Saturday in Florida

[fbhjr]

Saturday was our cousin mariness’s birthday. So we headed up to Winter Garden for brunch with her. We got there early so went over to the farmer’s market there.


It was quite festive with elves and everything.


It is a nice town. I see why my cousins live there. Fountains, lakes, farmer’s markets, nice shops, and generally pretty.


Sadly, it is not where my wife’s uncle lives. So, post brunch, we drove the hour plus up there.


The road there has what it terms a “Narrow Bridge”.

They have lots of signs leading up to it to warn you about this bridge.


Near where I grew up there was a bridge that was narrow. It had narrow bridge signs.
It was two sections of metal, one for the tires on each side, and a bit of a side to either side to guide you.
So, that set my expectations for narrow bridges.

This bridge, not narrow.


OK, I’ll grant you that it has no breakdown lane. But, two full lanes in each direction?
Not narrow.

Of course, it leads to miles of retail hell that lead up to where my wife’s uncle lives.


Smack in the middle of the retail hell is “The Villages”. It has so many golf carts that they had to build this golf cart bridge for them to get over the road and not be a road hazard.


Soon after, we came to where her uncle lives.


It is a gated place that you much check into.


They live on the far side, so you’ve got to drive through a lot to get there.


And, there are golf carts everywhere.


They had some of their friends from when they lived in Orlando up to visit as well.


My wife’s aunt puts out a ton of food.

And, I think that if you actually weighed it, that might not be too far off.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if her uncle and aunt are having a good time.

Other times, it is easier.


The camera we got for my wife’s uncle was very big with his wife. I’m not sure he got to touch it at all. It was clear that when she said he would really like one, she meant that she would really like one. But, they both seemed happy to have one there.
This is more to document the controls so I can go back and look at them when she has questions.


There was lots of eating, singing, dancing and story telling.


(OK I think the last one is someone showing off a Christmas sock. But, it could be dancing.)

It does seem to get to my wife’s uncle sometimes and he goes and hides.

I did get to discuss some of the things I wanted to discuss when I found him hiding.

I guess two of his guests both came from very similar Italian families and had a lot of reminiscing about that. They had lived in similar places and knew some of the same people.


My wife’s uncle is very clear that he would want us to stay with him if we are back in Florida.
I’m not really comfortable with that.
Even if it is a hotel, I like having a place to go back to that is ours.
And, he’s 90 minutes away from my family. I can drive that. But, it isn’t convenient.
I don’t know. We’ll have to work that out.

Comments

[chris-warrior.livejournal.com]

that sounds like you guys had a wonderful Christmas! :D

[chris-warrior.livejournal.com]

and thank you for the birthday message! :D