Page Updated: September 13, 2023

Greater Jacksonville

The beginning of March 2022 took us the Greater Jacksonville area to see a friend we hadn’t seen in over a year. Our experience in visiting northern Florida in the past has us forever correlating the whole of Florida with nothing but rain. This leg leg held true to that train of thought.

Copious rain, high winds, cool weather, and the pesky little thing known as employment all played a part in cancelling one excursion or another. It rained the day we had set aside for canoeing: back up day had >20mph wind and neither of us wanted to fight the canoe on the water. But we found a handful of nice days in an otherwise dreary leg.

Our rental for the leg was a little lake house outside of Keystone Heights. The home was small but had everything we needed… except a dishwasher. We couldn’t believe we had missed ticking off that box!

However, our hosts did provide us with kayaks. But, we never had a good chance to spend time on the water!

We had two weeks in the area and the bright spot of the leg was taking a few of those days to spend with my close friend. And we did make time for a couple of mid-morning bike rides and a hike closer to the city!

THE LOCAL GRUB

Pulled Pork Nachos

Well smoked BBQ pork on a bed of chips- lightly drizzled with a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce and a bit of queso… it’ll make you lick your fingers. So good, it was ridiculous. These nachos from Johnny’s Bar-B-Q in Keystone Heights were done so well we hit this place twice.

A bike ride away from our rental, the Florida Cracker Kitchen in Keystone Heights is a great breakfast/brunch place with a small putt-putt course right at the edge of the parking lot. Be warned, serving portions are overly generous; so a car ride may be a better option if you have trouble with self control. Several locations around Florida, so not unique - but worth a try.

Fried Aligator

The Maple Street Biscuit Company has locations throughout the southeast. If you’re lucky enough to be near one, it can’t hurt to try one of these masterpieces: fresh biscuit, fried chicken breast, Pecanwood smoked bacon, fried egg, cheddar cheese, topped with sausage gravy.