Sometimes we could use a little reminder that Northeast Florida isn’t such a terrible place to live. There are tons of things to do and places to visit that some locals don’t even know about.
So we compiled a list of 25 fun things for you to check out, all of them less than a full gas tank away. Maybe you’ve already done them, maybe they’re all new to you. Either way, there’s no better time to visit them.
What are you waiting for?
1. Just about any Saturday, a parking lot under the bridge that carries I-95 over the St. Johns River in Jacksonville becomes the Riverside Arts Market, where visitors can buy original arts and crafts, locally grown produce and the best kettle corn in the state.
2. Look a reticulated giraffe in the eye from the elevated platform at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens’ Savanna Blooms Overlook.
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3. No trip to St. Augustine is complete without a walk down St. George Street, which is lined with shops and restaurants and sunburned tourists.
4. The Jaguars are Jacksonville’s most famous professional sports team, but they’re not the only one. You can watch the Jumbo Shrimp, a AAA baseball team, at 121 Financial Ballpark; the Sharks, an arena football team, at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena; the Icemen hockey team at the arena; or the Axemen rugby league team at UNF.
5. Feeling whimsical? How about a trip to Sweet Pete’s candy shop in downtown Jacksonville, where you’ll find three stories of Abba-Zabba bars, huckleberry sodas, chocolate-dipped potato chips and unicorn-horn lollipops.
6. There are lots of places to go ziplining in Florida, but Crocodile Crossing, the course that runs over the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, may be the only one where visitors glide over a pit of hungry gators.
7. Visit the “boneyard beach” at Big Talbot Island State Park. Its three miles of shoreline are littered with dozens of trees that have fallen due to erosion and been bleached out by the sun to resemble an elephants’ graveyard. It’s off a scenic stretch of A1A leading to Amelia Island.
8. There are seven bridges that carry cars across the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, but to truly cross in style, you need to ride the St. Johns River Ferry, which connects Mayport and Fort George Island as part of A1A.
9. Or you could go the other direction on A1A and drive from the Jacksonville beaches toward St. Augustine. There are long stretches where the road runs between the beach and the marsh without a building in sight.
10. There are lots of places to get ice cream in Jacksonville, but there’s just one Dreamette. Actually, that’s no longer true, now there are five locations, but the original in Murray Hill has a special charm. They’ve got 38 flavors of shakes (watermelon, anyone?) and soft-serve cones that simply taste like summertime.
11. Catch an outdoor concert. Daily’s Place in Jacksonville and the St. Augustine Amphitheatre are great places to watch a show.
12. Speaking of unique views, check out the new Shared Use Path that crosses the Fuller Warren Bridge. It’s just under a mile long, open to walkers, runners and cyclists and has two lookout areas where you can get a killer view of the St. Johns River.
13. Florida is not completely flat, it just seems that way. Head to Mike Roess Gold Head State Park in Clay County or Ravine Gardens State Park in Palatka to see what a ravine looks like.
14. Hike the Willie Browne Trail in the Theodore Roosevelt Area off Mt. Pleasant Road. The trail, named for the man who lived his whole life there and left it to the public upon his death, winds through a gorgeous 600-acre park of trees, marshes and some actual elevation changes, a rarity in Florida.
15. As long as we’re talking about elevation changes, might as well include the waterfall at Bulls Bay Preserve. It’s not much of a waterfall, but it’s the biggest one you’re likely to find in Northeast Florida.
16. Find a good set of earplugs and watch the Blue Angels do their thing in the skies over Jacksonville. The Angels, who got their start in Jacksonville, return every fall for the air show that alternates between NAS JAX and the Sea & Sky Airshow at the Beaches.
17. Take an Art Bikes Jax tour. Start at Tucker Cycles in Avondale or Definition Fitness in San Marco, climb aboard one of their elaborately decorated electric bikes and head out on your own or take a guided tour of the city’s art, history and architecture.
18. Want to see a concert where you can hear everything coming from the stage? Check out the Blue Jay Listening Room in Jacksonville Beach or the Mudville Music Room in St. Nicholas, where they take the name “listening room” seriously.
19. Go to Kona Skatepark, billed as the world’s oldest, even if you’re just a spectator. It’s spectacular.
20. Jacksonville sure isn’t shy when it comes to fireworks displays. You can watch the skies over downtown explode in color on the 4th of July, New Year’s Eve or following most Friday and Saturday night Jumbo Shrimp games. For the really good ones, though, stick around after the Light Boat Parade right around Thanksgiving to see the “waterfall” fireworks pouring from the Acosta and Main Street bridges.
21. Strap on a helmet and ride a bicycle on the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail, a city park that’s 100 feet wide and 14.5 miles long. A flat, smooth 12-foot-wide paved path connects a parking lot off Imeson Road with another in Baldwin, and there’s a nice stopover at Camp Milton Historic Preserve along the way.
22. Picnic in a park. Jacksonville has the largest park system in North America, with an inventory of more than 400 parks, pools, playgrounds and community centers. It’s hard to beat Memorial Park in Riverside, with a large riverfront lawn just made for a picnic blanket.
23. Peer at the ocean from a pier. There are big ocean piers in Jacksonville Beach and St. Augustine that are just perfect for an afternoon of fishing or watching the surfers. Vilano Beach also has a pier that juts into Matanzas Inlet.
24. Fling some plastic. Disc golf is a good workout and the best part is that, once you’ve bought a set of discs, there are free courses all over the place. There are free, public courses at Hanna Park, Ed Austin Regional Park, Klutho Park in Springfield, Trinity Baptist College on the Westside, Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park in Lake Asbury and the St. Johns County Fairgrounds in Elkton.
25. Back in 1980, plans were afoot to raze the St. Augustine Lighthouse and put up some condos. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the lighthouse still stands sentinel on Anastasia Island. It’s 219 steps to the top of the 165-foot tower, but the view is worth it.
