Our first week in Jax, (Jacksonville, Pensacola: for sale, rent, house)

[Lawstudent]

We are writing this for anyone who is considering relocating to Jacksonville, Florida. If we offend any natives we extend our deepest apologies. These are our observations. We will do a gender specific revue of this first week. We lived in the Destin, Pensacola beach area so we are not going to compare beaches because we cannot be subjective.

He says: I had read and heard about how big and spread out Jacksonville is. But nothing prepared me for how spread out it is in reality. We have lived in some big cities but whoa. Everything is related to in time so I shall use the same in my description. I lived 15 minutes away from a grocery store before coming here and that store was about 9 miles from my home. Here in Jax when someone tells you a place is 20 minutes away you best bet that place is a minimum of 20 miles away. The difference I am getting at here is this. I could just ease over to the local store back home at a leisurely pace. Here in Jax I will be doing 70 mph or better to make the same time because everything is spread out so much.

She says: Well we have only been here for a week but every store that I could ever imagine needing is in town. Upscale shops, little boutiques, and everything that is necessary. Saint Augustine’s downtown is very sweet and very pedestrian friendly. We have to drive everywhere because we chose to live in between Jax and Saint Augustine in North Saint Johns county. The drive doesn’t bother me I get to see the sights everywhere we go. I am going to start paying attention though because I will be driving to work soon enough.

He says: I will start this section speaking of the area we chose to live in. We live along the 210 corridor, which is in N St. Johns. Our address is Saint Augustine but we are a ways from there. When we moved in last week our neighbors children were outside playing. I thought wow these kids have a lot of friends. To my amazement they were all brothers and sisters. Six children on one side four on the other. (Side note we rented our house, it is a three bedroom) Instantly I thought must be a Catholic area so I kept my eyes open for a local Catholic church to no avail. So I have decided that birth control is hard to come by in this area and these people just keep populating the area. Now this wouldn’t upset me so much if I couldn’t go outside and put one of my hands on my house and the other hand on my neighbors’ house. We are truly packed like sardines in here. So my tips for this is come down rent for a while and find your spot that fits. We chose way too far out and in the middle of a literal birth canal. (If you are from the NE please come live next to your old neighbors lol)

She says: We have driven out to the beach 2 times since we have been here and so far I like the area between Jax and the beach I believe they call that area ICW (intercoastal west) this area seems to have all that anybody would need and is between the 2 things we all need, our jobs and the beach. I love our house it is so cute and there are many of them for sale here. (if you are coming from the land of basements have a big yard sale before you come because you will not have the room) I could live here but I don’t think he is too happy about it. We lived on a nice lot before we moved here and now we are closer to our neighbors. He will quiet down the first time he mows grass, he’ll be happy the yard is so small.

He says: It has only been a week but I think it will be all right. A tip to the men, buy some good sunglasses. Not only for driving, fishing etc. but also for the people there are some beautiful people here and you don’t want to be caught staring.

She says: I am so excited to be here we will write more as our time here grows longer. Oh and he is going to pay for the sunglass thing. Did he really think I wouldn’t read this? A tip for the women. Men are idiots

Thanks D & S

A note for the pizza patrol and foodies: we tried Beachside seafood (Philly cheese steak at the advice of the proprietor and the shrimp burger) they were pretty good but the guy next to us had a grouper sandwich that looked awesome. Also the Loop sets a good standard for pizza near us. We tried the local Chicago style pizzeria it had a nice pub atmosphere great to watch a game but the pizza was iffy. Tried Clark’s that’s all we have to say about that and the outback crab shack, which seems to be a fun place to take visitors but not go to often. Ok I need to wrap this up it is way to long sorry……

[smash731]

hello Mr. and Mrs. Lawstudent, thanks for the observations. That was very fun to read, as I'm coming to jax in August I hope you have more and more fun as time goes on!

[FLPL75]

very very funny !! This was the best
"She says: I am so excited to be here we will write more as our time here grows longer. Oh and he is going to pay for the sunglass thing. Did he really think I wouldn’t read this? A tip for the women. Men are idiots"

I see a trip to one of the "Upscale shops, little boutiques, and everything that is necessary" due to the sunglasses thing.

Be careful driving on 9A form 295 to JTB they like to set up police cars to make sure they are handy in case there is a need .
I end up calling my sister a couple times a week as I drive by these friendly officers to remind her that has made enough officer friend on this strech of road

Can't wait for your updates.
Karla

[riveree]

The feedback seems right on.

You pointed out something very valuable to anyone reading - the sheer size of Jax - it is absolutely huge! You really do not want to be living on one side of the city and commuting to a job on the other...it's just too big here.

Yes, Intracoastal West really does have everything you could need. For anyone who hasn't checked it out in a while, take a drive down Beach Blvd from St. John's Bluff to San Pablo...much of it is unrecognizable compared to just 3 or 4 years ago - tons of new development and infrastructure.

I'm not sure if I understand the Catholic statement. There are Catholic churches in St. Aug and Jax, but the area is predominantly Southern Baptist, so you will find the majority of churches to be baptist churches. From your earlier posts, you seem to be a pretty open-minded person, so I'm hoping it wasn't a Catholic slam (as in 'they have 6 kids, they must be Catholic').

[Sunnydee]

Dear Lawstudent,
I really enjoyed your latest post. I've been following your progress on your journey to Jacksonville and would like to congratulate you on your move and subsequent posts. I look forward to more he said/she said posts in the future.
It was so funny to read the male and female perspective of the very same things. (Riveree, I don't think Lawstudent was trying to slam Catholics. It's just that in some parts of the country the only people you encounter with big families happen to be Catholic. It wasn't derogatory - merely an observation. At least that was my take on it.) Deanna

[ArthursChoice]

I thought wow these kids have a lot of friends. To my amazement they were all brothers and sisters. lol

Originally Posted by Lawstudent

We are writing this for anyone who is considering relocating to Jacksonville, Florida. If we offend any natives we extend our deepest apologies. These are our observations. We will do a gender specific revue of this first week. We lived in the Destin, Pensacola beach area so we are not going to compare beaches because we cannot be subjective.

He says: I had read and heard about how big and spread out Jacksonville is. But nothing prepared me for how spread out it is in reality. We have lived in some big cities but whoa. Everything is related to in time so I shall use the same in my description. I lived 15 minutes away from a grocery store before coming here and that store was about 9 miles from my home. Here in Jax when someone tells you a place is 20 minutes away you best bet that place is a minimum of 20 miles away. The difference I am getting at here is this. I could just ease over to the local store back home at a leisurely pace. Here in Jax I will be doing 70 mph or better to make the same time because everything is spread out so much.

She says: Well we have only been here for a week but every store that I could ever imagine needing is in town. Upscale shops, little boutiques, and everything that is necessary. Saint Augustine’s downtown is very sweet and very pedestrian friendly. We have to drive everywhere because we chose to live in between Jax and Saint Augustine in North Saint Johns county. The drive doesn’t bother me I get to see the sights everywhere we go. I am going to start paying attention though because I will be driving to work soon enough.

He says: I will start this section speaking of the area we chose to live in. We live along the 210 corridor, which is in N St. Johns. Our address is Saint Augustine but we are a ways from there. When we moved in last week our neighbors children were outside playing. I thought wow these kids have a lot of friends. To my amazement they were all brothers and sisters. Six children on one side four on the other. (Side note we rented our house, it is a three bedroom) Instantly I thought must be a Catholic area so I kept my eyes open for a local Catholic church to no avail. So I have decided that birth control is hard to come by in this area and these people just keep populating the area. Now this wouldn’t upset me so much if I couldn’t go outside and put one of my hands on my house and the other hand on my neighbors’ house. We are truly packed like sardines in here. So my tips for this is come down rent for a while and find your spot that fits. We chose way too far out and in the middle of a literal birth canal. (If you are from the NE please come live next to your old neighbors lol)

She says: We have driven out to the beach 2 times since we have been here and so far I like the area between Jax and the beach I believe they call that area ICW (intercoastal west) this area seems to have all that anybody would need and is between the 2 things we all need, our jobs and the beach. I love our house it is so cute and there are many of them for sale here. (if you are coming from the land of basements have a big yard sale before you come because you will not have the room) I could live here but I don’t think he is too happy about it. We lived on a nice lot before we moved here and now we are closer to our neighbors. He will quiet down the first time he mows grass, he’ll be happy the yard is so small.

He says: It has only been a week but I think it will be all right. A tip to the men, buy some good sunglasses. Not only for driving, fishing etc. but also for the people there are some beautiful people here and you don’t want to be caught staring.

She says: I am so excited to be here we will write more as our time here grows longer. Oh and he is going to pay for the sunglass thing. Did he really think I wouldn’t read this? A tip for the women. Men are idiots

Thanks D & S

A note for the pizza patrol and foodies: we tried Beachside seafood (Philly cheese steak at the advice of the proprietor and the shrimp burger) they were pretty good but the guy next to us had a grouper sandwich that looked awesome. Also the Loop sets a good standard for pizza near us. We tried the local Chicago style pizzeria it had a nice pub atmosphere great to watch a game but the pizza was iffy. Tried Clark’s that’s all we have to say about that and the outback crab shack, which seems to be a fun place to take visitors but not go to often. Ok I need to wrap this up it is way to long sorry……