How I Spent Vacation (part 2)

SAT - TUES, 11/5-8

Flew to my mom's in FL on Saturday, with my sister-in-law & the 2 babies. They were remarkably easy to handle throughout the whole trip -- probably the excitement of 2 planes, a terminal shuttle-train, moving sidewalks, etc.

My mom's "retirement community for active seniors" (term I appreciated from Jennifer Weiner's "In Her Shoes") was hit quite hard by Hurricane Wilma. Though generally confined to downed trees (1,100 to be more exact), gossip did reach us that some bldgs' shingles flew off the roofs & some windows shattered. As we rode in a taxi to the Wynmoor Village (population somewhere around 14,000), we gazed in awe at enormous highway light-poles pushed aside along the shoulder, car dealership signs completely blown out, plywood still lining businesses' windows, street signs barely anchored at 45+ degree angles, traffic lights not functioning, and anxious drivers trying to decipher other drivers' intentions at each intersection, negotiating who'd next make their move. Within the Village, maintenance crews hurried to clear the roads, chain-sawing dying branches & piling the rubble in mounds along the grass. I'll let the photos speak for themselves (note the determined golfer, unphased! - and the round, white globes in pic #4 were street lamps):