We made it to Nathan's parent's house in the evening and had dinner at CiCi's Pizza. Nathan's parents live about an hour north of Orlando in a retirement community called The Villages.
Now, if you don't know about The Villages, let me tell you all about it! When I say "retirement community," don't get the idea that this is where old people go to get away from noisy kids so that they can die in peace. This is a place where old people go to get away from noisy kids so that they can have an ass-kicking good time! The first time I visited Paul and Elaine in The Villages and after seeing the place, I couldn't wait to retire and live there myself.
The Villages covers about the same area as Manhattan and has about 10,000 residents, so it's not a sleepy little old folk’s neighborhood. They have golf courses and pools and social clubs and two "town squares," Spanish Springs and Lake Sumter Landing. There are plenty of specialty shops, chain stores and restaurants in the town squares so you can just park your car and walk around for a while.
One thing I noticed the first time we stayed with Paul & Elaine at The Villages was the use of golf carts as the main mode of transportation. It makes sense; a large chunk of the residents are golfers and with a gated community, it's safe (and cheaper) to get from place to place on a golf cart.
Everywhere you go, including the town squares and even the grocery stores on the outskirts of town, there are golf carts and golf cart parking. Below is a picture at Lake Sumter Landing and the entire parking row filled with nothing but golf carts.
The thing is, there are a lot of not-so-ordinary golf carts out there. Many of these people take their carts seriously. They soup them up, pimp them out and create some sweet rides. They put their names on the front of their carts; have Christmas lights on their carts; whatever they please. It's great!
Now that I think about it, maybe next time Nathan and I are down there, we'll take some decals with us to pimp out my father-in-law's cart. But we'll have to put some serious thought into what he would want... somehow I can't see him riding around with "Paul's Bitchin' Camaro" written across the back bumper of his cart.
Stay tuned for the next installment of "Four Rogers in a Chrysler at Christmas" because I haven't yet told you about the wonderful food, the fabulous company and the beautiful lights.
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