Day Four: Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville Beach & Phat Burgers

It was the day of my Dad's surgery at the Mayo Clinic and it began early. Dad and Terry had to be there at 5 am and we followed around six. That means the day started at 4:30 am, that is early for this Wood Booger. We took separate cars because there was a good chance that Dad would have to spend the night at the hospital(which he did). His surgery was at 8 am, it took about an hour and he was in a room by noon. I can report that he came through just fine (he is tougher than old boot leather).

One of the displays at Mayo Clinic.

It is here that I must say that the Mayo Clinic is a beautiful hospital. It is clean, has manicured lawns with a number of fountains and the rooms are state of the art, I know why Terry wanted Dad to come here for his surgery. They even had a nice cafeteria.

Fountain on the hospital grounds...

...& more fountains.

Where my Dad had surgery.

Anyway, after a few hours in my Dad's room it was time to head back to the Navy Lodge, because we had to leave to head back to Georgia early the next morning (and he was getting tired too). However, before we headed back Deb and I decided to take a detour. I knew that the Mayo Clinic was close to the beach from mapping out our route that morning on the phone. But, from the waiting room window one of the hotels at the beach can be seen. Turns out Jacksonville Beach was four miles. So, since we had a few more hours of sunlight and we also needed to eat we decided to head that way.

View from the hospital, that building to the right is a beach hotel.

We decided to drive to the area of the Jacksonville Beach Pier. I figured there would be beach access and maybe we could stroll the pier. While there was access to the ocean and parking was free, there was charge for the pier, so we just went to the beach. I will say that I had been close to the sea on a number accessions since my last visit to Florida (Adriatic Sea in 2010 and Charleston in October). Still, this was my first day on an ocean beach since 2001, so it was nice.

Bridge over the St. John's River.

Jacksonville Beach...

...& Pier.

Historical marker for the SS Gulfamerica.

The pier & Jacksonville Beach.

The beach & Atlantic Ocean.

Panorama of the pier.

Looking south down the beach.

The pier, sand & surf.

Deb on the beach.

At the beach (Pete is in the bag).

Sun & sand.

Fishing boat...

...& a cargo ship.

With the pier.

Nice!

Life guard building.

Panorama.

Seagulls having a disagreement.

One legged Seagull.

People fishing from the pier & boat.

Pier sign.

After walking down the beach and playing in the surf we headed under the pier.

Passing under the pier.

North side of the pier.

On this side.

Atlantic Ocean.

I love the beach...

...Deb does too & so does that little guy behind her...

...he was feeding in the surf.

Another cargo ship.

One last look at the surf & sand.

Beach road sign.

Deb with beach rules sign...

...me too.

Overall, it was nice to just be on the beach I know Deb enjoyed it and I even think Pete did too. After this we headed to eat at a place I had found while researching where to eat the previous night. The place I found was called Col. Mustard's Phat Burgers. It was rated the best hamburgers in the Jacksonville area and it lived up to the moniker.

On A1A headed to...

...Col. Mustard's Phat Burgers.

Headed out of Jacksonville Beach...

...on A1A.

It was back to NAS Jax to get ready to head back to Georgia.

The Naval Base from I-295.

Another sunset.