Have Golf Cart Will Travel!

11.06.2009 - 11.09.2009:

Greetings from the land of grandparents and golf carts! We arrived in The Villages, FL on the evening of 11.06.2009 to spend a few days with Pop-pop and Grandma (David's grandparents on his Mom's side). For those of you who don't know about The Villages, it is an immense community for those who are over the age of 55 in north central Florida. Grandma and Pop-pop have lived in The Villages for about 5 years - to be specific, they live in the village of Bonnybrook.

Upon arriving, Pop-pop and Grandma took us out for late night appetizers and drinks at The Lighthouse. We had some tasty steamed clams and calamari rings, and were especially intrigued by the drink menu on the table... The menu offered a list of shots ranging from "Broken Down Golf Cart" or a BDGC, "Grandpa is Alive", "Liquid Valium" and the most bizarre, "Sex with an Alligator." Thankfully David's grandparents did not order any of these shots, but as a keepsake, Katrina took a copy of the shot list. We now plan to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with a shot of "Broken Down Golf Cart!"



Speaking of golf carts, they are everywhere here - ranging from your standard model to high end miniature classic Rolls Royce and Mustang versions. The Villages is laced with golf cart paths, and you can go just about everywhere on your cart - to the bank, the movies, the grocery store, and of course all the pools and recreation centers. We got our guest passes (tight security here, folks) and spent quite a bit of time riding around in the golf cart - both for fun and doing errands - and relaxing by the pool. Here at The Villages we are not quite yet considered adults - for guests, one must be over the age of 30 to use the adult pools. Until then, we are relegated to using the family pools.

Below is David in Grandma and Pop-pop's golf cart in the parking lot of the Pimlico pool and Katrina going through the drive through ATM at Bank of America.

During our time in The Villages, we also visited many restaurants - Beef O' Brady's, McCall's in Spanish Springs, China Buffet (not memorable!), and quite memorably, Lopez Legacy Country Club, owned by Nancy Lopez the golf champion. One memorable (or forgettable) time at Lopez Legacy was when David cut the celery from Pop-pop's bloody mary into bite size pieces, as Grandma had forgotten to put in her bottom teeth.

One day we took a quick day trip to Mount Dora, a nearby town with lots of cute shops and arts.

We also went to a Polo match at the Polo Club on Sunday afternoon, which we really enjoyed. Neither of us had ever been to a Polo match before, so it was all very interesting and we really learned a lot about the game. Of course, the $2 beers (which were $1 during the intermission between chuckers) sure did help! And, we also learned a new cheer which is associated with Polo games - or at least the people who were in attendance at this game! We'll sing it for you sometime. :) After the Polo game, we greatly enjoyed a spectacular performance by The Village Twirlers - a group of ladies from The Villages who dance and twirl batons. Katrina would like to be able to do that when she is 70! And, yes, we have video.

Of course, the best part of our visit was spending time with Grandma and Pop-pop. It was great to chat and catch up, look at lots of pictures together, and just simply hang out. We are headed to Miami next to spend some time with Abuela (David's grandmother from his Dad's side). We do love the Florida sunshine and are very happy to have the opportunity to spend so much time with family!