Friday, October 23, 2015

What you may not know about Jacksonville Florida

Can you believe we have been living here in sunny Jacksonville Florida for 6 months now. Mom says this is the most at home she has felt of any of the places Dad and she have lived. But there are unique and quirky things about Jacksonville in particular you may not know. Like for example -

U-turns - to get anywhere around here requires making multiple U-turns - Mom calls it the U-turn capital of the world :) People in Jacksonville also love to IGNORE no-u-turn signs - especially the ones at traffic lights ! To go left from our road means going up to the traffic light and making a U-turn and when coming back from the beach we have to go past our road and make a U-tun to come back. A lot of the U-Turns have been created because of the wide meridian strips down the center of the roads that have lots of trees planted in them.

Speeding - people in Jacksonville LOVE to speed and we are not talking 5 miles over the limit - we are talking 20-30 miles over the limit!!!  Most the roads around our area have a speed limit of 45mph but it seems  60mph is the norm. The bridge we go over to the beach has a speed limit of 55mph  but people fly across at 80 mph leaving Mom in their wake :) Mom was worried Florida would be full of retirees who drive slow - bawwwwaaaaahhhh she is the only one driving slow!

Weavers - Mom also says this is weaver driver capital of the world - it goes hand in hand with the speeding - people weave in and out of traffic like crazy always trying to get there 1/2 a second faster. Mom always laughs at these people and she ALWAYS catches up with them at the next light so all that weaving doesn't get them anywhere faster. By far the worst weavers are the Motor Bike Riders though - Mom has seen so many near collisions because of their recklessness and their speeding.

Circle Drives - nearly all the housing areas are made up of circular drives that have just  ONE entrance/exit. This is something Mom really doesn't like because if there was an emergency like a hurricane and our entrance got blocked we would have no way to get out. Mom doesn't understand this circular drive concept as it also makes going anywhere difficult - you can only follow main roads and not cut through side streets because none of the streets connect.

Bike Riders - with all the wonderful sunny weather we have - people love to ride their bicycles around here but sadly many of them seem to think they have their own set of rules. Now we have wonderful bike lanes on nearly every road and they are 3 foot wide but it drives Mom crazy when bike riders prefer to use the road and not the bike lane or they ride right on the line marking the bike lane. Bike riders here also don't seem to like to follow cross signals - choosing to cross roads when ever they feel like it and causing traffic to stop and wait for them.

Florida time - people here seem to eat later, go out later and many stores are closed on Mondays or at least one day during the week. That can be frustrating when you forget but Mom understands it serves the public better as people who work all week - at least  they know they can shop on weekends.

Jacksonville Aquarium - Plans are in development for them to be building an Aquarium here similar to the one in Atlanta. They are looking to build it in down town Jacksonville and have 3 possible locations - all on the St Johns River. This will allow them to run a ferry from the Aquarium to the Zoo which is also on the river. It will be a few years before they start on it though - the picture shows what it might look like when completed.

21 comments:

  1. that was interesting! we share the speedsters, the bikers and the circles ... so we are a little like Florida just with different weather :o) I think the circles even bothered Archimedes that he came up with that quote: do not disturb my circles :o)

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  2. Jacksonville sounds interesting! Don't think I can handle those U-turns and weavers and speeding though!

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  3. Oh my Dad would luffs the drivings out there, sounds like he'd fit in very well!
    That Aquarium looks sumthingy special doesn't it!
    Loves and licky kisses
    Princess Leah xxx

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  4. Gosh there is so much I didn't know about Jacksonville! I feel much better informed now. Gail wants to know if the police ever issue speeding tickets? Also she says maybe the bicycle lanes are like many in the UK, full of broken glass and litter, and make the route twice as long as it needs to be.
    (No surprises there, Gail sticking up for the bike riders!)
    Toodle pip!
    Bertie.

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  5. Snorts! Mom/dad went to Jacksonville before you moved there to see my Uncle Mike. She noticed how people FLY everywhere and speed around. It was a lot of hustle. They are still coming back for another visit - I just gotta get it on their calendar :) XOXO - Bacon

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  6. Sounds interesting. Would love to see the aquarium.

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  7. Mom noticed a few of those things when she was there. Funny
    Lily & Edward

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  8. Our mom knows all about those U-turns when she visits her mom and dad in FL. The new aquarium is going to be fabulous!

    Love ya lots♥
    Mitch and Molly

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  9. I didn't know you guys were Floridians too. I'm following a lot of Florida bloggers!

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  10. OMD! the speeders and bikers would drive mom crazy!
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  11. Interesting road rules....or no rules. You'll just have to get out there and join in.

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  12. Don't get our mom started on bike riders! We live in a college town and bikers are everywhere! One guy drove his bike right into Mom's car a couple years ago when she was at a stop sign and put a big dent and scratch on the hood. He said he was OK, but before Mom could get any info from him, he pedaled off. She was stuck with $1000 worth of repairs! (He had headphones on and his mind was elsewhere.) The police didn't do a single thing about it.
    ARGH!
    Cammie!

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  13. We are so glad that your mom loves Florida because mine wouldn't last there one week. Worst drivers and weather in her book. And we thought people always ate early in Florida because of the Senior discounts from like 4 -6 or something. Love Dolly

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  14. Oh, we thought we had the worst drivers here?

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  15. Don't forget using the shoulder of the road as a passing lane! Our Jessy human commented on the insane Florida drivers when she moved to Boca Raton from WNY.

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  16. Guess what? Add Michigan to the U-turn list.........we call them "Michigan Lefts" and when I moved here from Ohio they were (and still are), BEYOND annoying!! DakotasDen

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  17. We guess our biggest complaint would be the bike riders. First of all, Lightning is terrified of all bikes, strollers, skateboards, rollerblades, etc. That is his own doing. But the bikers that come up from behind on the trails with no warnings whatsoever and then fly by are so rude. They scare Mom AND Lightning. She is so afraid of falling. And the bikers don't have a clue about their rudeness. Don't get Mom started on this topic.

    We think the aquarium will be amazing. Wish we could be there too.

    Woos - Ciara and Lightning

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  18. That was really interesting. We must have some of your drivers up here - weavers (may be they're smoking marijuana), driving over the speed limit (15 to 30+ mph over, even when there's snow and ice on the roads), pretending that they're not on their cell phones, eating while driving, doing makeup...

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  19. Glad you like it there. It's important to like the place you live since you have to be there.

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  20. I guess there are crazy drivers everywhere! We don't have so much bike issues here, but they do have them in Ann Arbor! All in all it looks like a beautiful place to live! Can't wait until Katie and I can visit.

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  21. I hate driving. There are too many wacky drivers and I don't ever speed so I get passed all of the time. My husband usually does all of the driving now that we work from home. Stay safe. ☺

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Thank you for woofing at us - we read each and every one of them