Journeys: First Days on the First Coast

We've been paying rent for a month now, and anticipating the move to Florida for almost 4 months. We finally arrived! Ky has been here for about a week. He came down on July 25th, leaving in the middle of the night, so as to pull up in front of our new apartment just in advance of the moving van. Having full reign of the place while I was off galavanting in north Texas, he managed to wade his way through the boxes and boxes (and boxes!) of pyrex (lots of it!), clothes (lots and lots of them), books (lots to the nth-power) among other various possessions, in order to clear out space for his workshop. I arrived at our new place (via Birmingham and the Jax Int'l Aiport) a week later to find a few of my dear boyfriend's projects underway, including a wonderfully designed a special rack to house and hold our large inventory of sports equipment. (Pics to follow upon completion)

It was certainly no great kept secret that I was not the most enthusiastic of the newest Florida residents. Despite my love of being outdoors and sports, the "nice weather" (since when is 90 degrees farenheit with 90 percent humidity and a heat index of 102 nice?!?), I was having a hard time accepting the Sunshine State as our new home. HOWEVER...I have since grown to appreciate some of what North Florida has to offer. Perhaps this "appreciation" stems more from curiosity and a lack of familiarity with the land of Disney World and South Beach. Several observations during my first week have softened my reaction to the new zipcode.

What caught my attention when I awoke on that first morning in our new place was the view from our bedroom window: a palm tree. In my past experience, palm trees only appeared outside of my window when I was on vacation. Now, I would be greeted every morning by the sun shining through this specimen of tropical foliage. As for the people and the weather, it's really not that much different from Chicago in the winter. The only people who seem to be crazy enough to be outside at these temperatures are the runners and the smokers. Unlike Chicago, where people are friendly but not intrusive (not that I am suggesting that Jax residents are intrusive...), the people I have encountered have no qualms about a bit a friendly interrogation (southern culture?) in order to learn what has brought me to North Florida. Our neighborhood seems to have a healthy balance between older, well-to-do residents and the slightly younger, seemingly more bohemian crowd (perhaps with some bohemian bourgeois in the mix). I have also been pleasantly surprised to discover that it is a rather active group of people that inhabit the collection of early 20th century homes around us. It is rare that I make a trip out of the house without seeing a few runners and cyclists. One word. Comforting.

Our first morning in Jacksonville also happened to coincide with my 29th birthday. Ky and I had planned an early morning trip to the beach. (It was a little disorienting to discover that we are living in a place where the first sign you encounter to enter the interstate also guides travelers to the "Beaches".) Those well-laid, early morning-birthday plans were slightly sidetracked by our discovery of the upscale-St. John's Town Center. We spent a good bit of time (and money!) in order to initiate ourselves as Florida residents by purchasing all of the necessary gear to make the beach a little more comfortable and a bit less of a sand bath.

After a quick lunch at Panera, we made our way down A1A to one of the many beach pull-offs just south of Ponte Vedra. As shown in the pics, we enjoyed a few afternoon hours of Florida sun, sand and saltwater accompanied by our picnic of a special OJ drink as well as blueberries and strawberries and cream. Kyle even managed to get me into the water for a little while, despite my nervousness about the ocean currents and wildlife. Everything seems so much less frightening when accompanied by my wonderfully charming and dashing African. And so went our first day together in Florida. Looking forward to many more to come.

Birthday at the Beach