We have been sedentary for the last 7 weeks, so it was wonderful to have lots of ways to exercise. Besides riding our bikes and walking around the campground, there are many ways to burn a few calories. Some of Denisa's favorites are line dancing and going to swimnastics. But she has also gone to aerobics, zumba, and yoga. Other options for exercise are tai chi, biking trips, clogging, water aerobics, regular exercise classes, a well-equipped exercise room, and two swimming pools.
For those that like playing a game while exercising, we really enjoy playing pickleball. But on the weekly schedule we can also play golf, softball, shuffleboard, darts, horse shoes, pool, table tennis, bowling, and volleyball.
This year Denisa is trying a new craft--dichroic jewelry. If that term doesn't sound familiar to you, she didn't know what that meant either. But at the Glass Adventures open house, they showed her examples of this fused glass art. More importantly, the projects are tiny, which is important if you live in a motor home.
Throughout the week there are lessons for quilting, needlework, woodburning, stained glass, woodcarving, paper quilling, ceramics, watercolor, rock club, scrapbooking, card making, wool working, swedish weaving, encaustic, photography, and oil painting.
All of these classes are taught by volunteers, so there is little to no expense to participate. Over the years, nice equipment has been purchased for these different craft groups. There are kilns for making glass projects, saws and polishers for rock projects, etc. All of the equipment is made available through seasoned volunteers that are happy to share their expertise with beginners like us.
Volunteers also teach other new skills. In this 55 and older park, it's not hard to teach old dogs new tricks in Spanish class, birding class, and Computer class. We are both going to Spanish class that meets every Lunes (that's Monday! We're just anxious to work on our homework this week, which is learning the days of the week in Spanish.)
For those who like music, the resort offers plenty of opportunities to play your instrument or sing. Every week there are practices for church choir, ukulele lessons, melody theater, kitchen band, acoustic country jam, holiday choir, and senior ambassadors.
We have never participated, but there is also a scheduled time to play every card and board game imaginable. This is a long list of games one can meet with others to play every week at a specific time and place: bridge, polish poker, bingo, bid euchre, cribbage, mah jongg, nomination, 7's from Hell, "65", Omaha poker, pokeno, hand/knee/foot, card bingo, duplicate bridge, ten square, bunco, pinochle, dirty board, sheepshead, rumicub, whist, pegs & jokers, and Texas Hold 'em. Whoo! These retired people have given up working to do a whole lot of playing!
The park also has a full kitchen, and serves several meals each week. We take advantage of these opportunities, as the prices are kept low because of the use of volunteer labor. There is also ice cream served out of this kitchen every evening, and sundaes on Sunday. Another of our favorite foods coming out of this kitchen are the home-made donuts made on Wednesday. After finding out that they sell out fast, we have learned to pre-order our cake donuts. Even with all the exercise, for some reason we're not losing weight. It might have something to do with these donuts.
The schedule is full, and if anyone is bored here, it's clearly their own fault. Any time we have tried a new activity, we have been welcomed into the group with open arms. That's why we have met so many people during our month-long stays. Denisa's Mother has been coming to this park for over 30 winters, and we always teased her that this was like going to winter camp for old people. Now that we're one of them, we can see why she has enjoyed it for so many years, as we settle into this resort life for ourselves.
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