Salted caramel martinis

This morning Laura and I sorted through all of the camping gear and other miscellany we'd left here last summer on our cross-country drive to Miami. We tossed a few things and packed the rest into an old Amazon box and shipped it back to Walla Walla via UPS. It wasn't cheap. The 53lb box cost $115 to ship, but replacing all of that gear would've cost more, so....

We all went out to lunch at one of the many restaurants here in The Villages. It was pretty crowded, but we found a table outside:

Eating outside in Spain was tough because folks were only allowed to smoke outside. Here in the US, you can't smoke anywhere, so eating outside is not a smoke-filled hellscape. The food was good.

After lunch, Laura, Sharron and Tom went to a doctor's appt for Tom. I went to the gym. After the gym, we went to dinner at Roger & Donna's house (good friends of Sharron & Tom). Roger is an impressive cook. We had some of the best salmon I've ever consumed. Also, some grilled asparagus:

After dinner, Donna was kind enough to take a picture of the four of us:

while Roger broke out his bartending skills and made some awesome salted caramel martinis:

Village People

Our first full day in The Villages was enjoyable. We went to the pool this morning while the weather was good (and hot). We noticed this little yard sign while walking:

I thought it was pretty clear, and cute too.

While at the pool, I called Lynette and got caught up on the Walla Walla news. She's also willing to pick us up at the airport next Thursday. Turns out, even arriving at the airport at 6pm, all of the rental car agencies will be closed (small town). Lynette will pick us up and take us home and either lend us one of her cars, or we'll pick up a rental in the morning.

Laura got her haircut today. I think it looks really good:

Sharron organized Tom's pills and vitamins for the coming week:

The sheer quantity of pills is really daunting.

I started writing the text of my convocation talk. I'll feel better once I have about 1500 words that I can start hacking away at.

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I finally feel like I'm meeting my Mexican food quota again after a year of very little in Spain.

After dinner, Laura, Sharron and Tom went down to one of the town squares to see some musicians play. I went to the gym.

This evening Laura and I watched Stage 5 of the Tour de France.

***

Walla Walla and the Whitman community continue to reel at the murder of Kyle Martz on Monday. Martz worked in student services at Whitman for about 7 years supporting international students. Though I didn't know him, he was universally liked. Apparently the murder, committed by a homeless man, was random, though clearly a lot remains to be disclosed. The perpetrator was captured in Baker City and has admitted to the crime.

Atlanta -> The Villages

We had an early start this morning to coordinate with our hosts, Scott and Shelley, as they got up and got out for work (I guess some people still have to go to work every day). We played with Bean a bit:

chatted a bit with Shelley and even managed to get up early enough to see Scott off.

While there was a bit of traffic in downtown Atlanta as we left, the rest of the trip went smoothly and we made good time (except for me having to go to the bathroom about every hour, just one of those days I guess).

We made it to The Villages at around 3pm and found Sharron and Tom home and Sharron preparing dinner for us. Part of the excellent meal was some wonderful corn on the cob. We didn't have any in Spain and this was a great re-introduction to the food.

After dinner I went to one of the local gyms to get a good cardio workout:

I watched an episode of Stranger Things while on the stationary bike. I'm pretty tired now and looking forward to a good night's rest.

Virginia Beach -> Atlanta

We bade farewell to Kathy (and Ric last night) and drove to Atlanta. The drive down, while long at 9 hours, was relatively easy--not much traffic. We made it to Scott and Shelley's house around 5pm. We had a nice time catching up with them and then went to a local Mexican restaurant for our first real Mexican food in a loooonnngggg time. It was really good. Also, Scott got a pitcher of margaritas, so there's that.

World Cup

A kind of overcast day here today. After a morning walk, we mostly we stayed inside. We watched the US win the world cup final. We ate leftovers for lunch. I talked to Rachel and them Emily on the phone. I wrote one letter of recommendation that had been sitting in my inbox for a while (Whitman slowly creeps back).

This evening we went to the Mojito Cafe for dinner. Good food, small place, seemed like mostly locals.

Kathy and Laura hit the margarita's on the deck to finish off the evening: