Well, we are now at Fort Clinch State Park, on Amelia Island (which is maybe 20 miles nort
h of downtown Jacksonville). The park is just outside of Fernandina Beach, which is a great old town dating back to the early 1800's (maybe earlier???). Anyway - I'm told it's sort of a MINI St. Augustine (which we still haven't visited - 
but will during this stay). We were here at Fort Clinch two years ago, and really liked it, so we reserved two weeks this time - and I'm really glad we did! It's nice to know we aren't already leaving on Wednesday! The park is exceptionally nice - the sites are ok, not totally great, but the amenities of the park are terrific. There is a 
great old fort which has "period costume" staff members on weekends - they shoot off the cannon and all that good stuff, and once a month they have a candlelight tour of the fort with just torches and stuff for lighting. We did that two years ago and it was great - not sure we'll be here for one of those during this trip. They also have an ocean-side beach and campground and a huge long fishing pier - it was closed for reconstruction when we were here last, but now it's open and is really cool. On the other side of the park (which is kind of on a peninsula) is the more wooded campground - that's where we are - with another beach area, but not as nice of course as the ocean side. There are miles of trails - they say they are for hiking and biking, but you really have to be into mountain biking to ride them - they are all twisty and turny and have lots of little up-and-down hills and stuff - GREAT for walking on! And there's a nice nature trail that goes around some alligator-type ponds. Just a little bit of everything. Plus it's only a 1.5 mile bike ride into the town, which is very quaint and has some great bars and restaurants. (Of course, it's a 3 mile ride just to get OUT of the park, but still - you can be in town with about 5 miles of biking.)
So - what have we done so far? Well, as usual the weather started off less than great - it was pretty cool (low 50's) on Thursday - so we went into Jacksonville and went to the Zoo. Overall it's a very nice zoo - not the biggest we've ever been to, but very nice - we like how the exhibits are pretty big and "natural" and the visitors sort of go around and over a lot of the exhibits on miles of boardwalks. Plus it was very clean and nicely landscaped and just attractive.
On Friday, I did another of my AVA walks (I'm totally in LOVE with these walks). This time I drove to the southern Jax area and went over to an area called the Atlantic Beach. The walk started at a coffee shop in the town center (which was WAY too cute) and went to the north through some great beach front residential areas and then away from the beach into a beautiful older residential section, with narrow winding roads and lots of old trees - it was really pretty - then it took me back down to the beach itself and I returned to the starting point by walking about two miles of gorgeous beach right on the ocean - VERY nice! Plus, the other cool thing is - there are actually two separate AVA walks that start at the same coffee shop - the other one is Neptune Beach and heads south instead of north from the town center. So tomorrow (Monday) I'm taking Dave there and he's going to ride his bike around while I do the second walk. Dave spent Friday afternoon in the kayak and seemed to enjoy his day even though he didn't catch any fish. He was pretty amazed at how strong the current was along the ocean shoreline and how much he could feel the pull of the receding tide.
So - on Saturday we did the bike ride into Fernandina, which we really enjoy. We rode into town and then just leisurely rode up and down the streets, stopping to watch the boats going in and out. We stopped at the Palace Saloon (which was established in 1878!) for a cold one, and then on the way back to the park we stopped at a little farmer's market that was set up in one of the little city parks along the main road. When we got back by the park entrance Dave wanted to show me a little bar that he had stumbled across on Friday, so we stopped in there for a little while. It's a nice little place, with a great deck looking out over the ocean. It was too cool to sit outside but we plan to return during the week because we are SUPPOSED to be coming up on a warming up spell (...right!). Anyway, when we got back to the park it was really chilly, but we went for a walk along the beach by our campground. We followed the beach around a point and were surprised to see that we were really close to the town - can't quite figure that one out! - and there was a really nice marina and boat ramp - really close to the edge of the state park. We stood out there until it was almost sunset and then realized we'd better hustle back to the park or we'd get caught out walking in the dark (there are no street lights in state parks!). It was a really nice day.
Today (Sunday) was supposed to be warmer, and I guess it was - a little - might have hit 60 degrees. Based on the (incorrect) forecast, Dave had decided to spend the whole afternoon out fishing - which he did, but with no luck (although he had dolphins swimming by him part of the time). I did the AVA walk here at the park - I had picked up the map but waited until today to do the whole 10K walk. It was a little intense - it started out with
maybe a mile and a half or two of the hike/bike trails, then around the nature trail loop, then on a paved road over to the ocean-side beach, and then all around the end of the peninsula (on the beach) back to the fort and our campground. It was pretty easy walking on the ocean side because the beach sand is kind of packed down, but on the far side the sand was much softer and I sunk into it a little with each step - and I had a LONG way to walk like that - so it was a little harder than some of my other walks - but I did it and now I get my stamp!!! (Did I mention that I love these AVA walks?)
Tomorrow is supposed to actually be in the low 70's and I'm taking Dave over to the Atlantic Beach area so he can ride and I can do the second walk (I might have already mentioned that) and later this week we are FINALLY going to go to St. Augustine. We are having a really good time and can't believe we are down to only four weeks left. More later!
h of downtown Jacksonville). The park is just outside of Fernandina Beach, which is a great old town dating back to the early 1800's (maybe earlier???). Anyway - I'm told it's sort of a MINI St. Augustine (which we still haven't visited - 
but will during this stay). We were here at Fort Clinch two years ago, and really liked it, so we reserved two weeks this time - and I'm really glad we did! It's nice to know we aren't already leaving on Wednesday! The park is exceptionally nice - the sites are ok, not totally great, but the amenities of the park are terrific. There is a 
great old fort which has "period costume" staff members on weekends - they shoot off the cannon and all that good stuff, and once a month they have a candlelight tour of the fort with just torches and stuff for lighting. We did that two years ago and it was great - not sure we'll be here for one of those during this trip. They also have an ocean-side beach and campground and a huge long fishing pier - it was closed for reconstruction when we were here last, but now it's open and is really cool. On the other side of the park (which is kind of on a peninsula) is the more wooded campground - that's where we are - with another beach area, but not as nice of course as the ocean side. There are miles of trails - they say they are for hiking and biking, but you really have to be into mountain biking to ride them - they are all twisty and turny and have lots of little up-and-down hills and stuff - GREAT for walking on! And there's a nice nature trail that goes around some alligator-type ponds. Just a little bit of everything. Plus it's only a 1.5 mile bike ride into the town, which is very quaint and has some great bars and restaurants. (Of course, it's a 3 mile ride just to get OUT of the park, but still - you can be in town with about 5 miles of biking.)So - what have we done so far? Well, as usual the weather started off less than great - it was pretty cool (low 50's) on Thursday - so we went into Jacksonville and went to the Zoo. Overall it's a very nice zoo - not the biggest we've ever been to, but very nice - we like how the exhibits are pretty big and "natural" and the visitors sort of go around and over a lot of the exhibits on miles of boardwalks. Plus it was very clean and nicely landscaped and just attractive.
On Friday, I did another of my AVA walks (I'm totally in LOVE with these walks). This time I drove to the southern Jax area and went over to an area called the Atlantic Beach. The walk started at a coffee shop in the town center (which was WAY too cute) and went to the north through some great beach front residential areas and then away from the beach into a beautiful older residential section, with narrow winding roads and lots of old trees - it was really pretty - then it took me back down to the beach itself and I returned to the starting point by walking about two miles of gorgeous beach right on the ocean - VERY nice! Plus, the other cool thing is - there are actually two separate AVA walks that start at the same coffee shop - the other one is Neptune Beach and heads south instead of north from the town center. So tomorrow (Monday) I'm taking Dave there and he's going to ride his bike around while I do the second walk. Dave spent Friday afternoon in the kayak and seemed to enjoy his day even though he didn't catch any fish. He was pretty amazed at how strong the current was along the ocean shoreline and how much he could feel the pull of the receding tide.
So - on Saturday we did the bike ride into Fernandina, which we really enjoy. We rode into town and then just leisurely rode up and down the streets, stopping to watch the boats going in and out. We stopped at the Palace Saloon (which was established in 1878!) for a cold one, and then on the way back to the park we stopped at a little farmer's market that was set up in one of the little city parks along the main road. When we got back by the park entrance Dave wanted to show me a little bar that he had stumbled across on Friday, so we stopped in there for a little while. It's a nice little place, with a great deck looking out over the ocean. It was too cool to sit outside but we plan to return during the week because we are SUPPOSED to be coming up on a warming up spell (...right!). Anyway, when we got back to the park it was really chilly, but we went for a walk along the beach by our campground. We followed the beach around a point and were surprised to see that we were really close to the town - can't quite figure that one out! - and there was a really nice marina and boat ramp - really close to the edge of the state park. We stood out there until it was almost sunset and then realized we'd better hustle back to the park or we'd get caught out walking in the dark (there are no street lights in state parks!). It was a really nice day.
Today (Sunday) was supposed to be warmer, and I guess it was - a little - might have hit 60 degrees. Based on the (incorrect) forecast, Dave had decided to spend the whole afternoon out fishing - which he did, but with no luck (although he had dolphins swimming by him part of the time). I did the AVA walk here at the park - I had picked up the map but waited until today to do the whole 10K walk. It was a little intense - it started out with
maybe a mile and a half or two of the hike/bike trails, then around the nature trail loop, then on a paved road over to the ocean-side beach, and then all around the end of the peninsula (on the beach) back to the fort and our campground. It was pretty easy walking on the ocean side because the beach sand is kind of packed down, but on the far side the sand was much softer and I sunk into it a little with each step - and I had a LONG way to walk like that - so it was a little harder than some of my other walks - but I did it and now I get my stamp!!! (Did I mention that I love these AVA walks?)Tomorrow is supposed to actually be in the low 70's and I'm taking Dave over to the Atlantic Beach area so he can ride and I can do the second walk (I might have already mentioned that) and later this week we are FINALLY going to go to St. Augustine. We are having a really good time and can't believe we are down to only four weeks left. More later!
(PS - that ugly thing is a big old jelly fish - there are dozens of them washed up on the beach - they're almost a foot in diameter and are very rubbery and slimy -yes, I had to touch one. Gross!)
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