End of the Year Happenings

   Well, it's been a busy time here at our winter home. Barb has been kept hopping with preparing for, then pulling off the holiday parties at Bella Terra. Big this year was the Christmas dinner and the New Years Eve Casino night. There was also a golf cart parade through the park. 

   For the Christmas Party, we participated in a thing called "Dirty Santa". That is where you (along with the other participants) bring a gift and put it under the tree. Then you are called up randomly to pick a gift. The catch is that you can choose an unwrapped gift or you can "steal" a previously selected gift. A gift can be stolen up to three times! Turned out to be great fun and several gifts made the rounds their maximum three times. 

   Here the folks are sampling the many treats that were brought by our guests. You can see many of the presents under the tree waiting to be handed out later. 

   Above is the aforementioned golf cart parade. As you can see, Santa rides in style!

   On New Years Eve they pulled out all the stops. Professional gaming tables and dealers were brought in and everyone was given $500 of fake money with which to purchase chips. Then they played the games for several hours while enjoying a great catered meal. At the end of the evening, around 10:00, the folks exchanged their winnings for tickets that went into a big fish bowl. Then the tickets were drawn for a wide variety of prizes that had been graciously donated by local merchants (i.e. Barb and Phyllis--the other resort host this winter--begged, borrowed or charmed merchants for the prizes).  At the conclusion of the proceedings, the maintenance staff presented the guests with a high dollar fireworks show. I never saw them as I was too busy running from staging area to launch area, but I was told that it was very impressive. Not a bad way to ring in the New Year, firing off a whole bunch of high dollar pyrotechnics!!

   So, here's wishing all of you a Happy New Year from Barb, Brad, and Misty the wonder dog!

Bella Terra RV Resort

     Well, after returning from Australia we had two days to do laundry, re-pack the motorhome, and get ready to leave Kansas. Then we pulled out and drove three days and a little over 1,100 miles to arrive at our winter home on December 1st. The days were a little longer than I usually like to do, but we were in a time crunch and it all worked out OK. Bella Terra is a beautiful upscale Luxury RV resort that offers the RVer the opportunity to buy your site. 

     Once purchased, you can add improvements like an outdoor kitchen, gazebo, or small carriage house. All of the sites are on oversized lots with concrete pads and built in patios. All of the utilities are provided and the entire resort is tropically landscaped and maintained. 

     The centerpiece to the resort is the huge clubhouse (6,000 square feet!) that looks out over the 9 acre lake. The clubhouse offers a fitness center with weight machines, treadmills, and sauna. There is a game room and open area for dances and group get-togethers. There is also a small private movie theater with surround sound system. And that's just the facility. 

     There are several spots of interest within the resort. There is a very nice fenced in dog park where Misty and her canine buddies can run and play. 

  

    For the big kids, there is a croquet field and, recently completed, a practice putting green. 

Croquet field with the Putting Green behind it.

The Putting Green.

     Then, there is the heated swimming pool and hot tub just outside the clubhouse. There is also a gas fire pit and grilling station set up for entertaining or just hanging about. 

    We are less than 10 miles from the Emerald Coast white sand beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. There are long stretches of sugar fine white sand just begging to be walked on. The weather is mild for the winter and, so far, has been very nice. When we first got here, it was a little unseasonably cool and the overnight temps dropped a little below freezing. But after a week, things have warmed up and the daytime temps are in the low to mid 60's. 

Sunset View from our Coach

     Our duties here have Barb working with the other Resort Host, Phyllis, planning and executing a wide variety of functions and activities for the guests and residents. Things like Trivia contests, weekly Movie Night, Spaghetti feeds, and the ever popular Bingo are just some of the events. One of the first things she worked on was the decorating of the clubhouse for Christmas. 

     I work on maintenance and special projects. Keeping everything in good working order and making improvements to the facilities takes up most of my time. We have a rotational schedule for opening and closing the clubhouse daily and cleaning the Bath houses/Laundry facilities weekly. 

The rest of the time is ours to enjoy the resort and all that the area has to offer. Mobile, AL and Pensacola, FL are less than an hour away and New Orleans is only a little over three hours drive! 

    All in all, this should be a fine winter and we look forward to relaxing and enjoying the sights.