Another S/O: Car buying (we bought one!)

Congrats! We are looking now to downsize our SUV. We currently have a 2008 Chevy Trailblazer and are looking at Subaru Forester. We do road trips so trunk space is important. I take my elderly Mom places and it's getting harder for her to get into the Trailblazer. Many of the smaller SUVs seem to have such small trunk space.

To be honest, it is nicer than I thought it would be.  Most of the people have met here have been very nice.  I haven’t done anything at the clubhouse yet because I have so much to do at the house and yards still.  Plus, their pool/spa room is undergoing some renovations right now.  When it is operational again, I plan to join the pool exercise classes.  I do miss my pool.

They distribute a little community newspaper for the 1510 homes that make up the senior estates community.  In it they tell you what is happening in the community and list all of the meetings and club schedules.  During the really hot days last month, they put in a little reminder about their library and that they wanted to invite members to come and sit in their air conditioning to stay cool.  I thought that was really nice.  

They have a cooking club and several craft type clubs that I will be joining.  With having Instacart to deliver anything from any of the stores listed for my area, including restaurants now, I rarely have a need to drive anywhere right now.  And having a nice restaurant and opportunities to socialize within walking distance pretty much fulfills my needs these days.  About the only driving I have been doing is to have my blood drawn for my regular monitoring checks.  I don’t even need to have my doctor’s appointments in person unless I want a physical or have an issue.

The estates recently opened up the golf course to people who want to just take a nice long walk on the paths through the lush greenery.  The walkers get certain hours only, and they divide the golf course during that time so that the golfers can still get in 9 holes during walking sessions.  Then the following day, they switch to the other 9 holes.  You can still play a full 18 holes each day, you just need to start after the walkers are gone.  I need to go walk the golf course when my knee recovers.

When my realtor first told me about this development of homes for people 55 and over, I wasn’t sure I would like not having any children around.  My previous neighborhood had tons of kids living there.  We used to close off our street and have big block parties during the summers and there were certainly many more kids than adults.  But since people on my street are so nice and then having the clubhouse so close, I am finding that I don’t mind it at all.

Congrats! We are a Hyundai/Genesis family and have had positive experiences with all of them.

With our Suburus & Ford, we bought them used with less than 10,000 miles. Super happy with all of them. Toyotas, unfortunately don't have the same discount on gently used cars or we haven't been able to find them. We bought 2 Rev 4 Hybrids in the last couple of months. One for middle ds who just graduated from college and one for dh. We're waiting for his to be delivered, hoping to pick it up on Saturday. There is apparently a shortage the hybrids, we had to put a deposit down one one in transit and wait a month. They're being sold before they even get delivered. Kind of crazy.

Glad you found something that works for you.