Rules of our mystery tours. Get away from the technical world and explore your local wonders.

The Art of Our Neighbor, Helen Ashmead It's been a long time since we did a “mystery tour." But we are back on track and this was a positive way to start again. I was leader on this one. Our primary destination for the day was the Jewish Community Center at 8505 San Jose Blvd to see an art exhibition presented by one of our neighbors, Helen Ashmead. The show was presented in the VanDroff Gallery Promenade which features rotating art exhibitions. The exhibition runs until th

Kay’s mystery tour took us to the Walter Jones Historical Park in Mandarin. Open on Saturdays, it is staffed by gracious, knowledgeable, enthusiastic volunteers from the Mandarin area. There are 10 acres of natural Florida landscape with huge oaks, magnolias, pines, and bay trees. But most important are the buildings on the property. The home of the Mandarin Historical Society itself is not old, but it is built in the style of early Florida structures. There is an original

I Wish My Skin Looked That Good! YES - HE IS A ROBOT The multi-colored building across the street from the Prime Osborn Convention Center had often intrigued me but I had decided that it must be some sort of beauty products business, so I never really gave it much more thought—until a friend told me that the business gave free tours of their facility. Always casting about for some place to visit on my mystery tour days, I called The Sally Corporation to make a reservation, s

After a too long hiatus, we have finally re-instituted the Mystery Tours. This was the second of the week as we had house guests and Kay wanted to include them in this evening’s entertainment. So I and Kay’s other guests found ourselves at the Ponte Vedra Public Library building – a branch of the St. Johns County Library System. We doubted we were there to read. And it was true! The reason we were there was much bigger and louder than any book. As we walked through a long

Imagine! When we resume our mystery tours again, we do it with a bang with 2 in one week. Lois read in our local newspaper that the Jacksonville Jaguars’ NFL stadium offers tours during football season. Well, it was still open season for us when she booked our visit. We were in the playoffs but sadly we were ousted from a spot in the Super Bowl the very next day! Tickets are $7 for adults. Our Jaguars’ EverBank Field sits on 10 acres of waterfront property on the majestic

We arrived around 6 PM in the early dusk to find the tables set up for food and drink as more and more people trickled in. The Zoo's Executive Director, Tony Vecchio, gave a brief talk about the exhibit and then welcomed us to follow the docents on the dinosaur trail. There were 21 different semi-audioanimatronic recreations of dinosaurs from the Triassic and Cretaceous periods, from the small Microraptor (only 3 feet long) to the enormous Spinosaurus (59 feet long). And, o

The power and grace of the legendary Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and that of the magnificent cheetah. A strange combination, you say? But yes - it's real. Here's a place that combines them both. And it's near Jacksonville, Florida? Yes - Oddly enough. How can that be? Read On. About 45 minutes northwest of Jacksonville across the St. Mary's River into Georgia lies a large tract of land (7400 square acres) currently known as the White Oak Plantation and Conser

I, Lois, do not like baseball - I know, that's an heretical statement to make as an American! Kay, however, who was the Guide for this tour, is quite a fan. Though this tour was not planned around a particular game of baseball, it turned out to be all about the game. And I loved it! The focus of this mystery trip was a visit to the Karpeles Museum in downtown Jax. This is a unique but little heralded museum: ours is one of only 11 in the USA. The manuscript collections rot

SPRINGFIELD @ CHRISTMAS The Jacksonville Springfield neighborhood was established in 1969 and experienced its greatest growth from the 1880s to the 1920s. After the huge Jacksonville Fire in 1901, many wealthy people moved into the area because there was vacant land on which to build anew. The fire was so destructive that it consumed 146 blocks of the city's structures, 3268 buildings and killed seven people--mostly by drowning as frightened people ran to the St. Johns River