In Illinois, we have had one of the warmest winters that we can remember. But that wasn’t enough to want us to stay around much longer than we had to. Warmer weather was calling us and the sound of the ocean lapping up against the beach. We left early Monday morning and were bright eyed and bushy tailed.
The happiness was short lived as we ran into rain, lots and lots of rain. Several hours of rain.
We arrived in Jacksonville Florida around 9:00 p.m. We stayed at a Quality Inn and I didn’t keep my eyes open very long. I did wake up in the middle of the night and stayed awake for an hour and a half. Upon waking, we decided the try their free breakfast. It was a typical hotel free breakfast but it had one of the best looking restaurants that we had been in. They had a indoor pool and solarium and it gave new meaning to the term, Plane Hotel.
For lunch, we were able to meet up with Jerry and Sherry Miller, our friends who live in Ohio and winter in Florida. We were having a nice visit but I had drank 4 glasses of tea so I had to find some relief. They had a nice rest room and it was evident that Olive Garden was concerned with the health and safety of all customers. They even had this free display on the wall that said “For Your Protection”. I tried one on and I didn’t have a cold or sore throat all day.
We will go back to Olive Garden again for sure.
We arrived at Gary and Pats house just in time to go to supper. They took us to “Squid Lips”. That is the real name of the restaurant. I didn’t see Squid Lips on the menu so I just got clams.
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We had a lovely view of the St. Johns river. Below is a picture of the bridge over the river leading to the island that Pat and Gary live on and that we are staying on. Will post more picture and stories tomorrow after we move into our room.
