We celebrated Christmas with Doug's brother, Pat, and his wife Shelley on December 20. They were on their way back to Michigan for a week to have Christmas at home. We had a great visit with them. They brought us some goodies and gave us a sign to hang on our RV site. We've tried a couple of different hangers but haven't found one to support the weight. I'm searching for one online.
On Christmas Day, there was a potluck dinner. The park supplied the ham and everyone brought a dish to pass. Wonderful food!
On Saturday, December 27, my two sisters, Gloria and Karen, and Gloria's grand-daughter (my great niece), Megan, arrived in Navarre. They stayed in a condo on Navarre Beach with a gulf front view. We had an adventure every single day. We went to the Gulf Breeze Zoo on Sunday, we visited the Fort Pickens Civil War Fort on Monday, we went to the Gulfarium in Ft. Walton Beach on Tuesday, met up with an old high school friend of Karen's Tuesday evening, drove Highway 30A to see all the unique beach towns east of Destin, drove to Pensacola Beach for fireworks and had a girls only slumber party at the condo on New Year's Eve, and on New Year's Day, drove the beach road through the Gulf Islands National Seashore. No wonder I'm so tired!
In the morning of New Year's Eve, Doug and I were sitting inside waiting for Gloria, Karen and Megan. Doug looks out the window and says "There goes Dave Murphy". I said "No way, what would Dave Murphy be doing here?" Doug asks me to holler at him and sure enough, it WAS Dave Murphy!
It's a small world!
On New Year's Day, we all went down to the beach for the last sunset at Navarre. Beck and Frodo joined us.
We decided to meet down at the beach again around 7:00 to light the wish lanterns. We ordered pizza and wings and ate the "Sin in a Tin" that I had bought for this special occasion. This is a chocolate pate that is made in Pensacola. I happened to meet the owner while he was in a grocery store promoting his product. Check it out and if you order one, you will not be disappointed. Sin in a Tin
We gathered up some lap throws, the lanterns and the fire sticks to light them. Then the unthinkable happened. As Gloria exited the motor home, she missed the last step and fell down on the concrete. After we got her up, it was evident that she needed the ER. Karen and I drove her to Gulf Breeze (actually, the west end of Gulf Breeze, which means it might as well have been Pensacola). When we got to the hospital, we got a wheelchair out to the car, got her to triage and they took her back to an examining room quickly. About 10 minutes later, the doc came in and even before the x-rays were taken, he said it appeared that she had a broken wrist. They gave her something for the pain, took x-rays and put the arm in a splint from above the elbow to the tips of her fingers. They directed us to a 24 hour pharmacy for her pain meds and then we made our way back to Navarre. She was a trooper! Gloria will see the ortho doc on Monday to find out the next step. She will likely be in a cast for 6-8 weeks.
Gloria, Karen and Megan headed home to Indy on Friday and Doug and I took off for The Villages to visit his brother Pat and Pat's wife, Shelley. Pat and Shelley just retired in May and they are spending the winter there.
We've heard about The Villages, but we had never been there. It is a master-planned, age-restricted community. It's a HUGE development with 39 golf courses that residents can play for FREE for LIFE. There are numerous rec centers, a polo stadium and four town squares. Seven nights a week, each town square has nightly activities. They have their own TV station, a newspaper and a radio station. There are churches, schools, public transportation (although a popular method of transportation is a golf cart), restaurants, grocery stores and pharmacies. It was just amazing.
While we were there, Shelley and I went to an art fair/craft show in one of the town squares. I felt like were at the Ann Arbor Art Fair. There were tons of vendors. We had a great time.
Pat took us to a place outside of The Villages where a guy restores old oil and gas stuff. He was closed so we only got to look through the windows and browse some stuff outside. Doug says he knows who the guy is and that he sells on eBay.
We then went to dinner at Cody's Roadhouse. Great food and great atmosphere.
We left there Sunday morning for a short drive over to Port Richey where we are staying at Suncoast RV Resort. We've stayed here before and really like this park. It's close to one of our favorite beaches, Howard Park. We're here for four weeks.
Oh my, this was a long blog post. I really need to write more often than every three weeks. I'll put that on my "to do" list. Stay tuned for more adventures.
Keep having a great time! :)
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