It's The End of the World as We Know It-The TCD Gang's Last Fort Trip (BC)

[devores 382]

I remember that light. It would get stuck from time to time and it looked like Mickey was having a seizure. It was interesting, but I wouldn't have done it.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

I wish i was drinking but instead i am on the PT table.

I have seen many a tetherball player but no volleyballers.

When i was a youngling there were always kids playing basketball on the 900 loop.

Looking forward to the snake but i am intrigued by the impromptu meeting with the golf course manager.

Mostly bc i want to see if he was trying to meep the CG scum out of the new water hazard/lazy river.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I will post one more update to hold everyone over until Monday, when we will crank this back up and get it finished.

 

We left off at the gate.

 

Based on what happened on this visit, this may be the last time I mention the gate.  I would hate it if they did something to it which would prevent me from squeezing through it.

 

For now, though, all I have to do is squeeze my fat butt through that opening and I'm in:

 

 

There is a little canal right past the gate- this runs along the back of the 1900 loop, and the path you see here leads to the maintenance area that you can see as you drive in to the campground:

 

 

This path takes us to the bridge and building that we are going to take a look at today:

 

 

Here we are at the base of the bridge.  You can see the crane over there.  Also note that there is a bunch of stuff going on at ground level.  I think this may be where the lazy river is going to go, but there is not sign of that yet:

 

 

A shot from the bridge.  Note the bird over there on the left canal bank:

 

 

Looking the other way from the same spot on the bridge.  You can see a canoe there in the canal, and that RV on the 1800 loop off in the distance- you can even see the path that I just walked on and the gate at the end of it:

 

 

Now we are across the bridge, it is afternoon on a Sunday, and there are golfers out on the course, but nobody is looking at me.  Normally, I am here much earlier though.  From here we can see the stuff at ground level.  But, I want to go and take a look through the openings in the fabric on the fence:

 

 

So, I head that way.  As I walk, something black and slithery catches my eye.  You can see it in the grass just below and to the right of center in this photo:

 

 

You can't tell from that photo, but I could tell that there was a snake right over there where I wanted to go.  You can see it here:

 

 

This is where the Yankees and ladies reading along are supposed to freak.

 

SNAKE!!!!

 

But, the Floridians reading along yawn.

 

Yeah, it's a snake.

 

This is Florida.

 

And we are in a swamp.

 

There will be snakes.

 

I have no fear of snakes.

 

None.

 

I decided to see how close I could get to take a photo.

 

I got pretty close:

 

 

 

So, I'm taking that last photo, and I hear a voice behind me.

 

A guy asks me is that a black racer?

 

I tell him yes, without turning around.

 

I figured it was some golfer rubbernecking.

 

He asked if I had walked over from Wilderness Lodge.

 

Which told me I was dealing with a dummy.

 

I said no, from the campground.

 

He asked me why.

 

I told him I wanted to look at this big building that I had seen from the campground.

 

Then he said, well we can't have you walking around the golf course when golfers are out.

 

I then looked at him for the first time.

 

It was a guy on a cart dressed like Jimmy Buffet.  And he had a dog sitting next to him.  And fishing poles in the bag holder on the back.  There was another cart with him, and those guys were dressed like beach bums too and they also had fishing poles.

 

Who the heck are these guys?

 

I asked them that, but not in a rude way.

 

The guy with the dog said he was the manager of the golf course.

 

So, I said, you get to ride around with your dog and fish?

 

He said yes.

 

Must be nice, I said.

 

We had some polite small talk after that.

 

And he took off.

 

This is the only photo I got of him:

 

 

And these are his sidekicks:

 

 

So I guess I kind of got yelled at by the manager of the golf course.

 

But I figure he might could get in trouble for riding around with his dog and fishing with his buddies.  Some suit wouldn't think that was a good idea, right?

 

I thought about not leaving.

 

But, I didn't want any trouble, and I don't think I would see anything but weeds and mud through those fence openings.

 

So I headed back.

 

But, I got one last shot from there:

 

 

And then I headed down the path back to the Fort:

 

 

Looking down the canal:

 

 

And now we are back on the dog walk:

 

 

That is the RV that we have been seeing when we looked down the canal:

 

 

And now we're back on the 1800 loop.

 

If this is your pop-up, I hate to tell you but your dogs were barking up a storm while you were out wherever you were.  And you didn't have them in a container inside.  I'm not sure if you had the AC on either.  Not cool:

 

 

If I ever see you do this again, I am going to lock you up in your camper with no AC and take your dogs someplace fun.

 

It was 110 inside our camper when we got back from the Polynesian today.

 

Not cool.

 

From here, I stopped in the 1700 loop to visit some friends who were there over the weekend. They were getting ready to watch the race, and were trying to find Fox on their TV, as the on-screen channel guide for the Fort's cable is wrong.  How hard would it be to fix that?  Idiots!  it's been that way since November.

 

As I headed back to 123, I looped through the 1200 loop to get a couple of photos of the guy with all the red stuff. I have seen this guy at the Fort many times, but haven't met him yet.  The dude loves red.  Everything he has is red, and he has two campsites.  He even painted his pop-up camper red:

 

 

 

Then it was back to the site, where I found Twin #2 enjoying some free Wi-Fi in my spot:

 

 

I snuck up on her and dumped her out.

 

Rotten kid.

 

Then we had some visitors. The friends I just mentioned from 1700 had made a drink run to Crockett's Tavern, and stopped by for a visit.

 

One of those folks just so happened to be Twin #3, and here she is with her sisters:

 

 

I can't believe Twin #3 is shorter than Twin #2.  That is short!

 

I made sure to tell Twin #3 that she is very missed here.

 

Before long Devores stopped by, and we all had a nice visit.

 

Then it was time to whip up some Pirate Jeff Macaroni and Cheese, which I did.

 

We enjoyed that, and went out for a last loop before dark.

 

I stopped by Clementine's beach for a nice sunset shot:

 

 

I wanted a shot without the boats, and with Discovery Island, so I headed down to the edge of the water:

 

 

That is what I was going for, but maybe a little to the right?

 

Photobomb! :

 

 

Dang it!

 

Let's try that again:

 

 

There we go.

 

That is what I was looking for.

 

So, I got some nice sunrise photos on Saturday, and some nice Sunset photos on Sunday.  Nice.

 

But just to be sure, I took one more . . .

 

Photobomb!!!:

 

 

Ah heck!

 

I give up!

 

Rotten kids!

 

So, it was getting to be dark.

 

Time to make a plan for the evening.

 

We decided that we would hit the MK.

 

Maybe watch wishes and the new castle show again.

 

Get some ice cream.

 

And then do some things.

 

It was EMH there tonight.

 

So we could stay until 2 am if we wanted.

 

We will be heading over to the MK next.

 

TCD

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

What a great afternoon.

I do miss Twin#3 here.

Jimmy and his gang of Parrotheads needs to eat a giant can of shut the ?!:$ up.

Just wait until Jimmy sees me in the lazy river.

I am going to round up all the 2-3 year olds in the Fort and transport them all to the lazy river without swim diapers when that place opens........with their parents permission of course.

Enjoy your weekend.

Looking forward to the Monday updates.

You'll notice the "s" at the end of the last sentence.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

OK, if Carrie Fisher ever shows up at a SWW weekend in her slave outfit, I will paint the entire TCD pop-up with blackboard paint and adorn it with appropriate drawings and geek writing, and it will be parked in the DHS parking lot for as long as needed to assure a Fastpass for that meet and greet.  And there will be photos!

 

:lmao1:

 

If this is your pop-up, I hate to tell you but your dogs were barking up a storm while you were out wherever you were.  And you didn't have them in a container inside.  I'm not sure if you had the AC on either.  Not cool:

 

 

If I ever see you do this again, I am going to lock you up in your camper with no AC and take your dogs someplace fun.

 

:thumbsup3:

 

Oh and can I just say that I would like Jimmy-Buffett-golf-cart-guy's job.  I have 3 border collies that would be thrilled to screw around patrol on a golf course all day with a golf cart.

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

 

And these are his sidekicks:

 

 

From here, I stopped in the 1700 loop to visit some friends who were there over the weekend. They were getting ready to watch the race, and were trying to find Fox on their TV, as the on-screen channel guide for the Fort's cable is wrong.  How hard would it be to fix that?  Idiots!  it's been that way since November.

 

As I headed back to 123, I looped through the 1200 loop to get a couple of photos of the guy with all the red stuff. I have seen this guy at the Fort many times, but haven't met him yet.  The dude loves red.  Everything he has is red, and he has two campsites.  He even painted his pop-up camper red:

 

 

 

Then we had some visitors. The friends I just mentioned from 1700 had made a drink run to Crockett's Tavern, and stopped by for a visit.

 

One of those folks just so happened to be Twin #3, and here she is with her sisters:

 

 

Excellent updates TCD...   Mickey and Meg at the ground breaking?   Maybe they want to use the Lazy River?  They may be the only two at Disney to afford the Four Seasons.... :rofl3:

 

As far as the Golf Manager and sidekicks...  I'm agreeable with Aaron's comments.    But  I did note that they still have Mickey logo's on the Golf Carts.  If Osprey Ridge was sold, then why would crazy overprotective (don't allow preschools to use Mickey images) Disney allow the Mickey logo on Golf Carts they don't own?   You may be right they are a partner.

 

 

Red Camper Guy...   Here in Pa. we have one of those also.   He has Red vans, trucks, Motorhomes, and set ups. He is also the owner of the local Coca Cola bottling plant.

 

Finally is was great to see and hear the Stef is OK and fine !   Thank You for sharing that !

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

Ohhhhh, red camper.... Nice!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Nice to see Stef.  So where the heck has she been??

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

That person has more red than us. That's hard to do.

[BuckeyeFortMama 43]

We have also missed Stef's presence and are happy to hear she's alive and well.

[Lou... 3,118]

There are a lot of people in this world who think they are a riot, but they are really just annoying.  And a lot of them end up being CM's.  Since the bus drivers have to be serious now, the deluded funny guys all seem to end up on the boats.

TCD

 

Bus drivers are supposed to be serious, but only while the bus is moving. They don't even want drivers interacting with the dreaded black box while the bus is moving. I guess the "boat aimers" don't have to be concerned about doing stand-up while they're steering. 

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Just a cautionary FYI - people do die from being hit on the head with a golf ball.  A friend of mine lost her 16yo nephew that way.  So please be careful.

 

Looking forward to Monday!  (How often do you hear that?!?)

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Just a cautionary FYI - people do die from being hit on the head with a golf ball.  A friend of mine lost her 16yo nephew that way.  So please be careful.

 

Looking forward to Monday!  (How often do you hear that?!?)

 

And I almost lost a dear friend that way!  She was in the hospital a long time but eventually recovered.

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Once again I am a little behind, so forgive me.

Next time I am at the Fort I will take a picture of my feet. They are not gnarly. In fact, my Podiatrist said they are really good looking. And she is a professional.

Re. the new resort. Enough whining. I know for a fact I can see the Swan and Dolphin abominations from various locations on Disney property. And they have been there for a long time. I can barely see the new joint in most of the pictures, so I really don't think it is going to detract from any of the Disney magic.

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Here's a little known piece of Disney trivia. One of those Cypress trees has carved on it "Walt and Roy were here" True story. See if you can find it next time you are there. Your feet may get wet.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Here's a little known piece of Disney trivia. One of those Cypress trees has carved on it "Walt and Roy were here" True story. See if you can find it next time you are there. Your feet may get wet.

 

What year did you carve that?

[caveat lector 181]

Finally caught and had a blast doing so. The commentary and pics are, to quote Judge Smails, "Top Notch"

- Dude, you were jackpot lucky to catch all that "just in time" transportation. Must be good,to be TCD

- the butt head that kept his dogs in a hot pop up with no AC makes me angry. He wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

- that pic of the dog walk gate in the 1800 loop stirred my memory, and not in a good way. When we checked in this past Christmas, the folks across from the gate had one of the most disturbing sites I've ever seen. It looked like he had set up some tacky Halloween decorations and then added layers of crap over the next several months. I wish I had taken pics, because I can't possibly describe the travesty. How can the fort management allow such an embarrassment? How could they afford to pay for a site for months and take any pride? It took then several days and several mountains of garbage, to finally tear it all down. I'm talking old pallets, empty boxes, appliances, flood lights, etc. Well, if he paid his bill and fort management deemed it acceptable, I guess it was his right to do so.

- hope it never happens, but who will be to blame when those skateboarders get hurt? The Fort, Disneyworld, the Bus driver, the RV driver, the rule abiding Golf Cart driver, the lawyer who didn't word the "no skateboards" rule strong enough, the skate board manufacturer, the engineer that designed the roads or sidewalks, etc? It's a plainly stated rule and is there for safety. Come on parents, teach your kids right.

Sorry for the rant.......

Back to to the most excellent original programming.

"How do measure yourself against other golfers?"

[Starbuc71 162]

I'm sure the snake you ran into was a water moccasin judging by the size. They are a very poisonous snake and have been told they can be aggressive if they think they are in danger. I HATE snakes

[CKCK 45]

bam

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

What a great afternoon.

I do miss Twin#3 here.

Jimmy and his gang of Parrotheads needs to eat a giant can of shut the ?!:$ up.

Just wait until Jimmy sees me in the lazy river.

I am going to round up all the 2-3 year olds in the Fort and transport them all to the lazy river without swim diapers when that place opens........with their parents permission of course.

Enjoy your weekend.

Looking forward to the Monday updates.

You'll notice the "s" at the end of the last sentence.

 

Please give me a head's up before you bring the kids over to the lazy river.  I plan on being there a lot.

 

Oh and can I just say that I would like Jimmy-Buffett-golf-cart-guy's job.  I have 3 border collies that would be thrilled to screw around patrol on a golf course all day with a golf cart.

 

Three border collies on a golf course?

 

I would pay to watch that!

 

Excellent updates TCD...   Mickey and Meg at the ground breaking?   Maybe they want to use the Lazy River?  They may be the only two at Disney to afford the Four Seasons.... :rofl3:

 

As far as the Golf Manager and sidekicks...  I'm agreeable with Aaron's comments.    But  I did note that they still have Mickey logo's on the Golf Carts.  If Osprey Ridge was sold, then why would crazy overprotective (don't allow preschools to use Mickey images) Disney allow the Mickey logo on Golf Carts they don't own?   You may be right they are a partner.

 

 

Red Camper Guy...   Here in Pa. we have one of those also.   He has Red vans, trucks, Motorhomes, and set ups. He is also the owner of the local Coca Cola bottling plant.

 

Finally is was great to see and hear the Stef is OK and fine !   Thank You for sharing that !

 

Good catch on the golf carts.  Those have been in use since before the Four Seasons/Golden Oaks deal.  I'm not sure if the golf course land itself was sold to third parties. 

 

 

Ohhhhh, red camper.... Nice!

 

LOL!  Figures. 

 

Nice to see Stef.  So where the heck has she been??

 

I do not want to speak for her.  But, I did discuss her absence from here with her.  To make a long story short, she didn't like the direction certain things had taken, and she decided that participating here is no longer something she wanted to spend time doing. 

 

In case you haven't noticed, Lil' Lisa and Genia /SCTigerCock went missing around the same time.

 

The loss of all of those great posters is a huge loss for this site.

 

That person has more red than us. That's hard to do.

 

True.

 

And, ironically, this fellow isn't even from Georgia.

 

He's from South Carolina.  And, that ain't the right color red for their football team.

 

We have also missed Stef's presence and are happy to hear she's alive and well.

 

Yes, she's alive and well, but unfortunately, has moved on from here.

 

Bus drivers are supposed to be serious, but only while the bus is moving. They don't even want drivers interacting with the dreaded black box while the bus is moving. I guess the "boat aimers" don't have to be concerned about doing stand-up while they're steering.

 

It's a strange inconsistency.  The boat driver IM's need to get with it.

 

Just a cautionary FYI - people do die from being hit on the head with a golf ball.  A friend of mine lost her 16yo nephew that way.  So please be careful.

 

Looking forward to Monday!  (How often do you hear that?!?)

 

 

And I almost lost a dear friend that way!  She was in the hospital a long time but eventually recovered.

Wow! I would think that the odds of this happening are very low, yet here we have two members of this small board who know people injured by golf balls.

To clarify things, where I was when I met the manager was nowhere near a fairway.  I agree nobody should be out wandering around a golf course when people are playing.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Once again I am a little behind, so forgive me.

Next time I am at the Fort I will take a picture of my feet. They are not gnarly. In fact, my Podiatrist said they are really good looking. And she is a professional.

Re. the new resort. Enough whining. I know for a fact I can see the Swan and Dolphin abominations from various locations on Disney property. And they have been there for a long time. I can barely see the new joint in most of the pictures, so I really don't think it is going to detract from any of the Disney magic.

 

I can hardly wait for the FWG foot photo.

 

Please give us fair warning before you post it, though, just in case your podiatrist has been lying to you or has bad eyesight.

 

Sorry, I'm going to keep whining about the Four Seasons.  If I could see the fish or bird on top of the Swan or Dolphin from the Fort, I would be bellyaching about those eyesores too.  Seeing that big building through the trees when you are in the campground does detract from the magic.  You'll see.

 

Here's a little known piece of Disney trivia. One of those Cypress trees has carved on it "Walt and Roy were here" True story. See if you can find it next time you are there. Your feet may get wet.

 

 

What year did you carve that?

 

LOL!

 

I'd like to see a photo of this carving.

 

But, there are a lot of trees out in the water, so I'm not going to look.

 

Finally caught and had a blast doing so. The commentary and pics are, to quote Judge Smails, "Top Notch"

- Dude, you were jackpot lucky to catch all that "just in time" transportation. Must be good,to be TCD

- the butt head that kept his dogs in a hot pop up with no AC makes me angry. He wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

- that pic of the dog walk gate in the 1800 loop stirred my memory, and not in a good way. When we checked in this past Christmas, the folks across from the gate had one of the most disturbing sites I've ever seen. It looked like he had set up some tacky Halloween decorations and then added layers of crap over the next several months. I wish I had taken pics, because I can't possibly describe the travesty. How can the fort management allow such an embarrassment? How could they afford to pay for a site for months and take any pride? It took then several days and several mountains of garbage, to finally tear it all down. I'm talking old pallets, empty boxes, appliances, flood lights, etc. Well, if he paid his bill and fort management deemed it acceptable, I guess it was his right to do so.

- hope it never happens, but who will be to blame when those skateboarders get hurt? The Fort, Disneyworld, the Bus driver, the RV driver, the rule abiding Golf Cart driver, the lawyer who didn't word the "no skateboards" rule strong enough, the skate board manufacturer, the engineer that designed the roads or sidewalks, etc? It's a plainly stated rule and is there for safety. Come on parents, teach your kids right.

Sorry for the rant.......

Back to to the most excellent original programming.

"How do measure yourself against other golfers?"

 

Great comments.

 

The site on 1800 you are referring to was dubbed the Sanford and Sons site here on this board.  Those folks have been to the Fort before, but never had that big of an eyesore at their site.  I predict that they will be back with more crap some time this year.

 

I don't know, how do you measure yourself against other golfers?

 

 

I'm sure the snake you ran into was a water moccasin judging by the size. They are a very poisonous snake and have been told they can be aggressive if they think they are in danger. I HATE snakes

 

I don't think so.

 

We have snakes like that around our house.  As far as I know, they are called black racers, and they are not poisonous.

 

bam

 

Thanks for that insightful comment.

 

Brevity is the soul of wit.

 

TCD

[ftwildernessguy 778]

I may have lied about the tree abuse by Walt. Just trying to lure Larry out of hiding.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I may have lied about the tree abuse by Walt. Just trying to lure Larry out of hiding.

 

And you wonder why you were on his ignore list?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I may have lied about the tree abuse by Walt. Just trying to lure Larry out of hiding.

 

OK, carry on.

 

The only problem with your plan is there is no way Larry would bother reading something like a trip report.

 

Your best bet to lure him out of hiding is to post something asking about what kind of gauge you should install in your van to monitor something that doesn't need to be monitored.

 

 

And you wonder why you were on his ignore list?

 

LOL!

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We left off at sunset on Sunday evening.

 

We hung around the Fort until about 9:00, and then headed over to the MK.  The plan was to watch the Celebrate the Magic show, and then Wishes, and then see how things were as far as crowds and decide what to do from there. There were EMH's at the MK, so it would be open until 2 am.  Kid stuff.

 

It was more crowded than we expected it to be on Main Street when we arrived.  Remembering the mob scene further down on Friday night, we hung back around mid-way down the street to watch the show.  There were people around, but we had a good view of the castle.

 

Then the show started, and the kids went up on the dad's shoulders:

 

 

I will confess that I have hoisted a kid up on my shoulders in my day, but this is a practice that needs to stop.  How rude is it for someone to do this in a crowded place, where there are others who want to see?  Plus, it's not safe.  We make kids wear bike helmets now to protect their domes in case they fall off a bike.  How far is a bike seat from the ground?  How far is the ground from a kid on his 6' dad's shoulders?  I personally have seen kids fall off of shoulders, and have seen many close calls.  That is concrete down there people.

 

We also watched Wishes from here, trying to sneak peaks in between the kids on shoulders. 

 

After this, we headed to Tomorrowland in hope of procuring a Space Mountain Fastpass.  But there were none to be had.

 

So, we headed toward the New Fantasyland area.

 

You can't see it too well in this next photo, but we ran into a huge mob around the area of the Winnie the Pooh attraction.  Not quite as bad as Friday night, but bad:

 

 

This told us what we needed to know:  it was crowded in the MK.

 

Not a good night for short lines.

 

The girls have been looking for a particular mug that they saw in one of the shops on a previous visit, and heard that it could be found in Sir Mickey's.  So we headed in there.  The mug was there and so was Sir Mickey:

 

 

Since it was too busy for us to ride any of the good attractions with a reasonable wait, we decided to take an ice cream break and see if things might start to thin out.

 

We visited the Main Street ice cream place, and found seats way down by the water in the seating area across from the Plaza restaurant.  We had a great view from the castle here, plus the MSEP was going by:

 

 

Look, there's Eliot.  And Pete was aboard this evening:

 

 

There's the last float:

 

 

We finished our ice cream, and took a look around.

 

The place was still packed.

 

We all voted to leave.

 

And we did.

 

So, we went right back to the Fort, and headed to bed.  It had been a long day, and we were behind on our sleep.

 

But, I was up early on Monday.

 

We had to go home today.

 

So you might think this TR is going to be ending soon.

 

That would make sense.  But, it's not true.  First, there are a lot of photos from Monday morning.  And then there will be some bonus features.  More on that later.

 

For now, it's early Monday morning.  I had not been able to be out and about the Fort early on the two previous mornings, as we were just getting to bed around this time the first morning, and we were heading out to DHS on the second.

 

But, this morning, I had the Fort to myself.  I made some coffee, and stood on the path behind my site enjoying the quiet and solitude:

 

 

It was just before 7, and nobody but a castmember doing something which I'm sure was very important was around:

 

 

I guess maybe there were guests on that bus:

 

 

But, other than that, it was like I had the whole campground to myself.

 

Here's a last look at site 123.  Soon, I would begin the process of packing all of that gear up:

 

 

 

This speaker was right behind our site, but no music was playing at this early hour.  Later, the banjos would be serenading guests as they traveled this path:

 

 

I call this photo Sunrise Over 123:

 

 

And here's a photo to show how well the palmettoes shielded the back of our site from the path:

 

 

From here, I filled my mug at the site, and headed out on the golf cart.  It was just 7, and there shouldn't be many folks around.  I needed to go to my favorite spot, as I hadn't made it there yet on this trip.

 

Here we are on the way to the 300 loop.  The bright sun makes it hard to see the stupid crane over the trees:

 

 

But, the crane is there.  You can see it in this photo, just above the trees to the right of center:

 

 

Here we are on 300.  These folks had more than 10 bikes at their site, and tents way off the back of their site along the canal.  I guess the rangers don't say anything about that.  Their poor neighbors:

 

 

Here we are out behind the 300 loop, looking down the canal. Those tents you see go with the bikes you saw in the last photo.  Note that there are people on the other side of the canal.  That is a long walk over there.  It is just 7 am.  I guess they are dedicated fishermen.  The fish on that side of the canal must bite more than those on their side of the canal:

 

 

I call this photo the Dam Mess:

 

 

This photo confirms that despite all the fencing, you can still walk across the bridge, which is what I guess those two fishermen in the photo before last did:

 

 

The pump that shows up every year around this time to pump water into the lake was here, but not pumping:

 

 

This is what we came to see:

 

 

That photo was taken at 7:03- as you can see a MK boat is on the way to the Fort.

 

You can see the work being done on top of the Contemporary in this photo:

 

 

One more photo with the boat:

 

 

 

For this last photo from my favorite spot, we are looking the other way across Bay Lake.  There is a fishing boat out there.  It would be nice to be out on the lake that early:

 

 

From here, I headed down the path toward the Settlement. I always check the area where the new dining pavilion is supposed to be going to see if anything is happening, and it's right down this path:

 

 

I saw nothing but trees and vines, like a jungle:

 

 

The air potatoes are continuing to choke everything out here.  I guess they've let this area go for a long time since these trees were probably going to be leveled.  But even if they aren't going to build the pavilion, these trees still may not make it from all the vines:

 

 

That's 30.

 

So time to stop.

 

Next up, we take another look around River Country.

 

TCD