Enjoying The Sun In Florida

So, here we are, still in Florida, just laying back and enjoying the SUN.  Early last week we were looking for someplace to use the Internet, so we had Garmin look for a Starbucks.  There was one only about 5 miles from where we are staying, so off we went.  While driving there, we traveled through what appeared to be a new housing development being built, but it looked like it was just getting started.  Turned out to be just an expansion of what we found next.  About 2 minutes later, we turned a corner and stumbled across what appeared to be the "Secret Society of Golf Carts".

Everywhere you looked, there were Golf Carts, being driven by a whole community of gray hairs.  What we found was an active 55+ retirement community.  It is called "The Villages", and is over 30 square miles in size.  Currently there are about 92,000 people that call this area home, and they are selling about 150 homes a month.  There are 21 golf courses, and if you live here, you can play all of them for free.







There are over 60 swimming pools, numerous recreation centers and over 1900 activity clubs like a Classic Car Club, Knitting Club, Line Dancing, etc, etc, etc.  There are 2 different Softball Arena's, similar to Delta Park, where they have numerous leagues.  They also hold senior games here yearly for all sports.  It is like a Geriatrics Club on Steroids.  You name it,  it is probably here.  There are separate roads in most of The Villages for the Golf Carts, and tunnels that go under the main streets, so the carts don't slow down traffic.  Where there aren't separate cart ways, they have slow moving cart lanes, that share the road with autos.



 

There are 3 town square areas, where there is shopping, restaurants, movies theaters, banks, health clubs, bowling alley, doctors, etc.  Every evening, from 5-9, there is live entertainment at all 3 town squares.  We have been to these events almost every evening, and let us tell you, they are hopping.  Lots of people dancing, visiting and enjoying a cold beer, a mixed drink or a glass of wine.



A few evenings ago there was a Golf Cart Rally, in one of the Squares, and you would be amazed at how much money some of these people have put into their Golf Carts.

 

 

 

 

Pretty COOL for Golf Carts

 

The homes here seem to be reasonably priced, and every housing area is gated, and most of them have a guard house.  We took a few days to look at some of the homes for sale, and we found that you can buy something from $80,000 up to a million.  We found a few homes that we really liked in the $150k range.  No, we are not moving here, at least for now, but this place has really got our attention.  It might be a place where we end up wintering, and spend our summers back home.  Only time will tell.

 

We will be hitting the road on Sunday, working our way to Fort Lauderdale.  Roberta's sister and husband are flying in for a week of Fun & Sun with us.  Should be a CRAZY week, since it is Spring Break and the college students should be out in full force.  We'll let you know just how crazy it gets.

 

So, until our next post.......

Thanks for looking in on us,

 

Steve and Roberta