23.08.2014 Day one Jacksonville

We woke remarkably fresh (thanks humidiflyer) to a 35'C day a little bit late for our free breakfast at the hotel, and took a drive down to a local breakfast buffet. For US$8 we must have been able to choose from over 20 breakfast dishes. With our complimentary iced tea we managed to tuck away a quite delicious breakfast before we headed to Ken's place to meet his Mom's partner. Bill must be in his mid 70s now and has been a musician and an Elvis impersonator. He has another musician friend who shares the home. Their air-conditioning had broken down, so we sat in front of huge fan as Bill rocked on the most amazing rocking chair ever and went through photos he had dug out for Ken to see. Their home is surrounded by trees and massive overgrown foliage that almost moves with the amount of insect life living in it. The humidity was palpable and I could feel steam rising off my shoulders. I didn't mind this weather however, it reminded me of being in a sauna and after leaving cold, wet, wind and hail storms in Wellington, it sure felt nice.

We spent some more time visiting with Ken's nephew and his four kids.
Beautiful children who seemed to love the soft toy sheep we brought over for them, and little Eden immediately put together his wooden tuatara. He seemed pleased he had a model of the oldest living dinosaur.

After spending time with family Ken and I set out with a shopping list to find a mall. Well that wasn't too hard, although getting around this city you do travel long distances on large speedway roads. Jacksonville or JAX as it gets called seems like a huge flat area of bush and water with buildings poking out of the foliage here and there. It is an important naval base on the seafront however and Ken took some delight in telling me how many nuclear bombs are probably within driving distance. (Just a 'small' issue of previous discussion - cough!)

The mall we finally went to was remarkably similar to our malls, but notable for my first taste of Cinabon. Ever since Ken arrived in NZ he has raved about Cinabon. These are small outlets that sell fresh cooked and still warm cinnamon and sugar buns that smell like heaven and draw massive lines of customers. Much to his dismay, we got the one Cinabon outlet that didn't have their act together. The bun was ok...but....too doughy and the cinnamon/sugar mix wasn't right. Big time FAIL.. we will give the outlet another chance in another place.

Following that, just for fun Ken took me to the ever famous Walmart. So, take a Warehouse and put it in Jax and tidy it up a bit and add a quite big grocery section and that's a Walmart. But the bargains are great. For a small amount we bought a lot of stuff. Couldn't help ourselves. Was better there than the mall. I didn't see any weird dressed people unlike the Walmart songs though... I did look hopefully, but no.

We finished our day with a trip to the beach. It was early evening, and I think the whole of Jax had headed there in the blistering heat. People as far as the eye could see and tepid water and white white sand. I was blissfully paddling when Ken drew my eye to the clouds. Huge towering clouds behind us, which had a second cloud layer above them. The big clouds were actually casting a shadow on the sky above them. See video http://youtu.be/rfgs8t9aWbw I have never seen the like! Then from the cloud head, suddenly ..lightning. It was a thunderhead and we proceeded to have a lightning show that continued into the night. We ate a quick meal at Waffle House...(mmmmmm) and headed into the centre city. Towering skyscrapers hovering over a shimmering dark harbour. Little pleasure craft coming into moor and river cruises tied up for the night. Forked lightning lighting the sky and reflecting in the mirror windows of the tall buildings for double effect. We sat in harbourside chairs in the dark and watched the sky and listened to the water lapping as the warm enveloping darkness settled around us. It was magic, and when we finally got home and into bed it was late and my first day in America was over.