Lunch at the Florida Creamery and a Four Mile Walk

Well summer is officially here. Temperature wise at least. 

Because of the heat we walked at the mall yesterday but wanted to get outside today. My only stipulation was SHADE! So we went to Riverside hoping to have some shade and a breeze off the river. 

We walked a couple miles to Avondale and picked up a Geocache behind the Old School Barbershop.

Due to it's location this cache was appropriately called the Mustache Cache Stash and the hidden box contained fake mustaches. The owner requested finders to post a picture of themselves with a mustache so we accommodated...

John brought his own mustache!

Since we were in the shopping area of Avondale we decided to eat lunch at the Fox diner but we got sidetracked along the way. The Florida Creamery caught our eye and we stopped in for a quick bite to eat and a nostalgic trip to Florida in the fifties.

Florida Creamery on St. John's Avenue in Avondale

Old fashion candy and drinks

Just a sample on the Florida wall art

The menu is mostly ice cream. Yum!

Obviously this place focuses on ice-cream but they also serve a Nathan's hot dogs. The only non ice cream food on the menu. That makes ordering easy! We both had a hot dog with slaw and onions and shared a bottle of ginger beer and a bag of chips for ten bucks.

The hot dog was good and the slaw was tasty. Finely chopped like hot dog slaw should be with a hint of celery seeds and pepper. 

 I loved the Reed's Extra Ginger Brew it was not too sweet with a little kick of heat and made of real ingredients!

From the Reed's website:

Extra Ginger Brew

Ingredients: Sparkling Filtered Water (Sweetened by a blend of raw cane sugar, pineapple juice from concentrate and honey), Fresh Ginger Root, Lemon and Lime Juices from concentrate and spices. Non Alcoholic. Free of Preservatives, Caffeine, Gluten & GMO’s.

Just right to quench the thirst on a hot day!

I'd love to sample the ice cream but not today. We have more walking to do!

A few of the sights on our walk through Riverside and Avondale

There's the shade!

Standing guard

Loved this!
LittleFreeLibrary.org
Take a book, leave a book. Too bad I didn't have a book with me...

That was our day. Where did your feet take you this weekend?

Wednesday Walking - A Stroll on the Riverwalk Downtown Jacksonville

As one of the few rivers in the United States that flow north the St. Johns River begins in the marshes south of Melbourne. It winds its way slowly 310 miles north where it dumps into the Atlantic Ocean at Mayport. It's a lazy, slow moving river and is the focal point of downtown Jacksonville. The city has taken advantage of this natural wonder by building a beautiful walk along both the north and south banks of the river.

We started on the north side of the river and walked over the Main Street bridge. 

We love to go downtown and walk over the Main Street and Acosta bridges. The Main Street bridge is a pretty easy walk. Just a little incline. Now the Acosta will kinda kick your butt. It's pretty steep. I didn't feel up to a strenuous walk today so I was a little happy that the Acosta bridge was closed. Some type of an endurance bicycle race going on. The goal was to see how many times you could  cross the bridge in 4 hours. 

I could probably do it once...

We caught sight of a few of the bicyclist as we were wondering around.

Any how...Below is a view from the bridge looking back towards the Landing.

And now from the bridge looking south towards Friendship Fountain.

The remodeled Southbank Riverwalk is beautiful They did a great job! Still a few places under construction but it didn't hinder our progress. Such a great improvement over what it used to look like. 

The Southbank Riverwalk used to end here at this statue but now it extends all the way to the Duval County School Board building. Yea, they got a nice view paid for by the taxpayers...

 Jacksonville Naval Memorial
Commemorates the relationship between the U.S. Navy and the people of Jacksonville. 

One of several party boats docked along the river.

Friendship Fountain with the Main Street Bridge in the background

Geocaching

We spent a good bit of time around the fountain looking for a multi-cache Geocache. I've written before about Geocaching. In a nutshell people hide things that you search for by using GPS coordinates. When you locate the hidden item, called a cache, there's usually a log book to sign and then you mark it as found on the website. 

"Geocaching - When you use multi billion dollar military satellites to find Tupperware hidden in the woods."

If you'd like more info on this fun outdoor activity check out the website Geocaching.com. Geocaching is a family friendly activity.

It was a beautiful day to be walking and we covered over 3 miles. 

Perfect weather, lovely view and friendly people can't hardly beat that!

Wednesday Walking - Wacissa River, Wacissa, Florida

This is where I share the favorite place we walked this past week.

We've probably driven through the tiny town of Wacissa two dozen times in the last few years as we headed for the Gulf.

This time thanks to Geocaching instead of just passing through Wacissa we veered off  onto a road we'd never been on and this is what we found.

The headwaters of the Wacissa River.

The river is located in Jefferson County on SR 59 southeast of Tallahassee. It's fed by 12 springs and flows for 15 miles. Made us wish we had our canoe and a little more time.

We parked and took a walk. Absolutely beautiful!

A perfect placed to sit a while.

You could take the plunge from the old diving platform or the rope swing.

Or do like we did and take a walk along the wooded banks of the river.



Have you ever detoured from your normal route and found an adventure?