Friendship Park

With a beautiful view of downtown Jacksonville [1], Friendship Park (1026 Museum Dr.) is on the south bank of the St. Johns River. The 200-foot-wide Friendship Fountain is the central and photogenic attraction here, with 17,000 gallons of water per minute coursing through dozens of jets up to 120 feet in the air. At night the fountain is gorgeously lit, and the area surrounding it provides a relaxing panoramic place to watch the boats traversing the waterway.

Next door, the Museum of Science & History (1025 Museum Circle, 904/396-7062, www.themosh.org [2], 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Sat., 1–6 p.m. Sun., $9 adults, $7.50 seniors and military, $7 children, children under 3 free) maintains a notably more naturalist bent than many other big-city science museums. A large number of the exhibits focus on regional flora and fauna as well as marine life, along with the requisite batch of hands-on science gimmicks for kids and a planetarium.