Day 2: Jacksonville

I actually slept in until 6:30 this am. How very unusual, jungle life must suit me —except for all the heat and humidity!

I awoke to the singing of a cardinal and the gentle sound of something scampering about in the sand and palm trees, just like home —except for the palm and the sand. The scampering turned out to be a squirrel. Having lived in Florida many years ago, I had forgotten about squirrels navigating the palm trees.

It seems things start moving in the campground at around 7:30 am. People walking their dogs, kids on bikes and some folks are already packing up their RVs and heading out to their next destinations.

Hanna Park in Jacksonville is a very busy place with about 300 sites carved into the dense trees and undergrowth. All the plant life seems to all live happily together. It seems like where ever there is an opening, a palm shoots up through the branches of the oak trees and they seem to spread their branches to make room for them. The Spanish Moss adds to the feeling of being in a jungle scape as it is dripping off just about any branch that can accommodate it. Some of it hangs many feet below its home branch and creating a tangle mass, not unlike one of my bad hair days.

Paul has discovered that this type of forest is very rare and called a Coastal Hammock. A stand of trees, sometimes less than a foot above the water level, that form an ecological island surrounded by wetlands. And, in this case, gators. So, if you happen to see a stand of trees along the coast line, it could be a coastal hammock, they come in all sizes. This one happens to be very old and very extensive (the park is 450 acres).

After moving the camper to our reserved spot for the rest of our time in Jax (photo coming tomorrow), we explored the surrounding outside area a bit. We happened upon the town of Neptune Beach this afternoon. It has a lot of old Florida character beneath all the modern updates to the buildings. Streets are very narrow, parking limited and in high demand. Lots of places to eat, drink and some shops, with the beach just steps away. I forgot to take a photo of the place, we were too busy gawking at the town’s offerings.

We ended up going back later and meeting up with one of our friends for dinner. The town was jammed pack with people and parking spaces had people hovering like vultures for those vacating them. Forgot to take photos again, too busy people watching and trying not to get run over by cars, people on skates, hoverboards, and quiet electric bikes zipping along.

Paul took this photo of the local lake while he was out exploring on his bike. This is where the Alligators live.