Visiting my wife’s family
Dec. 18th, 2011 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
This morning it seemed foggy, but that only turned out to be on the inside of our windows because we had the AC on.

We ate breakfast at the Whole Foods near the hotel where I really liked their sinks.

Then, off to my wife’s uncle and aunt’s place. It’s about 90 minutes NW of Orlando.
We drove past the evil Lake Griffin park where the rangers were most impolite to us last year.
It is also just past a community called “The Village” that seems like something out of some dystopian SF story. It has a population about 4 times greater than the town in which I grew up. It has its own stores, entertainment and golf courses. Everyone travels by golf cart to the point where they have a special golf cart bridge that goes up over the main road.
While the place my wife’s family lives isn’t quite as bad, it still is gated and you need permission and a little card on your dashboard to drive around.

(My wife’s uncle, who was a Mass State police officer for decades does not think much of the local volunteer “safety patrol” that polices the speed limit and the possession of authorization cards on dashboards. “Want to be cops” was the nicest thing he had to say about them. I guess a little power goes a long way in a retirement community and being on “Safety Patrol” gets you just enough power to feel important.)
Their new place is much nicer than their old.

We all piled in our rental car and drove off to the local Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. There I pondered what looked like a dog or cat door on the kitchen door of a steakhouse.

I actually do know what it is, and it isn’t an animal entry door. But, that is what it looks like and I wonder how many other people think it is strange.
When we got back, my wife got to experience the golf cart life with her aunt.


It was a nice visit and we’ll be back later this week.

We left just after sun set so we could see “the lights” along the road.
It isn’t the red and green bulbs they put out in front of the houses.

It is the display along the main road.

We did see many other displays along the way. Not quite so large. But, still lots of lights in the night.