A Hot Time in Jacksonville!

That's our marina in the background

Antique bascule bridge still in service just out
from the marina

Fancy manhole covers!

Scenery from local park

Huge elephant ears!

Beautiful, isn't it?

They're not palm trees - but they're beautiful!

Colorful flora

View from under the bridge at the
Saturday Farmers Market

Mike taking a break at the market!

At the car/bike show
So very cool!

Varoom!

Low-rida!

One of my favorites!

Model boat museum at
Singleton's Seafood Shack

There were lots of models
A lot of work went into these

Waiting on our burgers poolside

View from the boaters lounge

We’re still here in Jacksonville at Ortega Landing where it’s so hot – how hot is it you ask?  It is so hot that when the temperature dropped below 95 degrees this weekend – we thought it was chilly!  Just kidding of course, but it really has been hot this year.  In fact, the weatherman said we broke a three year record for the month of August.  Go figure!  Another thing – I’ve discovered that you really don’t have the feeling of being in Florida when you’re here in Jacksonville (or northern Florida).  When we first arrived one of the bartenders told us that the joke here is that you’re really not in Florida but in southern Georgia.  I’m beginning to understand that now.  I’m missing the palm trees, the crystal clear azure water, the dolphin, the sunsets and the “Florida attitude”.  The marina and the area that it’s in is nice but it’s just not like the rest of Florida that we’ve experienced. 

We’ve been spending a lot of time in the air conditioned boat.  However, NautiNell has two units and a couple of days ago one of them stopped working.  So we are doing our best to stay cool with only one unit running.  It really hasn’t been that bad – we have a lot of fans to keep the air circulating.  We’ve got a guy coming in a day or so to check it out.  Hopefully it will only need to be gassed up.  Keep your fingers crossed!

We’ve been doing the usual things here.  Searching out good restaurants and going on scooter rides. There are several nice parks close by.   We found out that a couple we met two years ago in Marathon is here – Dave and Marilyn (Counter Poiste).  Hopefully we’ll get together with them soon. 

There is a couple of bars/restaurants here where we’ve become regulars.  Let’s just say – we walk in and they know what we drink.  Tom and Betty’s is a great little place.  It’s decorated like a “car show” – old style.  The entrees on the menu have car names and the food is great!  They have a nice happy hour and a band on Friday nights.  Harpoon Louie’s is our other hangout.  They have a great happy hour with the coldest beer in town.  They were voted to have the best burgers in the state of Florida and I agree! 

We’ve hit some of the antique stores – just browsing.  There are some pretty interesting things here.  Wish we had a way to get them back to Missouri for resale.  We could make a bundle!  Mike found a print of some fish he liked – spent six bucks.  We then found a frame at the Goodwill for three bucks.  Hey, only the best for us!!

Mike has become a regular at the American Legion – not surprisingly.  He’s also been doing “projects” on NautiNell.  Also had to work on the exhaust on his scooter.  It sounded like a rocket buzzing all around.  He couldn’t find a gasket to fit – so he made his own.  He is quite the “MacGyver”, isn’t he?

A local Harley shop put on a car/bike show this past weekend.  It was huge and very cool.  We got there rather late but we saw most of the cars and bikes before they left.  There were a lot of cars we hadn’t seen before.  They also had a band and beer.  Not bad!

After the car show we decided we would go somewhere we hadn’t been for dinner.  We had been told about Singleton’s Seafood Shack over in Mayport.  This is a true seafood shack/market that has quite a history.  They serve fresh right off the boats.  The shrimp and fish we ordered had just been caught earlier that day!  Mike had shrimp and scallops (also caught that day) while I had trigger fish for the first time.  Mike had tried trigger fish in the Bahamas and I wasn’t too sure about it.  However, the waitress said I would love it so why not?  She was right too – it was delicious!  I think it even beat out Mahi and that’s saying a lot!  We had hoped to take the car ferry across the river to get here but out timing was off.  It wasn’t that long of a drive and we got to see the area.  Fun place!

Sunday we decided to check out this local flea market we had found.  Big Mistake!  It was so hot AND the place was a giant junk pile!  It was fun watching the people there though – however some were a little “out there”.   There were some strange and strong odors (oils of some type) at some of the booths – not the Florida smells that are described in brochures! J  They did serve beer – and there was even a bar with karaoke. It was so bad!  We did manage to get some fresh fruit though.  They would cut it up while you waited and serve it to you in a baggie with a fork.  That part was good!  They charged a 50 cent admission fee.  We definitely got our money’s worth!  HA!

After the flea market we had lunch at Cross Creek BBQ.  We had driven by it and the parking lot was packed.  So we gave it a try.  Glad we did!  They have 2-4-1 drinks there ALL DAY-EVERYDAY!  Their food was great!  Mike finally got some good ribs! 

On Labor Day the marina grilled burgers and hot dogs at the pool for all the boaters.   Everyone brought a side dish or dessert.  They even furnished the beer!  It was definitely a feast!  We hung out at the pool for a while and visited with some of the boaters.  We really haven’t made a lot of acquaintances here like in Marathon. Like I said earlier – a different attitude!   It seems most stay to themselves.  Maybe it’s because it’s been so hot – people just don’t hang outside much.  We’re looking forward to cooler weather and spending the winter in the Keys.  We’ll be here though for at least another month or more.  There’s bars and restaurants that we haven’t tried yet!

Okay, I’m still writing this a week later – so I’ll bring you up to date.  It turned out that the air conditioning unit just needed to be serviced and gassed up!  Yea!  We’re back to two units now and much more comfortable.  

We’ve spent this past week doing pretty much nothing!  We’ve hit a few of our favorite hangouts and finally made it to Mellow Mushroom but that’s about it.  Mike finally was able to pick up his new glasses in Orange Park.  That’s a story in itself!  You know the place – the 2 for $69 type.  Well, of course, it turned out to be quite a bit more than that – and it took several phone calls and over two weeks to get them!  Mike even got on Google and wrote his first “review”.  I think you call it “ranting” but he felt much better!  It was a very non-professional place – to put it mildly. 

Now it’s Sunday and we had planned a trip to the beaches.  Wouldn’t you know it  -  it was raining when we got up this morning – now it’s noon and it’s still raining.  Hmmm!  At least it’s cooler!

Till next time!

Admiral “C”