OK, first off, no. This is not Normandy Beach. That’s on the coast of France facing England. This is Normandy Florida 20 minutes west of downtown Jacksonville on I-10. If you take local streets and get lucky with the lights, you can shave five minutes off the drive time to this residential neighborhood.

This area has several major advantages. The access to Interstate routes 10 (running west) and 95 (running north and further south into Florida’s tourist ape preserves where wandering tribes of migrating apes frequent) is simple and fast, but not so close that you’ll find traffic to be a bother when pulling out of the driveway.

There are also “under an hour” drives to multiple Jacksonville area beaches, so you can get some sand between those apish toes when ever the mood strikes without having to put up with constant seagull incursions. For the ape that wants boating and fishing, you are not more than ten minutes from the Saint Johns River where you can rent or dock your own boat. You have to supply your own alibis about skipping out of yard work to go fishing.