I learned a valuable lesson recently. We all get into ruts and it’s difficult to venture out of our safe zones. While there is nothing wrong with sticking to what works and makes you happy, it’s a big world out there and there is a lot to be gained from expanding your safe zone.

Jacksonville has been on of those cities that I visit once or twice a year but have never really worked to find any of the hidden gems. When we are there, we primarily stick to the western side of town since that’s where we’re working and staying. Just like other places that we visit, we’ve developed a list of a few places to eat and we’ll hit them visit after visit.

This year, we got out of our comfort zone and experienced some really cool spots to grab a bite and/or a beer. Thanks to a combination of Twitter and Google, we found plenty of places that we had never visited before.

One of these spots was Brewers Pizza in Orange Park. I’ve driven past it a bunch of times since it opened a couple of years ago. We noticed the sign last year but never stopped, figuring that we’d hit them “next time.” If you’re anything like me, “next time” is synonymous with “one of these days.” That really translates to mean that something has to happen to cause me to break my regular routine first. Had a Twitter friend not mentioned it, it probably would still be in the “next time” bucket.

By pure coincidence, that same Twitter friend happened to be at Intuition Ale Works the following evening while we were there. She gave us a few recommendations, some of which were on our radar and some completely new to us. We ended up eating at one of them, Kickbacks Gastropub.

Another great place that we happened upon was Bold City Brewery. It’s a fun place to hang out and coincidentally, we ran into folks that we talked with a couple of nights earlier at Intuition.