Jacksonville: A decade after leaving home

ALL GROWN UP: I have to confess that, growing up, I had a chip on my shoulder about my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. We had moved here when I was in middle school from South Florida and Orlando, two more obvious visitor destinations in the Sunshine State. In my mind back then, Jacksonville was backward and, well, redneck, lacking the sophistication of more tourist-oriented parts of Florida or other larger cities in the South like Atlanta or Nashville. Jacksonville also was way too conservative for my tastes (and probably still is from a taking up residence standpoint), so I was always looking at other cities as more attractive options, and was anxious to leave for the right opportunity.

I have lived in the Washington-Baltimore area since 2000 and am quite spoiled by the wealth of professional opportunities, things to do and see, and places to dine and have fun in and around the nation's capital. But, I have been returning frequently to Jacksonville in the decade since I left town, particularly as my parents' health declined before their deaths in 2005 and 2010. And, I have watched with a certain parental pride as Jacksonville has grown and added new attractions and taken on a more sophisticated feel. Having also traveled to 49 of the 50 states, I can now appreciate the fact that Jacksonville holds its own with many so-called, second tier cities in offering diversions and attractions worth the effort to explore for a weekend. This city with a metro population of about 1.2 million does not wow visitors with blockbuster attractions like Orlando, and it does not offer the gustatory and retail therapy abundance of Miami. Jacksonville's charms are more low-key and small-scale. Taken together, however, they can make for a very pleasant getaway.

WATER EVERYWHERE: Jacksonville is defined by water. Named for President Andrew Jackson who also served a gig as military governor of Florida before statehood, the city sits at the northeast corner of the state and straddles the wide St. Johns River as it flows north and into the Atlantic Ocean. This is the largest city in Florida in both land and population, thanks to a 1968 merger of the city with Duval County. As a result, Jacksonville's city population of more than 800,000 dwarfs that of Miami, Tampa and Orlando, though each obviously is much larger on an MSA basis. A busy working port and key Navy base of operations, Jacksonville is first and foremost a working town, not a tourist town. It's also a regional operations center for several financial service companies, including Bank of America. Still, this is Florida and fun can be had. The adjacent beach towns of Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach offer miles of opportunity to swim, surf and sunbathe. Unlike the high-density beach towns further south along the coast, Jacksonville's beach towns have a more residential feel and feature smaller-scale resorts. There are a few upscale beach resort options, including the old school but still beautiful Ponte Vedra Inn and Club. One reliably good dining choice in Atlantic Beach is the Ragtime Tavern, a New Orleans-themed, casual dining spot located almost exactly where Atlantic Boulevard, a major east-west artery, dead-ends at the Atlantic.

Back in town, some of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Florida line both banks of the St. Johns River. This is North Florida and, while there are palm trees for sure, the plant life is more like Savannah or Charleston with giant oak and magnolia trees draped in Spanish moss lining the streets. San Marco, on the south bank, has beautiful old homes of varying architectural styles from the early decades of the 20th Century. San Marco has its own fun shopping and dining district, two signature features of which are a statute of three lions in the center of the square and the historic San Marco Theater, which shows first run films a few weeks behind but in a setting where you can order food and drinks. There are several good dining options in the area. The original branch of the local chain, Loop Pizza Grill, serves Chicago style pizza and burgers that are reliably good. For more upscale fare, two of my favorites are bb's bistro, which offers great daily specials and fabulous desserts, and Bistro Aix, a sophisticated space with - what else - a French-inspired menu.

Jumping across the St. Johns, you will be in downtown, which is less moribund than when I lived here, but is still a work in progress in terms of visitor appeal. One attraction worth checking out is the new main branch of the Jacksonville Public Library, which opened in 2005 and is an excellent example of giving an old building new life with beautiful space. A less successful, mid-1990s project, the Jacksonville Landing is really nothing more than a collection of bars, but the North Bank river walk starts here and now extends into Riverside. If you throw in one or two of the bridges and the South Bank river walk, you have a nice route for your run.

Immediately to the south of downtown are the two historic neighborhoods of Riverside and Avondale. Although each has changed over the years and grown towards each other, both have distinct personalities. Riverside's residential stock typically is smaller bungalow homes and is centered on Five Points, a counter-culture (well, by Jacksonville standards anyway) meeting place with interesting stores, tattoo parlors and decent dining options. One store I like, a branch of the Clothing Warehouse, sells classic vintage clothes, so you can let your inner 70s person out if the mood strikes. On a recent visit, I picked up a great messenger bag made of recycled billboard materials, so I felt really green.

Riverside also is home to the small but very well done Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. The collection is worth a morning's or afternoon's visit and the riverside gardens behind the museum are beautiful year-round.

On to Avondale, where the homes are more elegant and larger. Like San Marco, Avondale has a small, upscale dining and retail strip along St. Johns Avenue. The older sibling to bb's bistro, Biscotti's serves similarly great casual fare and offers the same mondo, delicious desserts. Across the street and a few doors down, the Brick is another good dining option with outdoor seating in the good outdoor dining months (i.e., NOT July and August). As the parent of an almost 9-year-old, I now make regular stops on my trips to town at the Green Alligator, a small, well-stocked toy store with a good selection of Lego and Playmobile products, two of our son's favorites.

NEW AND OLD: Unfortunately, Jacksonville, like much of Florida, suffered from the obsession to build newer and better further out, so it sprawls tremendously and the the look is not always pretty. A few projects are nicely done. For more upscale shopping and dining, St. Johns Town Center is a pleasing, non-mall complex on the busy Southside that includes such stores as Apple, Louis Vuitton and West Elm.

One obvious attraction to Jacksonville is its close proximity to St. Augustine, the nation's oldest continually inhabited European settlement. Founded by explorers from Spain in 1565, St. Augie has a wonderful colonial quarter, a fort built by the Spanish, miles of beaches and attractions like the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Ripley's Believe-it-or-not. Sure, it's touristy, but so what. You are in Florida after all. One of St. Augustine's gems is the Moorish-inspired campus of Flagler College. It's well worth a stroll through this small college adjacent to the colonial quarter. A great lodging option in the center of St. Augustine is the beautifully restored Casa Monica Hotel, which has a look and feel more like Palm Beach or, well, Spain.

MY RULES: Jacksonville is well served by Southwest Airlines, so it meets my first general travel rule of easy getaways via Southwest. There also are daily nonstops via other carriers to Boston, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and Washington, so Jacksonville is easily reached.

As to my second rule, I would not put Jacksonville at the top of gay friendly cities, but its citizens are generally gracious and welcoming. If you're looking for rainbow party venues, however, keep heading south to Miami or Key West.