Saturday Adventure Club.

Once upon a time I had a friend in Jacksonville.

A self-proclaimed collector of moments and an eternal optimist, she is passionate about other people's passions.

She spent 6 months trying to be a friend to other people before she realized we were made for each other. She was up for just about anything and I had a list with lots of anythings. We finally became adventure planning partners. A bona fide duad. Which is a real word. A weird word. But a real word nonetheless. I use it because I'm pedantic.

Here we are. Hi friend.

Our first foray into friendship involved a drive to Daytona and a raceway of rednecks -- i.e. NASCAR!

The whole thing was very confusing. It's like no other sporting event I've been to. No one talks to each other...because it's so loud you can't. And no one ever cheers...because nothing happens until the very end when someone actually wins. Whyyyy is this a thing...???

We never did that again.

Instead, we went swimming with manatees! Every winter when the ocean cools down, the manatees come inland to the warmer spring waters which stay a constant temperature year round. Now, who even cares about manatees? I sure didn't. They don't really do anything and they're not particularly cute animals. It was just a thing you could do, so naturally, I wanted to do it. 

Well, I'm not ashamed to admit it: I was wrong. Manatees are totally adorable. They're like 1,000 lb, slow-moving, and ultra-gentle puppies. Some of the younger ones would come right up to us and roll around while we rubbed their bellies. 

Now go find a manatee and swim with it! 

Except don't, because you can be fined for harassing them. They ARE an endangered species, after all.

When my sister and brother-in-law came to visit, we ferried over to Cumberland Island where we explored Carnegie-era ruins and chased down wiiiild, wiiiiiild horses.

We went to the Ft. Lauderdale temple open house and The Players PGA tournament. 

Hey look, Phil Mickelson. One of only 2 golfers I've ever heard of. Big fan, Phil. Big, big fan. Please, sign this guy's hat.

We watched Cirque de Soleil at Downtown Disney, a World Cup qualifier between the men's US team and Nigeria, and fireworks on the St. John's River.

We experienced the magic of Harry Potter World, camping at Panama City Beach, and Sara Bareilles in concert.

You're a wizard, 'Arry!

No one enjoyed this trip but us. How...???

"You can have Manhattan, I'll settle for the beach..."

To top it all off, we spent a weekend in Puerto Rico and North Carolina, both of which were epic enough to deserve their own posts. I'll get to those in another 6 months or so...maybe...

Private waterfall - whaaat?

Private turtle mural - whaaat?

How is Fall like this even possible?!

Those were the glory days of Jax living. Our calendars were frequently booked for several months in a row. "You'd like to do what? Sure, let me see...I can put you in for...March of next year?"

But then my friend moved across the country. And Saturday Adventure Club lost its founding co-chair.

And now I hang out with the sister missionaries.