New to Kings Bay? Here's an Easy Jacksonville Day Trip

If you've recently moved to Camden County or you're PCSing to Kings Bay, there comes a point when the boxes are mostly unpacked and you just need to get out of the house.

Jacksonville is less than an hour south, which makes it an easy day trip without having to plan much of anything.

We recently made a day of it with a few stops on Jacksonville's Westside and Riverside. If you're new to the area, here's an easy itinerary to steal.

Start at Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park

The main reason for the trip was Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park, just across from NAS Jacksonville on Roosevelt Boulevard.

It's a 509-acre park with wooded trails, a nature center, playgrounds and an observation tower overlooking the marsh and Ortega River.

I'd recommend taking the Tower Trail. It's about 1.2 miles round trip from the nature center, so it's enough of a walk to get outside without committing your entire day to a hike.

The observation tower is the payoff. It rises above the trees and gives you a completely different view of this part of Jacksonville.

There's some interesting military history here too. The property was once part of Camp Johnston, a World War I Army training facility. Remnants of the old brick roads can still be found along the trails.

Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park — 7000 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville. Admission is free.

Add a Stop at Chamblin Bookmine

If books are your thing, Chamblin Bookmine is only a short drive away on Roosevelt Boulevard.

We've been coming here as a family for years.

Calling it a bookstore doesn't quite prepare you for it. It's roughly 23,000 square feet of used and new books spread across two buildings, and wandering through the shelves is half the fun.

I'm usually digging through the graphic novels, comics and art books, but there's a little bit of everything. They also take trade-ins, which was actually our excuse for stopping this time.

Fair warning: going in "just to look" hasn't worked particularly well for us.

Grab Lunch and Wander Riverside

From there, we headed toward Riverside for lunch at European Street and eventually stopped for coffee at Bold Bean on Stockton.

You could substitute either of those with whatever catches your attention. That's really the point.

You don't need an elaborate Jacksonville itinerary. Pick a park, grab lunch, explore a neighborhood, find some coffee and head back to Camden County when you're ready.

One of the Perks of Living Near Kings Bay

When people PCS to Kings Bay, a lot of the initial focus is understandably on the base and Camden County.

But Jacksonville is close enough that it becomes part of your backyard too.

You can live in St. Marys, Kingsland or elsewhere in Camden County and still have a major city less than an hour away when you want a change of scenery.

So if you're new to Kings Bay and you've spent enough weekends unpacking boxes, here's your excuse:

Put Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park in the GPS, wear decent walking shoes, and go explore.

You can worry about the rest of the boxes tomorrow.