Lanier Village Estates Acts CCRC (2/22-23/2018)

Thursday, February 22, 2018

The Peachoid (1981, painted by Peter Freudenburg) is a water tower in
Gaffney, SC to remind people where the most peaches are really grown

We were up very early this morning, but made good time to get from Springfield, VA to Gainesville, GA for a 15:00 tour of Lanier Village Estates, another ACTS retirement community. They like to call themselves an active adult community, and the buzz is that they are the best of the ACTS communities. Situated on 107 acres, consisting of steep ridges and gullies, they have 31 carriage homes, 302 apartments, 11 assisted living suites, and 15 skilled care beds. It is also a gated community.

The Lanier Village Estates apartments are in 4-6 floor buildings

Daffodils are in bloom in the well-landscaped grounds

Lanier Village Estates lobby

We first checked into the guest apartment.

One of two bedrooms in the guest apartment

Guest apartment master bath with walk-in shower

Very large walk-in closet

Guest apartment kitchen with the laundry room beyond

Guest apartment living area

All the balconies and patios are screened

View from the balcony shows the covered parking

The Life Care Consultant Susan H handed us into the care of resident Karen C, who gave us a thorough tour of Lanier Village Estates.

One of three dining rooms, open for dinner only;
the room through the arch is the formal dining room that
an individual resident may use only once a month

The bistro is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner;
coffee, tea, and soft drinks are available 24/7

The West Village mail room

Lanier Village Estates apartments are divided between the West Village and East Village, and I believe Oak Bridge Terrace Assisted Living and Willow Brooke Court Skilled Care are on the lowest floors.

So there are also two libraries

Each library has a computer and magnifying readers

Auditorium

Chapel, where the back wall can be moved to open it up to the
auditorium to increase the number of seats for larger services

Beauty salon

We stepped outside to see the koi pond and view

Below us were the tennis courts and putting green.

Pool

Fitness room, which was actually being used

We also passed a billiards room, where four men were playing.

Gift shop

We were taken to the wood workshop, but it was locked up. There was a crafts room and card room, and a model train room!

Karen also showed us their two bedroom with den apartment, and we met her husband, Bob. They were a couple who brought much of their own furniture. They also had a great view, where on a clear day you can see the mountains of north Georgia. Later they took us to dinner and offered advice on getting through Atlanta traffic the next day. They assumed we had food in the refrigerator for breakfast, but we did not see any. However, after dinner, a staff member stopped by with a basket of goodies and milk that he put in the refrigerator.

Friday, February 23, 2018

Lake Sidney Lanier is actually a reservoir created by Buford Dam in 1956

After our breakfast, we got back on I-85 and per the advice we were given, took I-285 around to the east rather than the west. We arrived in Pensacola, FL at Azalea Trace by 16:30, which was 15:30 local time. We found Dad and Mike in Willow Brooke Court. Caught up on the latest, and soon headed to dinner in the main dining room.

Azalea Trace has added a memorial to veterans

The POW-MIA saved seat in the dining room

We were to spend a week in Pensacola, five days at the Comfort Inn and two days in the Midrise 4th floor guest apartment. Our initial task was to help Dad go through his files and shred whatever was no longer needed. Thankfully Azalea Trace has a couple large shredders, which made the job much easier. We did several other tasks to organize the apartment and make things easier if Dad returns to independent living. We were able to take him to lunch every day in the main dining room.