A Fiend Looks at Fifty-A TCD Birthday Trip Report

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The new Spits Dip (Six Bits) looks like a young Bill Gates in the photo with his hat off - at you don't get any nerdier than that!

Ed-

You nailed it!

I was saying he looked like a younger and nerdier Woody Allen, but you are right- he definitely is more like a younger and nerdier Bill Gates.

Take a look!:

There you go!

Dip Spits!

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Is he bill gates son?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Glad to get this in before tomorrow - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TCD. :bday:

Turning 50 is just a number. And as you said, it beats the alternative.

Thanks, Sensei!

And, you're right.

You aren't old unless you think you are.

And, I don't think I'm old (yet).

Mason does the same thing "marking" everything in the entire loop when we walk. After the first couple of times, he's empty, nut he will still lift his leg and try for at least a squirt.

Love how Rocky thought the sprinkler head may have spit water. He's too darn cute!

Dogs are funny, aren't they?

I mean, what is up with that?

What you could say is that your 25 with 25 years experience at it, or 30 with 20 years experience...etc...etc..etc.

For instance I have been 29 for the last 7 years. I'm more than good at it. I might turn 30 next year and I might not.

I am hiding those pictures of Rocky from my dogs. They would have fits to go visit "that" dog park.

Geez. 36 is young! I wouldn't start that creative counting yet.

Is he bill gates son?

I am going to say he is the love child of Woody Allen and Bill Gates. I am not sure how that works, but it sure looks that way to me.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Geez. 36 is young! I wouldn't start that creative counting yet.

I am going to say he is the love child of Woody Allen and Bill Gates. I am not sure how that works, but it sure looks that way to me.

TCD

A truly sickening though that.....

If you start creative counting young then no one will think twice about it later. Although I truthfully figure it year is a badge of honor.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Rocky looks like he had fun, but it's still a PITA that the kennel is not at the Fort or the parks.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Rocky looks like he had fun, but it's still a PITA that the kennel is not at the Fort or the parks.

I agree. And, I am not sure if this new company is getting very much business from the Fort or from the parks. I know I wouldn't want to bother driving to and from this place to drop off my pet on a day I was visiting a park. Because of the inconvenience, I bet more people are leaving their pets at home. It's true for us too. I can say for a fact that I would bring Rocky along more if the kennel at the Fort was still open. This new one is nice, but it's a hassle.

TCD

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

Happy Birthday to you!!!

I'm not sure who is cuter...you or the dog!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It was past 1 am before the TCD gang called it a night on Friday.

That meant it would be nice to sleep in a bit on Saturday.

Nobody told Rocky about this plan.

He usually sleeps past sunrise at home.

But he was up and stirring around the camper while it was still pitch black outside on Saturday morning. Like before 6 am.

That is even early for TCD.

It turned out that the poor dog hadn't expelled all the fountain water after all.

I took him outside, and he made a small pond next to our site.

Then we went back to bed.

For a short while.

Rocky was up again before 7.

I thought maybe he had to go again.

But it turns out that he heard some of the campers around us getting up and getting an early start to our day.

Since this was about the time I normally rise, we hopped on the cart and headed off to the 300 loop.

I figured I would walk Rocky along the canal there.

In just moments, we were there.

Here we are heading out for our walk:

What a view!

But wait a second.

Do you see something there along the bank of the canal?

What could that be?:

I think it might be a boat!:

Indeed it is!:

It's a small fishing boat with a Florida registration number:

But what is it doing here?

It was just last week here on FF.net that there was a thread discussing the issue of whether or not you can bring your own kayak to the Fort. And, this isn't a kayak- it's a flippin' fishing boat with a little motor and everything!

Did this belong to some campers?

Or possibly someone doing some work on the canal?

We couldn't tell.

We continued our walk.

Here we are looking back along the canal. Note how the rising sun is illuminating the tops of the trees in the back of the photo:

We had not yet seen the sun, but the sky was growing ever lighter:

I know a lot of people like to sleep in at the Fort because they are on vacation.

But I say you're crazy to be sleeping when you can be out here enjoying the peace and quiet and the glorious scenery.

Look, there's the sun now, peeking through the trees across the canal!:

Rocky was enjoying our walk.

But I think he was a little bored.

So, he decided to liven things up.

He slipped out of his collar.

He has mad skills like that.

He thinks it's funny.

Here he is.

Naked!:

He just ran a couple of circles around me, and then he came back:

So far, he has never run off after pulling this stunt.

He just wants to have a bit of fun.

I put his collar back on.

And, then we headed off again.

Hey look, there's something over there across the canal!:

Rocky sees it.

It sees Rocky:

Does this scenario sound familiar to anyone?

I was feeling a sense of deja vu.

We had a similar encounter when we were out here in January. Here's a photo that I took then:

I wonder if that is the same deer?

Rocky reacted the same way as he did before.

He just stood there and stared:

The deer just slowly walked off.

Here we are looking back along the canal. You can see the sun is hitting more of the tree tops:

Here's a shot I took from the same spot back on an early morning in January:

I like how things look now better.

Fall is a weird time in Florida.

I know that in some places, the weather has turned cool, and Autumn is in full swing.

Not in Florida.

The temperatures still hit the 90's during the day on our trip.

And, as you can see, things are still as green as they can be.

Now, about the boat. . .

Here you can see a guy carrying the bucket that had been sitting behind the boat:

He and another guy were walking back and forth between the boat and this campsite:

This boat obviously belonged to them.

They don't care about no rules.

They wanted to go fishing, so they brought their dad-gum boat.

I salute them.

Here we have our Real Men of Genius for our trip.

The rules say Fort guests cannot use personal watercraft.

But that ain't no personal watercraft.

It's a boat!

So, congratulations to these new TCDRMOG's!

And just to let you know, these guys didn't win the award just based on the boat.

They did something else genius.

We will see that later in the report.

Don't worry, I won't forget to tell you about it.

But for now, we are going to keep things in order.

Rocky and I headed back to the cart.

While we were here, I took a photo of one of the decorations on the cart:

The girls had spent about an hour yesterday decorating the cart with streamers and balloons.

As soon as they got done, it rained!

They salvaged this sign.

But the rest of the stuff got wrecked.

It's too bad, too, because they were Justin Bieber Happy Birthday balloons.

Some of them were sad that the decorations got wrecked.

I told them not to worry about it.

Secretly, it was fine with me to not drive around all weekend in a cart decorated with Justin Bieber Happy Birthday balloons.

Since we were in the area, Rocky and I inspected the dam and bridge. Everything seemed to be in order. Rocky lifted his leg on all the vertical items you can see in these photos:

Rocky wanted to walk across the bridge so he could mark the old cabin as his property. But I told him no. I haven't walked over there in a while. There isn't much to see over there. Everything is so overgrown, you can barely see the cabin:

I still wonder what is in that cabin.

But, the darned thing is all boarded up and locked.

No one will ever know.

(ATTENTION- in case you missed it, this talk about the mysterious cabin is what we call foreshadowing- you'll find out something more about this later in the report-so be sure to check back)

As long as we were here, Rocky wanted to take in one of the best views in all of the Fort.

So we did.

Look how pretty the sky looks in this photo:

There's the resort boat rounding Discovery Island:

And, here we see one of the Watermice being towed across the lake. I presume they must take them somewhere for repairs:

From here, we headed back to the cart.

It was still early.

In fact, the sun had not even completely risen.

So, we had some more exploring to do.

TCD

[charitycase20....Charity 10]

Happy Birthday TCD!! I hope you have a wonderful day!!! :jumpforjoy

[stefa70 205]

Wow! Those guys went all out with the personal watercraft. I wonder how no one else saw it? Or they did and it just wasn't worth the hassle. Another fine example of enforcing rules only when convenient.

I'm sad that you lost your Bieber balloons! How cute you would have looked crusin' with the Beeb! It's so sweet that the girls decorated, it's the thought that counts. :heart:

I'm not sure how Rocky will feel about you posting pics of him naked. I blushed a little bit when I saw it, but he's young, buff, in good shape, and gravity hasn't taken over yet, so I say "Be Free Rocky, shake what your momma gave you, strut your stuff!"

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

What you could say is that your 25 with 25 years experience at it, or 30 with 20 years experience...etc...etc..etc.

For instance I have been 29 for the last 7 years. I'm more than good at it. I might turn 30 next year and I might not.

I am hiding those pictures of Rocky from my dogs. They would have fits to go visit "that" dog park.

I'm 39 (plus tax). Too bad that damned tax goes up every year!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

My favorite place for dog walking is actually along that canal too. From our last site, 328, you could reach that walk by walking out the back. Then you just meander around the bend and suddenly you are at the dog park. Or you can meander (dogless) around the other way to my favorite firework watching place (ie... TCD's favorite view).

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I'm 39 (plus tax). Too bad that damned tax goes up every year!

Another way of putting it and you don't have to say how much the tax it!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

I know a lot of people like to sleep in at the Fort because they are on vacation.

But I say you're crazy to be sleeping when you can be out here enjoying the peace and quiet and the glorious scenery.

TCD

Yeah, but if everybody got up early on vacation, then there would no longer be peace and quiet, and the glorious scenery, might be a little less glorious when spoiled with the crowds

Just pullin your chain, great update!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Before dogs my idea of an early morning was10:00. The pups have other ideas, I may be up at 7:30, but there is nothing enjoyable about it :rofl2:

Great update, Andrew waiting for more.

[TheLug 10]

Still here. I love HDDR. i have been a bunch. Maybe 5-8 times. Maybe more. Not sure. Went with Grandparents and Parents a lot when i was younger and only twice in recent memory. I can honestly say that every time i have been it feels like different people and a different show. not sure how i feel about that. but o well it is what it is.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Happy Birthday TCD!! I hope you have a wonderful day!!! :jumpforjoy

Thanks for the birthday wishes.

And for reading along!

Wow! Those guys went all out with the personal watercraft. I wonder how no one else saw it? Or they did and it just wasn't worth the hassle. Another fine example of enforcing rules only when convenient.

I'm sad that you lost your Bieber balloons! How cute you would have looked crusin' with the Beeb! It's so sweet that the girls decorated, it's the thought that counts. :heart:

I'm not sure how Rocky will feel about you posting pics of him naked. I blushed a little bit when I saw it, but he's young, buff, in good shape, and gravity hasn't taken over yet, so I say "Be Free Rocky, shake what your momma gave you, strut your stuff!"

Ooops.

Sorry about the naked pictures of Rocky.

I forgot that you are easily offended.

In the future, I will warn you to avert your eyes.

I'm 39 (plus tax). Too bad that damned tax goes up every year!

Good one, Ed!

My favorite place for dog walking is actually along that canal too. From our last site, 328, you could reach that walk by walking out the back. Then you just meander around the bend and suddenly you are at the dog park. Or you can meander (dogless) around the other way to my favorite firework watching place (ie... TCD's favorite view).

Yes, that is a great place to watch the fireworks.

Rumor has it that they have a speaker in that old cabin and that they will open the window to play the parade music.

I wonder if there is any truth to that.

(there's some more foreshadowing, folks)

Yeah, but if everybody got up early on vacation, then there would no longer be peace and quiet, and the glorious scenery, might be a little less glorious when spoiled with the crowds

Just pullin your chain, great update!

Yes, you are right.

If everyone got up early, then I would have to get up earlier.

But, luckily, not many people read these trip reports.

So, I don't see it becoming a problem.

Before dogs my idea of an early morning was10:00. The pups have other ideas, I may be up at 7:30, but there is nothing enjoyable about it :rofl2:

Great update, Andrew waiting for more.

Yes, having pets does not lend itself to sleeping in.

I'll tell you what- if I am ever at the Fort when you are, I'll come get your puppies one morning so you can sleep in.

Rocky would love to have some new chew toys errr I mean playmates.

Still here. I love HDDR. i have been a bunch. Maybe 5-8 times. Maybe more. Not sure. Went with Grandparents and Parents a lot when i was younger and only twice in recent memory. I can honestly say that every time i have been it feels like different people and a different show. not sure how i feel about that. but o well it is what it is.

Yes, I am sure that the cast turns over all the time.

I don't know how long Ben was there exactly, but he was probably there longer than normal.

I would imagine they intentionally rotate the cast, and that there are multiple actors available to play each part.

The cast has always done a great job every time we have visited.

TCD

[Lou... 3,118]

Rumor has it that they have a speaker in that old cabin and that they will open the window to play the parade music.

I wonder if there is any truth to that.

Hmm, maybe I don't have to sink the EWP. I'll just take out the speaker in the cabin or simply glue the window shut.

Thanks Andrew. Once again your snooping investigative work will benefit mankind. Well at least me.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, I still have a ton of photos from Saturday morning, so I may as well keep this report moving along.

We left off with Rocky and I admiring the view of the Magic Kingdom from the shores of Bay Lake.

When you see the next photo, you may think that we next drove our golf cart down the pedestrian path to the Settlement Trading post. But, you know I always follow the rules, so even though it looks like that, that certainly is not what happened. We did stop by the Settlement Trading post, but only by traveling in an authorized manner. Because I always follow the rules. All of them. All the time.

So, here we are at the back of the Settlement Trading Post.

If you have ever read a TCD trip report, you will know that I have had this compulsion to peak through the crack in the gate back here to see if the old River Country Wagon is back there. It was back there for over a year, beginning in March of 2010. But, it disappeared some time over the summer.

I guess word must have gotten out among the castmembers that TCD was at the Fort, as someone was kind enough to have left the gates behind the Trading Post wide open for me. See?:

I could clearly see that the wagon is still missing:

I really hope that it is out being refurbished.

But I have my doubts.

While we were out cruising around, I decided to get a photo of the decorations behind the Thriller guy's site on the 400 loop. Here they are:

Yes, the Thriller guy is here.

In fact, as far as I can tell, he never left.

I'm going to start calling him Hilda Junior.

Speaking of Hilda, she is behind schedule with her Halloween decorations:

She also has a great big new crosswalk sign in front of her site.

More on that later.

You may have heard the rumors that there is going to be a crackdown on site decorations this year. Well, according to the grapevine, no one has said anything yet to the Thriller guy. He is kind of the guinea pig. Some of the other regulars are holding back a bit to see if anything official comes from management. So far, nothing has.

From here at the 700 loop, we headed to the 800 loop.

I wanted to see if it was still empty.

It was.

Except for this guy, who had shown up some time on Saturday afternoon:

I'm not sure if anyone was actually staying in that motorhome.

I saw a guy cleaning it on Saturday afternoon. But otherwise no signs of life.

Hey, I just realized something.

Here we are way into my second full day of this trip, and I have yet to post a photo of the best site in all of Fort Wilderness.

And that is a requirement in every TCD trip report.

So, here you go, good old #617:

Look how lucky it is that the grill shelf fits under the picnic table:

While we were here, we needed to stop by and take in another of my favorite views at the Fort.

I'm talking about the view of the Meadow Trading Post from across the small lake between it and the Bike Barn. You know, this:

Gorgeous!

Here's one of my favorite bridges:

I noticed something on the bridge. A pine cone had been annihilated:

The squirrels do that around the Fort. They eat pine cones. The ones that live near my house do that too. I don't remember squirrels doing that up north where I originally came from.

Here's another look at the Meadow Trading Post, this time from the bridge:

And now we have turned, and are looking down the canal with the 600 loop on the left, and the 1400 loop on the right:

These next two photos are especially for my good buddy DaveInTN.

So he can remember when they played his favorite movie at the Fort:

I guess Dave can put some hope in the fact that the Lemonade Mouth sign is not a peramanent printed sign like the others. And don't miss the hand-written 2010 next the Alice In Wonderland sign. Looks pretty crappy. You never saw this kind of thing going on when Walt was running the Fort.

I noticed something screwy about the seating area:

I think there are benches missing.

Compare that last photo to this one, which is from February 2009:

You can see in this photo that there are three benches in the second row. Now there are only two.

I'm not sure why.

I hope it's not because benches were damaged by sparks from illegal fireworks over the 4th of July.

Good thing I know nothing about that.

Because I always follow the rules.

Always.

Here's the sidewalk that leads from the campfire area back to the bridge that we just crossed a minute ago:

And here's a view of the waterfront campsites on the 600 loop:

I know TnBob likes these sites.

But I don't.

From here, we looped around the 800 loop.

It was still very much empty:

Let's take a closer look at the tree with the three twisted branches:

I want to point out something cool in that last photo.

Do you see the branch that is sticking out near the center of the photo- kind of almost at a right angle to the tree?

Do you see something on the branch?

How about now?:

It's a hawk!

Hawks are cool!

We continued around the loop, and now we are coming out by the bus stop. This is where we spotted a squirrel eating a pine cone. Just in case any of you haven't seen such a thing:

From the 800 loop, we went around 900, 1000, and 1100. 1000 and 1100 had just a few campers on them. 900 was pretty close to full, but it did have a few empty sites. From 1100, we headed over to 2000. There is always something interesting to see on 2000.

Like this site:

I don't have anything to say about these fairy fans.

Because this sign says "Don't Piss Off The Fairies":

So I won't.

You might wonder who was camping here.

I did.

But I never saw them.

The TCD twins did.

They were out looping on Sunday as I was packing up.

They said it was two bears.

I don't think they meant two real bears.

I think that's a slang term the teenagers use these days.

But I don't know what they meant about two bears camping on the Fairy site.

All I know is that I'm not saying anything because I don't want to piss off the fairies.

The sign said not to.

And I always follow the rules.

Always.

Well, we have looked at a lot of photos from Saturday morning.

These are all from my explorations with Rocky as the TCD girls slept in on Saturday morning.

From here, we headed back to camp to see if anyone was up yet.

It was maybe about 8:30 by this point.

But nobody was up.

So, it was more quality time for me and Rocky.

We decided to try our luck at the the dog park again.

Maybe there would be some cool dogs there for Rocky to play with.

Rocky did find some playmates.

But they weren't dogs.

You'll see who they were in the next post.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Hmm, maybe I don't have to sink the EWP. I'll just take out the speaker in the cabin or simply glue the window shut. Thanks Andrew. Once again your snooping investigative work will benefit mankind. Well at least me.

Sorry, Lou, but I gave you some false hope there.

I meant to say fireworks, not parade.

I had parade on my brain for some reason.

It will make more sense why when I get to the part of the story about that cabin.

As you know, the EWP blasts its own music.

So, if you want it to stop, you are going to have to sink the boat with the speakers.

I think that may be all of them.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Did you find some fiends? Or did rocky decided to eat the fairies you aren't supposed to mess with?

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Sorry, Lou, but I gave you some false hope there.

I meant to say fireworks, not parade.

I had parade on my brain for some reason.

It will make more sense why when I get to the part of the story about that cabin.

As you know, the EWP blasts its own music.

So, if you want it to stop, you are going to have to sink the boat with the speakers.

I think that may be all of them.

TCD

can you imagine being the poor castmember in charge of EWP? Having to listen to that every night? The only thing worse would be having to work IASW.......aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

[stefa70 205]

Ooops.

Sorry about the naked pictures of Rocky.

I forgot that you are easily offended.

TCD

:hah: That's gotta be the funniest thing you've ever said to me!

[Lou... 3,118]

can you imagine being the poor castmember in charge of EWP? Having to listen to that every night? The only thing worse would be having to work IASW.!

Now you understand where I'm coming from.

[stefa70 205]

First I would like to talk about southern squirrels vs. northern squirrels. I have not seen either one eat a pine cone like that, BTW. The squirrels up north are much bigger than ours, and they have black ones! Big fuzzy black ones! (At least in NY they do)

They also have chipmunks...real ones, not the Chip & Dale kind. I tried to get a picture of one, but those little suckers are fast. I don't think Florida has chipmunks...well, except for Chip & Dale.

"Bears" is not just a teenage slang thing, as even I know what a bear is! They are also usually big & fuzzy...and fairy like. I'm glad that you didn't piss them off.