you need to dress your age and or weight. Then there are the leather skins, folks that are determined to burn their skins into alligator hides. A little tan looks good, but letting the sun toast your skin all day long gives you that scary womangator look. And any health benefits you gain are lost to the early onset of skin cancer.
It is fun to see young couples on the the beach. One woman was burying her boyfriend in the sand. Come to find that they came from st. louis. With the benefit of hindsight of a 52 year old grandfather, I like to think that I know what you two are in for... A case in point, the couple next to us has three kids and gee are they busy riding herd to keep them corralled. And you can't keep an eye on them all the time. Becky spotted the youngest boy walking down the lane with a tshirt on and no pants. The mother spotted him in short order and scooped him up. In some ways we miss those days when the kids were young and then again - we did our time and we are glad to be done and just be grandparents.
I was warned that St Augustine was a tourist trap and it lived up to its reputation. Now it is a fun place to visit, but you better have plenty of cash or a healthy credit limit on your visa card. It costs to park and yes they do have trolleys but you have to buy a tour package to use them. We visited the spanish fort which was nice, then ate at a restaraunt on the waterfront. They gave us a plate of old bread to feed the fish and birds. Next to the table was a little door and you could throw bread on the ledge for seagulls and pigeons, or drop it below for the fish to eat. They swarmed to the bread, both feathered and finned alike. I have to admit it kept us entertained.
We went to historic old Augustine and visited the shops. Well Becky visited the shops and I wandered around and found a bar with over 100 imported beers. The bartender was a young fellow with dreadlocks. He had travelled the US in a conversion van. We had a good time chatting and me sampling the wares whilst Becky shopped. He originally came from North Carolina and was not ready to settle down yet. Now Becky bought some clothes before she went on vacation.
Then she brought some more clothes at St Augustine. Still trying to extrapolate the correllation between vacations and women's clothing. I did buy a hat to add to my collection.
The weather has not cooperated this visit. Rain to some degree each day. Some days just a passing storm which is ok, the last two days it started early in the afternoon and drizzled until dark. So not much beach time as of late. Did go fishing this morning and caught a large month bass. I saw a gator out in the water, turtles,gar, heron. And I saw an osprey catch his breakfast. So lots of wildlife here at Hanna park. Not all of it pleasant. Thought that a persistant mosquito was after me at first. When I finally looked down I had at least 20 - 30 fire ants on my sandle. I had to remove my sandels and put them in the water to rid myself of the pests.
The sea turtles are hatching and when we got to the beach we just missed them opening a nest. But they said that it looked like the one next to it had been active too. So they dug down and found a lot of empty shells and one last straggler. He was so weak that they carried it to the water. The one fellow doubted he would make it, I was pulling for him - if nothing else he made it to the water, where he was destined to be - lots better than dying in the sand.
The weather has gotten better here at the tail end of the vacation. We are spending the last full day on Amelia Island. Spent time at American beach - had to stop to let a tortoise cross the road and as we watched he stopped to take a few nibbles of some plants by side of the road. Becky searched for seashells and ran into the same fellow we met last summer. Only he was with his wife this time. Last year he was with his mother.
So it was quite the coincidence to run into Dennis again.
The Island/harbor tour we wanted to go on was cancelled as not enough people signed up. But the meal at the crab trap was great. And afterwards we drank our bottle of raspberry wine out on the docks as we watched the sunset. A satisfying way to end our trip in Florida.
Posted by christ77
at 5:12 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, September 7, 2012 5:20 PM EDT
