We took our time driving to Lady Lake, Florida, where we hope to spend two months during the winter to avoid the snow and ice that is so prevalent farther north. One stop on the way was to visit in Phenix City, Alabama, where we lived so many years ago. Seeing our townhouse apartment, the first house we ever bought, Jason's Early Bird Nursery and the church we belonged to brought back a flood of memories.... some great and some sad. We lost a baby while living there and were in such shock that we never gave him a name, and we decided to correct that and named him Preston Daniel while we were there in Phenix City. The new grave marker will replace the sweet bronze heart that said "1979 Baby Boy Craddock ".
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| Our townhouse apartment in Carriage Hills Apartments |
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The first house we ever bought still looks nice after all these years. We used
the garage for our car, but the present owners enclosed it. |
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| Jason stayed here at Early Bird Nursery while we worked. |
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| We sat on the third pew on the right side almost every Sunday. |
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| Preston Daniel's Grave |
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| Baby Land in Lake View Memory Gardens in Phenix City, Alabama |
On a much brighter note, we so enjoyed having dinner in Don and Anne Webb's home while visiting Phenix City, AL and Columbus, GA. They are cousins of mine on the Brantley side of the family. The salmon they served was delicious, and the fellowship was even better! One of the best things about traveling about is being able to reconnect with family and friends!
Finally we made it to Lady Lake. We weren't sure exactly what to expect since we have never been to this area. Lady Lake is adjacent to The Villages which is a "Snow Bird" Community. It is amazing to see so many senior citizens all striving to stay active and youthful! The number of activities available to do is overwhelming - golf, tennis, pickle ball, swimming, hot tub, billiards, horse shoes, bocce ball, shuffle board, card games, archery, volley ball, ping pong, Bingo, dancing, and the list goes on and on. I think each household has at least one golf cart and some have two. We've been told that there are at least 40,000 + golf carts in The Villages. That doesn't count all the ones in Lady Lake! These carts have their own cart paths and parking spaces in the multitude of shopping areas! These little carts dart about and remind me of gnats or honey bees! One must really keep an eye for them while driving. Truly an amazing place!
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| This is what we saw on our first shopping trip in The Villages. |
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| Separate parking areas are provided for all the golf carts. |
We easily found Recreation Plantation where we had reservations and registered for our stay in this RV Resort of 800+ sites. Most of the sites are occupied with "Park Models" which means they are permanent mobile homes with attached carports and many storage sheds. It is a very nice park, and we've enjoyed being there even though we feel a little out of place since we are planning to stay only a couple of months instead of the 6 or more months so many of the residents stay. We, too, have all the activities that The Villages do except for a golf course. We even have our own post office.
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Main Recreation Club House at Recreation Plantation. This place has a stage, large
multipurpose room for dances, shows, meals and Bingo. It also has a game room, a library
and a card room. Behind it is a very nice pool and hot tub, shuffle board courts, horse
shoes pits, bocce ball courts and tennis courts. Nearby is the post office and the work
out room. |
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We spend a lot of time in this building which houses the laundry. We also have fun
shooting pool on one of the six tables in the billiard room. There is a craft room next
to the billiard room and a bath house on this end. |
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Our fifth wheel is next door to one of the many park models, but there are several
other fifth wheels, class A's and bumper pulls near us.
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