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Hooray for home today.
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Photobomb bird on the left there
Stop eating dinner, people! RUN!
Bear guarding 1/16 of their fish plates
Concerned skunk-ape is concerned
That's a real live turtle in an aquarium
Lion about to have his way with antelope
Mutant steer skull eagle face hybrid
One big event from this weekend’s Jacksonville trip was dinner at Clark’s Fish Camp. I hadn’t been there to eat in many years, but I’d always liked how out-of-the-way and distinctly Floridian it is, so I requested that we do a group dinner there. What I did not remember was that the interior of the place is a maddeningly visually busy museum of taxidermied animal tableaus, most of which are of creatures not native to the area.
(btw, here’s a news story from this summer about the Clark’s people finding a gator in the bathroom.)
Love this place! One of my favorite spots in Jax!
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And this is whatI have to look forward to! 45! Yes!
I know the 80 degree weather here in South Florida is great, and one wants to spend every minute outside. But seriously, I need to be cold enough to be able to see my breath for a day or so. ha!
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So my family had a photoshoot of the dogs this afternoon on Jacksonville Beach. The photographer I think is just getting started doing dog photography…not quite sure on this one.
But be prepared for several ‘awwwwe’ photos of our dogs. Dylan, the larger, older one with the red collar is ours and he’s my buddy. The smaller puppy, Orosz is our current puppy in training.
Also, out of the 200+ pics, the dogs are photogenic in about 15% of them, in my opinion, which makes for some funny, menace looking dogs. Look at them all here or click the picture.
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lunch in memorial park
Oh, I miss Memorial Park. I think I go there every time I am in Jacksonville. Seriously, it’s the best!
Jax has the best parks. No question.
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Annd this is why I'm so glad I won't be in Jacksonville Saturday... →
Florida-Georgia game…on Halloween.
My two most hated teams.
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A successful history of the consolidation movement in Jacksonville →
The City of Jacksonville is unlike most places in Florida and the United States in it’s government. There is one government. One city within one county.
It was so different for me coming to Broward and working for the local government and working with 31 municipalities plus the county (the stat is incorrect in the article by the way)!
The General Counsel for the City of Jacksonville, Rick Mullaney, has given a brief history of the movement on the popular, grass root website MetroJacksonville.
I find this stuff super interesting! Read the article if you’re at all interested. There will be a second part tomorrow.
Here’s some key features:
“It’s a contrast of democracy versus jurisdictional battles between competing entities—-all with their own separate powers.
And around the rest of the state we have seen this local government structure with a county government, multiple municipalities. In Miami-Dade, for instance, there are 35 police departments and a county police department, 35 Public Works Departments, 35 City Councils—- a number of different structures, very difficult, very challenging.
[…]
And in August of 1967, something very remarkable happened. We went to the polls here in Jacksonville — and at the same time it failed in Tampa — by a two-to-one margin we voted — pretty remarkable — to abolish the county government that existed at that time, to abolish the city government, and to adopt our Charter, a very dramatic and revolutionary reform. And on October 1st of 1968, this charter went into effect.
It was Consolidated Government.” -
I am afraid I am going to be stuck in this place forever.
Having grown up there and now been away for almost 4 years, I am looking back and seeing the benefits to the city of Jacksonville. Though it certainly hinges on where in the city you live.
I am not saying I necessarily want to move back here to settle (honestly I don’t really want to settle), but it might be an option…
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Map of the burned district in the Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901
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U.S. City Parks Added 5,000 Acres Last Year →
Hooray! Jacksonville is mentioned for having “large amounts of parkland per 1,000 residents”!!
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(via adrifting)
I would like to visit this Florida, 1941.
It just occurred to me that I’ve probably lived in Florida for at least two months, over the course of several March breaks. Obviously, central Florida is where it’s at.
- Tarpon Springs - I have the sponge to prove it!
- St. Petersburg - Dog track
- Tampa - Hockey game (because you can’t see the Leafs for $12 in Toronto)
- Winter Haven - My grandma lives there. And the former Cypress Gardens.
- Plant City - Gorging on strawberry shortcake.
- Orlando - Disney, Universal, and some Alligator/Crocodile-themed park (not on this map, of course)
- Bok Tower - apparently when I was a kid I touched something there I shouldn’t have…
- Cape Canaveral - also not on the map, but yeah.
Out of all the places you just listed, I have been only to Orlando and Tampa/St.Pete, but not for the dog track or hockey game. I’ve never even heard of Bok Tower…
I am planning to go to Cape Canaveral to the Space Center this Saturday for the first time though!
Yes, this map shows the good ol’ days of Florida when there was endless land and the Everglades was being drained for the public good. Also, apparently no fun things happened in Jacksonville since it is covered up by the thing’s mouth…
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Quit it, Jax. Writing and researching about you for 5 essays worth of material about urban community makes me want to go back more and more.
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