Day Two with Nate and Krystal

Labor Day Monday started out like most other days.......Yes - with pickleball.

While playing Sunday afternoon - Rich in all his pickleball excitement hit himself with the paddle on the knee. Wanting to make sure that he was OK to play on Monday afternoon, he decided not to play on Monday morning. So Nate and Krystal and I headed over to Churchill Street Rec Center where we played for a couple of hours.  Big crowd out playing that morning - all four courts going and probably 10-12 sitting out waiting to play.  Rich came over to watch for a while.    I'm sure that Nate and Krystal enjoyed the morning - this is one of the friendliest groups of players in The Villages.

After an early lunch the guys headed out for Hacienda Rec Center  to meet up with the afternoon group of players.

Krystal and I  went for a ride in the golf cart.  We stopped at High Five Yogurt for our afternoon treat.  Neither of us had been there before - and our first experience was very positive.  The waitress knew immediately that we had not been there before we she saw the two of us looking for a menu.  At High Five you take you dish, select your self serve yogurt flavor of choice, add your toppings and take your dish to be weighed  - and then you pay!  We took the long way back home allowing her to experience the golf cart trails and the tunnels that go under the roads........  We prepared a vodka and orange juice and enjoyed a couple of hours of  So You Think You Can Dance, that I had previously recorded.

I had made reservations at Katie Belles for and early dinner and show, so we headed up to Spanish Springs Town Center.   It was only about 4:30 when we arrived so the band was getting set up in the Square and  people were starting to arrive early as well, to make sure they had a good seat in the shade where they could enjoy the music.  It was Market Night as well, so the vendors were finalizing their displays and getting ready to sell their goods!

Katie Belles (bottom right below) is a Villages Resident Only club located right on  the Square at Spanish Springs.   It's a stunning two story building and the inside is  like a western style opera house where you can enjoy great food and entertainment every night of the week.   Entertainers and show bands from across the country play here.  On the second floor is the Cattle Baron Restaurant where we had a table on the balcony that overlooked the stage and dance floor below.   There was pretty much a packed house for tonight's entertainment which was The Dunning Shaw and Donna Moore show.   These two are impersonators and the show tonight included songs from Neil Sedaka, Elton John,  Elvis, Patsy Cline, Dolly Pardon, Lisa Minnelli, Sonny and Cher and more......

Below is  Nate and Krystal before dinner and enjoying, on stage, Roy Orbison and on the dance floor - Lady Ga Ga..............   Both the meal and the show was excellent!

 And then the visit was over and Nate and Krystal hit the road and headed back to Wauchula.  We hope they can make it back one more time.  We are expecting to hear from our Louisiana friends real soon about when they might be arriving in September. Hopefully we can get Nate and Krystal back while they are here...........and we got an e-mail today that Harry and Karen Shaak will be back here on September 24th...........So we look forward to some good pickleball and some good Louisiana cookin'

Thanks you two...........We had a wonderful time!

Here is a link to a video of Dunning Shaw and Donna Moore at The Villages earlier in the year........

 CLICK HERE  and enjoy!