Jacksonville, Florida - More Friends!

Jacksonville, Florida
Katherine Abbey Hanna Park

After a 4 hour drive from Brandon on the west side of Florida we headed up to our final stop in Florida, Jacksonville, on the very upper northeast side of the state.  There are many water crossings over here and interesting bridges.

The roads through Hanna Park, as they call it, can be quite narrow.  There are no one way signs posted so it's a bit crazy getting in.  But it is one gorgeous park.  It's a large city park that really has it all.  The campsites are in a very thick, lush setting which makes the sites private.  It is right on the ocean so there are many shelter access points, lots of parking, laundry, lakes, walking paths etc.

There are all combinations of utilities, we had FHU in site #108, $30.

The online maps are very informative of the sites.  Length, levelness, etc.  This is a great campground if you are in the area.  There is much to do in Jacksonville.

We would've like to kayak the lake but there were so many alligators it was advised against.

On one of our walks this little guy is the only one we spotted.  Much of our week here was quite hot and very humid with a little rain on a couple of days.  We didn't do too much during the week while Steve worked.  I caught up on laundry and took the truck in for an oil change.  It was really too hot and humid outside for us.  The temps never cooled much at night so we never had a fire either.

Our excitement came on the weekend with more friends to catch up with.  Friday night we took our daughters high school friend out for dinner.  Ciarra was at the wedding and we told her we'd look her up when we arrived in Jax.  We watched her grow up back in Placerville.  Her family moved here after she graduated high school.

Saturday we drove down to Flagler Beach and visited a good friend from our New York days.  Jeff couldn't make it but Yvonne brought us to a great spot overlooking the ocean for breakfast as we caught up with the past few years.

Nice view from the outside, upper patio.

Then it was off to Beverly Beach to visit with RV Friends Mario and Ellen (good 'ol Class of 14)

This is their new home just across from the beach.  They are off the road now.  I love their outside patio.

So cute and bright inside.

They put together a very nice appetizer board.  We had a couple drinks, chatted a bit then they drove us around their new neighborhood in their golf cart to show us around.  Great place they have! 

We took our wine and walked along the beach.  It was a very breezy day and the clouds were very dramatic.  The layered colors in the ocean were so pretty with the bright blues and greens.

There was a nesting turtle site that was roped off to protect it.

Steve and Mario trying to keep up with us.  I think they gave up.

They beach has a pretty fine, pebbliness to it with many shells.  Reminds me of Italy.

We piled into the golf cart and took a ride down the beach to the pier and walked that.

There were several people fishing.  This guy caught a small Catfish.  I didn't know they had those in the ocean.  Another guy at the end caught a small Hammerhead shark.

Mario, Ellen, Me & Steve

We had a great pizza lunch outside and visited a bit more before we said our farewells.  It was so good to see them again.  We adore these two!  It's been a great stay in Florida but now we head up to Virginia for a family reunion with Steve's family.