Captain's Choice blog: A couple of firsts

We started out with a few mornings that were quite brisk in Jacksonville...how brisk you might ask? A mere 37 degrees and when we checked the morning temperatures in Buffalo they were the same. At first I'm thinking, we traveled 1,774 miles for this? Then the sun came out and we were treated to days in the 60's. With the sun shining we donned our bathing suits for the first time on the trip and spent time in the hot tub and that was great. Yes we traveled this far for that!

The Marina at Ortega Landing is one of our favorites. It has a pool, hot tub, beautiful club house, free laundry, free ice, grills, decent Wi-Fi and a very friendly staff. The marina is located about a 1/2 mile from grocery stores, restaurants and a west marine. If it wasn't for the fact that the temperatures get a little cool here in the winter we would definitely stay much longer.

It was great meeting up with my sister Tish and her family Saturday and Sunday. We met the newest member of our family, little Emily Rose 7 months old, daughter of my niece Jessica and husband Rusty. She is truly one of the best babies I have ever seen and such a cutie! We visited the Jacksonville Zoo, Mark and I have not been to a zoo in years. It was great, with a lot of exhibits with walkways above you and lots of open space for the animals to roam. We met up with my niece Alice and her boyfriend Dan for dinner. Dan is in the Navy and was suppose to be out on maneuvers but they cut that short due to a storm in the Atlantic so we were able to meet him. Thank you Dan once again for your service to our country!
Sunday we were treated to temps in the high 70's which had us meeting up for lunch with the gang and then we headed to Atlantic Beach to stick our toes in the water.

Monday morning and the fog is as thick as pea soup...it will be several hours before we are able to make our way to St. Augustine's.