The weirdest thing I ever saw and other stories from Jacksonville

Some weekends end and I feel rested and renewed. Others I feel like I was hit by a bus. This weekend was the latter. Friday after work Matt and I loaded up the car to head to Jacksonville Beach. About 10 minutes from the hotel we were stopped at a red light when I looked out my window and saw a guy at a bus stop petting a baby shark wrapped in a blanket next to him. I am assuming the shark was dead but I don’t think it makes the story any less weird. My biggest regret in life is that I couldn’t get my phone to snap a pic before the light turned green so you will have to just form a visual picture of this nonsense. Welcome to Jacksonville Beach, ya’ll.

We met up with Matt’s friends at the hotel then headed to M Shake for dinner since it was the only place on the beach with less than a 2 hour wait. As far as burgers and fries go, it was pretty stellar so I recommend you check it out. And get the Count Shak-u-la chocolate stout. It tasted like a chocolate beer milkshake and was amazing. The end.

The rest of the night was spent exploring the bars on the beach and watching my new favorite Blink 182 cover band aka Matt and his best friend at karaoke. Watch a clip and be jealous that you weren’t there—>>> IMG_7293-1

Saturday morning we walked about a mile down the road to Maple for some killer biscuit breakfast sandwiches and coffee.

Everything is made fresh, tasty and the service was quick. So after you eat at M Shake in Jacksonville, go to Maple.

We walked back to the hotel to start to get ready for the real reason we came to Jville: USA vs Nigeria soccer friendly.

Matt and I had never been to a soccer match before so we were pretty pumped. Matt is really into soccer and while I don’t know much else other than they can’t use their hands and David Beckham is cute, I like to wear silly outfits and yell things so I figured I’d tag along.

While we were tailgating it was overcast which really kept the temperatures down but the minute we got into the stadium, the sun came out and I started to melt. Luckily our section was one of the first ones to get into the shade so I was able to stop focusing on how hot I was and try to learn the chants going on around me.

We bought our tickets with the American Outlaws (the USA Soccer fan club) so it was a rowdy bunch but lots of fun. It was the last match before the USA team left for Brazil and it got me pretty pumped to watch loads of World Cup games over the next few weeks. I even made a few new friends.

After we won the game, we headed back to the beach to check out a place that I was super pumped about: Poe’s Tavern.

Guys, I love Poe. Like, a lot. The Tell-Tale Heart was the first scary story I remember reading and seriously can’t get enough of this weirdo. The restaurant is covered in Poe paintings and the bathrooms are lined with pages from his books with Poe poems coming over the radio. Oh, and the tuna tacos with pineapple relish was pretty legit too. If you are keeping track (and you should be), that’s three restaurants that you must go to while in Jacksonville Beach.

Sunday morning Matt and I took a solo walk along the beach before hitting the road. We didn’t find the shark man but the views were pretty so I was ok with that.

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