Tigers and Tuna

Hi guys!

I wasn’t able to pop in with an evening post last night recapping my day, so let’s back it up and cover last night this morning, shall we?

Heading to Jacksonville

My mom arrived in Ocala a little after lunchtime yesterday and we played with Sadie for a bit before making the two hour drive to Jacksonville.

A pit stop for some Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee made the drive all the more fun.

(I spy with my little eye… Julie’s gum. Orbit Bubblemint, baby. My favorite.)

My mom got her iced coffee with a small amount of caramel syrup while I stuck with vanilla. I must say my mama made the right choice. Caramel is where it’s at!

Since our main appointment in Jacksonville is late this morning, we had some free time yesterday and I was able to get some work done on a freelance piece before we met up with my dad for dinner.

My dad’s company has an office in Jacksonville, so he arrived in town earlier this week for work. It was great that the three of us were able to eat dinner and spend the evening together. Gotta love family time! (We missed you, Les!) 

Poe’s Tavern

Since I was just in Jacksonville last weekend for a barbeque with friends, when my parents and I began tossing dinner ideas around, I actually had a suggestion.

I spotted Poe’s Tavern in Atlantic Beach last weekend when we were leaving our dinner at Ocean 60 and thought it looked like a place worth trying.

On our walk from the parking lot to the restaurant, we spotted a baby tiger outside a neighboring restaurant.

Her name is Nicky and she currently lives at the Catty Shack Sanctuary in Jacksonville.

The Catty Shack rescues cats from serious situations, including maltreatment, illegal ownership or cats found in improper enclosures.  (They do not breed, sell, or trade any of their animals.) The sanctuary is home to large cats including tigers, lions, cougars and leopards. They also told me that the sanctuary currently has two “honorary cat breeds,” including arctic foxes, and coatimundis. Coati what now? Apparently coatimundis are a raccoon-like animal.

Meet coatimundis:

Nicky the tiger was really friendly with the man who was keeping her company from the sanctuary and licked his hands and rubbed up against his fingertips.

Such a little sweetie pie!

After chatting with the sanctuary employees about Nicky (she only weighs 10 pounds more than Sadie right now!), my mom, dad and I walked to Poe’s Tavern and ordered some food.

I got the seared tuna salad that came with jicama, dried cranberries, cherry tomatoes and a delicious citrus ginger dressing.

I have a hard time passing on seared tuna whenever it’s on the menu and this fish was fantastic. I think my dad was a little jealous of my dish.

Dessert

On our walk back to the car, we spotted Happy Cup, a frozen yogurt shop that also makes smoothies, wraps, baked goods and more.

I sampled the frozen yogurt but all of it tasted rather icy and almost sorbet-like to me. I am a much bigger fan of super creamy frozen yogurt, so a whoopie pie from their baked goods selection quickly became my dessert.

The filling was the best! It also happened to be Whoopie Pie Wednesday, so it was half off to boot. Score!

After dinner, my mom, dad and I hung out together before heading to bed a little before 11 p.m. (Did any of you guys watch Modern Family last night? I DVRed it and am hoping it was a good one.)

And now I’m off!

I’ll check back in soon, but until then, have a great day, my friends.