Two Random Days, and a Weekend Too

The first day off was last Wednesday the 26th. It's just part of our schedule to have one day off during the week... which is pretty awesome! So I took the duty van to Mayport on Tuesday night and stayed at the Best Western down the street from the base. Had Arby's for dinner, Skyped with Mike, got a pickup from Hertz in the morning. Tried out the Beach Diner in Atlantic Beach, stopped by the base to check out the ticket center, talk to the Chaplain about becoming a Lay Leader on my ship, and walked around on the beach. Went to Walmart to pick up a few things, then went back to Atlantic Beach for dinner at the seafood restaurant and another browse through the book shop next door. Returned the car, then got a ride to the base where I caught the duty van back to the ship.

This weekend, I went crazy! Started out Friday night at Town Center (a duty van drop-off point), got a room at the Hilton. Saturday morning I had breakfast in the lobby and then got picked up by Hertz again. Went to the Jacksonville Zoo... which was wonderful... especially loved the baby jaguar... the set up of the whole zoo was refreshingly simple to get around in, yet full of animals to see. Then I drove to downtown immediately afterwords for the Cummer Art Museum, which was also very neat! Pit stop back at the hotel to catch my breath, then went back downtown for the opening night at the Jacksonville Symphony. The first thing they did was stand and play the Star-Spangled Banner! I thought that was really classy! Mahi-mahi for dinner afterwords (10:30ish) at a river-side restaurant at the Jacksonville Landing, just steps down the street.

Sunday morning I woke at 8, worked out in the hotel gym, cooled off in the outdoor pool, showered, had the free hot breakfast in the lobby, and made it to the church I had spotted in Atlantic Beach on earlier visits. It was wonderful! I walked in on "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High" and then they finished worship with "Create in Me a Clean Heart", both memories from Jr. High... needless to say I felt right at home right away. Good sermon too, by one of the elders. Apparently they're between pastors at the moment.

After that it was back to the mall for lunch at Chipotle, and browsing through Best Buy. Later on (around 3ish) I decided I did, after all, want to go to the football game downtown. It was my first pro football game, and I enjoyed it well enough. Great seat... really high on the 50-yd line. But since the stadium isn't the biggest, even the top section wasn't too high. The people I sat next to were pretty normal... so that definitely was a plus. They ended up losing 27-10 to the Bengals, but I'm not really a fan... so it didn't matter. Just a fun experience on the whole, even with the pelting rain afterwords, the long walk to the car in the lighting storm and the very long wait to get out. I listened to the symphony's horn player's cd that I bought the night before... and then the compilation of Beatles love songs that Mike gave me when we were together last. Got a taxi ride all the way to the ship after dropping off the car. He gave me a flat rate, and it saved me several hours waiting.

Today, I had another random day off, so last night I came to the same hotel in Town Center and watched Monday Night Football in my room. This morning was a repeat of Sunday after I watched a couple Tintin cartoons on the TV... worked out (running and benching) then swam (all alone... the pool was so calm in the morning sunlight, the only thing that caused ripples as I soaked up the early rays was caused by my own breathing - loved watching my wedding ring sparkle underwater) then breakfast (sausage, tater-tots, oatmeal, toast, juice, yogurt) and a shower. Watched Mr. Roberts after all that, then checked out, got a taxi to the post office to send some extra stuff to Mike so I don't go crazy on the barge trying to jam it into my little spaces. The people at the Post Office went in the back and got me some blank boxes so I could ship the stuff lots cheaper. So helpful! Had KFC for lunch (yum!) then stopped by the Salvation Army Store next door just for fun. Found a couple things and went right back to the P.O. to send them too! LOL! Since my taxi ride back to the mall, I poked around in B&N and have since been enjoying the benefits of Panera Bread.