2WannaBRetireesinPanama: FOUR MILE WALKING TOUR

Entrance to my neighborhood.

The common area that is never used (we use it as cut through to get to the winding road)

My "Wisteria Lane" white picket fenced neighborhood of 25 homes.

The best part of autumn!

Yesterday morning I set out for a brisk walk. The morning temperatures have been in the mid-forties the past few days. Going for a walk sure beat what I had done the morning before--colonoscopy. My turn. But all things good. Checked that off my list. Had a great nap during and took another one once home. Seem to lose an awful lot of sleep with the prep of it all. Enough said. Glad to not have to do it again for five years. Back to my walk. Ray decided not to go. Since I read many blogs about Panama and thoroughly enjoy seeing what it is that my virtual and real friends see when they set out for walks and hikes, I decided I would use my phone camera to capture pictures of what Ray and I see when we walk. Wondering how this will differ once we are in Panama. And also, as I asked Ray when leaving the house without him, how long will it take me to feel comfortable enough to walk in Panama alone? What type of neighborhood will we live in? Will we even be walking a neighborhood, will we belong to a gym or will we hike and walk trails and perhaps buy bikes to ride? Since I carry my phone to "map my walk" for the mileage and pace, I figured why not snap a few pictures at the same time. And fortunately, I didn't trip once.

First let me say that autumn has arrived, and I love it. We had so much rain into last weekend that I didn't get out much to see the change in colors. But this weekend, the colors are coming to life a bit. Yesterday, it was cloudy. Today it has been blue skies with bright sunshine and mid-sixties in temperatures. Ray will wear shorts and t-shirt when walking, but since I am always cold, I wear pants, a t-shirt with sweatshirt over it. Today, the sweatshirt came off mid-walk. Our walk takes us onto the winding, country road dodging high speeding cars for a quarter of a mile to a subdivision called Magnolia Woods. Magnolia Woods has about eighty homes with each house being on three to eight acres. The houses are set back so you don't see them until you get up to them. The subdivision has been around for almost fifteen years, and these days, the houses sell for around $700,000 and up. The best part is that the roads are wide, and there is a bike trail.

This is the winding country road leading to Magnolia Woods.

Slight hill leading into the subdivision.

I took this picture because the magnolia trees at end of driveway are new, and they are a bit odd to me.

Pretty trees.

Once out of this subdivision, our walk takes us into St. Georges Estates. This neighborhood houses about 450 homes with four or five bedrooms that are on smaller lots. There is an HOA (Homeowners Association), so the homeowners have to keep their yards and houses, for the most part, to a certain standard. These homes are selling for $300-450,000.

Leaving Magnolia Woods entering St. George's Estates.

Starting the walk through St. Georges Estates

Today with Ray, we took a four mile walk that included a trail through the woods. We had no idea how long the trail was or where it would lead us. Okay, he had an idea. I just kept walking (since he was out walking, he wanted to make it count). Remembering all the food I ate last night at an Oktoberfest party we were at, I just kept walking. But usually we leave this subdivision and head into Vista Woods. Vista Woods does not have an HOA. These houses are big and small. Most are well taken care of and have neatly landscaped yards. Some houses have sunroom additions, some have large decks or screened in porches. But there are the other houses that have fenced in backyards with chickens running around or very large, angry looking dogs barking non-stop. There is the Sheriff's house that has junk piling up on the side of the house (he is too busy chasing criminals to clean up the mess), the brick house with a scary bright blue front door, or the house with baby blue siding on a smaller home that has manilla colored shutters and broken out garage windows. This compromises about five percent of our walk. For the most part, I enjoy looking at how the homeowners have decorated for Halloween or just for the autumn months. Pumpkins, bales of hay, mums and scarecrows are mostly seen in the yards of the larger homes while bones, graveyards, ghosts, and spiderwebs are seen in front of the smaller homes (perhaps younger children live here).

Leaving Magnolia Woods and entering St. Georges Estates

Start of the trail to who knows where.

Some running water.

Ray is always one step (or two) ahead of me.

This is the end of the trail.

And finally, we get close to the end of the subdivisions. But first, we pass by Carly's middle school, A.G. Wright and the soccer field she spent countless hours kicking a soccer ball on. Odd building for a middle school, and an elementary school is attached to it (Not hers though. Hers is in the next parking lot over--odd, as well.)

A.G. Wright Middle School

Looks like some delinquent burned one down.

Three, or like today four, miles later, we come to the end of another successful walk. This is what we see other than houses.

This office development has a dental office in it. He only recently hired a dental hygienist though.

There is an elementary school on the left, and Carly's high school (Mountain View) is straight ahead.

Senior living apartments (we see ambulances there often--not good)

When we bought our house in 2006, a YMCA was going to be built here. It never was built.

On another note (I do this often when I tell a story, and I write like I talk...), late yesterday, Ray and I were two hours southeast of our house in Gloucester County, Virginia. Friends of ours have a house on the Piankatank River and held an Oktoberfest party. We couldn't attend last year, because we were ending our vacation in Panama. Dining on homemade pretzels, bratwurst, sauerkraut, sausage, potato salad, German beer and wine, apple cake and pies, we met many new people and have been deemed "heroes" if we do in fact retire to Panama. The hot topic of the night was the government shutdown and the upcoming election. One man has been researching overseas as retirement options for himself in about ten years. He had quite a few questions, and we promised they would all hear from us through our mutual friend. Especially once they have visited us! Driving country roads taking in the autumn changes, deer on the side of the road when driving back later at night, along with walking the trail and admiring the fall decorations in the yards are all things I will miss in Panama. But I know I will love admiring heliconias, bougainvilleas, palm trees and hope to see (in El Valle) soon Panama's national flower, the Holy Spirit (a rare orchid). That will be just as breathtaking and magnificent as the red, yellow and orange colors surrounding me now.