A Trip Report Sure to Win Applesauce. . .TCD's NYE 2011 TR!

[Discamper 394]

You are right TCD there is a whole lot of people on the parkway. The one thing I have found out and think is cool with Bing Maps as you move the image the photo changes. So as I zoomed in on the Fire station driveway the image with all the people came up.

[blm2003 2]

Here's the TCD version:

Slice up one or two hot dogs per person and brown them real good (the hot dogs are the best part).

Prepare one box of good old Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for every two people in your party (so for four people make two boxes).

After the macaroni and cheese is ready, stir in the browned hot dogs and serve.

Bam!

It's a winner with the TCD gang on camping trips.

If Pirate Jeff was dead and buried, he would roll over in his grave if he heard about this.

But he's not.

Try both versions.

I'll bet you'll like the TCD version better. It certainly is easier!

TCD

We're a little late to the Pirate Jeff Mac and Cheese party, but had to add:

This is the boys favorite Mac and Cheese, although they like to mix a bit of BBQ sauce in at the end. Not my thing, but they love it, so much so if you ask them about Mac and Cheese, they say, "Do we have any BBQ sauce!"

Great TR as usual, thanks for sharing!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, it looks like those of you hoping for another update are in luck.

I was thinking that maybe I would get this trip report finished before the weekend.

But that ain't happening.

As you know, I don't do updates on the weekends, and it looks like that will be true this weekend.

So enjoy this post, and then go back and read the stuff you skipped over, and then we can all come back on Monday and get this one done next week.

For now, we continue with our story.

It is Saturday afternoon.

We had been to the Lodge and back.

And done some looping.

We were eagerly anticipating the evening's activities.

I posted the schedule we were given at check-in a while back.

To refresh your memory, here is what was on tap for the evening:

That photo booth thing and the lucky ducky thing are new this year.

I was especially interested in seeing the photo booth.

How were they going to have a photo booth on the beach?

That would obviously take some kind of preparation.

So, at around 5, we headed down to the Settlement for a look around.

We found the photo booth.

Here it is:

Somebody forgot the booth!

This box of supplies was right behind that back-drop:

There was no photo-booth in there.

You see those little black bags?

We didn't know it then, but we later learned that those had something to do with the lucky ducky event.

To tell the truth, I was a little under-whelmed by the photo booth.

I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.

I gave it a try anyway:

And so did twin #1:

We noticed something else out of place down here at the beach.

This:

What was a canoe doing here?

Was this a Fort canoe?

Or was it the outlaw canoe from the folks on the 1400 loop?

We found out about that later, too.

For now, we had seen all that there was to see at the beach.

Well, that's not exactly true.

There was also this lady sun bathing:

No big deal.

It was 80 degrees, after all.

But, maybe what she was wearing (or not wearing) may be a big deal to some of you. Check it out:

She must have been from Europe.

She didn't have a suit on.

Made you look!

She has a suit on.

It just looks like she doesn't.

Fooled you twice.

Shame on you.

We also saw this sign posted there on the beach:

No glass.

No pets.

No fireworks.

They should have added No fun.

Having satisfied our curiousity, we headed back to the 1500 loop.

As we were about to turn in to our loop, we noticed that something was going on there in the Meadow.

Look, someone has put one of the pool lounges out in the Meadow and stood it on end:

What is this all about?

Well, look over to the right in this photo- you can see two of the recreation castmembers there in their yellow shirts:

They were holding a giant sling-shot, and kids were launching water balloons at that chair!:

We thought there was no way the water balloons would go that far, but sure enough, they did!:

As we were admiring this scene, I heard a horn honk.

I turned, and saw a good friend drive by.

He turned in to my loop.

I left the girls there with the cart and walked over to say hello to my guest.

As I walked in to the loop, I got this photo of some campers with three cars parked in a partial hook-up site. That kind of thing never used to be allowed, but it apparently was OK for this weekend:

Can anyone guess who my visitor was?

It was none other than good old Lou!

You know, the bus driver who never reads trip reports?

Since I know he won't read this, I want you all to know that despite his efforts to create a snarky persona here on fortfiends.net, Lou is a great guy. Don't tell him I said that, he has his snarky image to maintain.

But, no matter what he writes here, he really is a great guy.

Lou and I had a nice little visit.

The TCD twins came by after a bit and told me that I missed seeing one of the balloons fly right over the chair, then over the canal, and right in to the back of a site on the 1300 loop. Wow! I want a giant balloon sling shot!

Lou and I visited some more.

Then he left to go look for some more Fiends. He also said that maybe, just maybe, he would be back with his lovely wife to celebrate NYE with the Fiends at the Fort.

I understand that Lou did make it back, but I didn't see him.

But, our short visit was nice.

The sun was just about set after Lou's visit, but we had time to go for one last loop before dark, so we did.

Here's the sun setting over the Meadow:

And here we are over in front of the group camping area bus stop, looking toward the little parking lot there:

You can see the setting sun just hitting the tree tops here in the group camping area:

Remember a bit back when I mentioned how tents are getting set up further and further away from the tent pads on some sites?

These folks in the 2000 loop had two tents set pretty far back from their site, which also had a big tent on it:

Here are some shots of the sun setting over the swamp across from the 2000 loop. Even this swamp has a certain beauty in the right light:

Here's the 2000 loop bus stop with its Christmas decorations:

And now we are heading back to the 1500 loop. I like how the sun is just hitting the tops of the trees in this photo:

It was starting to get dark as we got back to our site:

And it was time to pull the pork.

So we did.

Sorry, I don't have any photos.

But let me tell you that the pulled pork was great.

And, S70, using the tenderloins was so much easier than using the big roast that I normally use.

And the meat was better.

That recipe is a keeper.

As TnBob would say, it was to die for (finger snap)!

After our great meal, we hung around the site for a while.

We had planned to go to the beach at around 7- to see the photo booth in action, and to try our hand at lucky ducky.

And that is exactly what we did.

I'll cover that all in the next post.

Which you will have to wait until Monday to read.

But be sure to come back.

You will get to see my New Year's Resolutions.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Thanks for the update, Andrew. I will be waiting patiently for Monday. In the meantime I hope you were a Lucky Ducky!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

You are right TCD there is a whole lot of people on the parkway. The one thing I have found out and think is cool with Bing Maps as you move the image the photo changes. So as I zoomed in on the Fire station driveway the image with all the people came up.

I have noticed that about Bing. It is annoying sometimes- I will see something in one shot, and then rotate the angle for a better look, and then it is gone!

I totally missed the runners the first time I looked at that photo- that is a good catch!

We're a little late to the Pirate Jeff Mac and Cheese party, but had to add:

This is the boys favorite Mac and Cheese, although they like to mix a bit of BBQ sauce in at the end. Not my thing, but they love it, so much so if you ask them about Mac and Cheese, they say, "Do we have any BBQ sauce!"

Great TR as usual, thanks for sharing!

That reminds me of my roommate in college- he used to put a ton of ketchup on his mac and cheese. I have never heard of anyone using BBQ sauce. But I should point out that Pirate Jeff's recipe calls for a bit of both ketchup and mustard.

Thanks for the update, Andrew. I will be waiting patiently for Monday. In the meantime I hope you were a Lucky Ducky!!

I was not a lucky ducky, but the twins were (kind of).

I will say that we had a bit of fun with the resolutions though.

You'll see.

TCD

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

Cool update!!! Looks like a fun day!!

[stefa70 205]

Great update, but now I'm bored.

"Go back and read what I skipped over"

WTFort??? I don't skip anything in a TCD report!!

I kind of like the photo booth, minus the booth part. At least it was something to commemorate the New Year. Why didn't Twin #2 get in on the action?

It's not nice to tease....I thought the Fort was allowing nude sunbathing now. Guess I'll put my bikini back in the suitcase.

I won't tell, if you won't tell, but Lou is a heck of a guy.

I'm so glad you liked the pork!

I guess I will have to find some other trouble to get into until Monday..have a great weekend!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

I just have to say it is so awesome that you get to spend the time that you do with your daughters! I love their part in your trip report!

[TheLug 10]

Hey Lug!

I didn't know you were traveling so much.

Did you get a new job?

Thanks for checking in.

I hope that after all of your hard work you can take a nice long break at the Fort.

Ah, Delaware.

I have driven through it many times.

I'm not sure if I ever stopped there, though.

TCD

Nope same job! I go up there about twice a year! I traveled 59 days this year 6 of those being weekends! Fort trip should be coming up.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Where was twin #2?

Can't wait to see the resolutions and lucky ducky...

[.....Gary 85]

"FIGHTER BOMBERS'...We used these to "greet" returning F-4 fighter pilots on the ramp. 2- 2x4s, Medical tubing (like they wrap around your arm for drawing blood) and a piece of canvas with grommets in the corners, Tubing through the grommets and tie to the 2x4s. Fire from ambush site, run like the wind (TS reference) and practice saying "Who me??". Some of the best fun you can have with your clothes on. :rofl2:

[Lou... 3,118]

Andrew will you go back and remove the part where you say non Snarky things about me. If I were reading along I wouldn't have liked it.

Remember baseball season is not that far away and I've been working on Rays trash talk.

I did return that night. A bunch of Fiends took the boat over to MK and watched the fireworks from outside the turnstiles. It's a great place to watch them from.

I get a big kick out of how much the twins just soak up what WDW has to offer. That shot of them decorating cookies is priceless.

I just realized that I don't know their real names, just twin #1 & #2.

And where the heck has that bum, Pirate Jeff been? He posts before and after his visit to the Fort and then we don't hear from him.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Twin ! & Twin 2 is that like thing 1 and thing 2 :rofl2: :rofl2:

[shoreline99 137]

Alright!

Pulled pork for Tebow Time!

Let me know how it turns out!

It turned out great. Throw in a little cole slaw and some extra bbq sauce, winner winner pulled pork dinner! On to the game!

[Starbuc71 162]

Andrew will you go back and remove the part where you say non Snarky things about me. If I were reading along I wouldn't have liked it.

Remember baseball season is not that far away and I've been working on Rays trash talk.

I did return that night. A bunch of Fiends took the boat over to MK and watched the fireworks from outside the turnstiles. It's a great place to watch them from.

I get a big kick out of how much the twins just soak up what WDW has to offer. That shot of them decorating cookies is priceless.

I just realized that I don't know their real names, just twin #1 & #2.

And where the heck has that bum, Pirate Jeff been? He posts before and after his visit to the Fort and then we don't hear from him.

Great........Rays smack talk on the way. Spring training hasn't even started yet. I guess I can't really say anything about the bosox's so far since I am a Bobby Valentine fan. Just don't smack the Rays too much, you know our payroll will always suck and if you didn't know already, I take Rays baseball seriously.....not snarky...lol

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I just have to say it is so awesome that you get to spend the time that you do with your daughters! I love their part in your trip report!

Rita-

The spending time with my daughters part is why I go. Lucky for us, the Fort has turned out to be the perfect place for us to go for a weekend trip. We went a lot in 2011. The girls are Juniors this year and will be Seniors next year, and then we all hope they will be off to college. That will be a sad day for me, but I am glad that we have been able to enjoy the Fort as often as we have.

Nope same job! I go up there about twice a year! I traveled 59 days this year 6 of those being weekends! Fort trip should be coming up.

Glad to hear a Fort trip is coming up!

With all that travel, you deserve a break!

Where was twin #2?

Can't wait to see the resolutions and lucky ducky...

Hey! Where was twin #2 is right! Maybe she's the one I should be keeping my eye on!

"FIGHTER BOMBERS'...We used these to "greet" returning F-4 fighter pilots on the ramp. 2- 2x4s, Medical tubing (like they wrap around your arm for drawing blood) and a piece of canvas with grommets in the corners, Tubing through the grommets and tie to the 2x4s. Fire from ambush site, run like the wind (TS reference) and practice saying "Who me??". Some of the best fun you can have with your clothes on. :rofl2:

Really?

Shooting water balloons at F4 pilots?

Sounds like a pretty dangerous prank!

Andrew will you go back and remove the part where you say non Snarky things about me. If I were reading along I wouldn't have liked it.

Remember baseball season is not that far away and I've been working on Rays trash talk.

I did return that night. A bunch of Fiends took the boat over to MK and watched the fireworks from outside the turnstiles. It's a great place to watch them from.

I get a big kick out of how much the twins just soak up what WDW has to offer. That shot of them decorating cookies is priceless.

I just realized that I don't know their real names, just twin #1 & #2.

And where the heck has that bum, Pirate Jeff been? He posts before and after his visit to the Fort and then we don't hear from him.

Thanks for the comments, Lou.

It is amazing how you can remain on topic without reading the report.

Yes, the twins do enjoy all there is to enjoy about WDW. We will see some more examples of that in the next post.

You are right about Pirate Jeff, he kind of goes missing about ten months of the year.

Twin ! & Twin 2 is that like thing 1 and thing 2 :rofl2: :rofl2:

Actually it is very much like that!

They can create quite a bit of mischief!

It turned out great. Throw in a little cole slaw and some extra bbq sauce, winner winner pulled pork dinner! On to the game!

Good to know.

I assume that you are a Patriots fan.

It ended up being a great night for you!

Great........Rays smack talk on the way. Spring training hasn't even started yet. I guess I can't really say anything about the bosox's so far since I am a Bobby Valentine fan. Just don't smack the Rays too much, you know our payroll will always suck and if you didn't know already, I take Rays baseball seriously.....not snarky...lol

Yeah, Lou is getting started early this year.

But, we will save the baseball talk for his smack talk thread.

For now, it's time to get this report back in gear!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Picking up where I left off-

It is now Saturday evening.

On the last day of 2011.

We enjoyed our delicious pulled pork sandwiches.

And we started watching the Auburn/Virginia game.

When 7 rolled around, we headed down to the beach to check on things.

Our plan was to pop in for a quick visit, and then go back to the site to finish watching the football game and hang out until closer to midnight.

The fearless Fort rangers were busy at work down by the Settlement causing problems with golf cart traffic and parking for no good reason.

Even at this early hour, they were diverting all golf cart traffic to the big field behind Pioneer Hall. They would not let anyone drive down the path to the Settlement.

Whatever.

We parked in the field and headed to the beach.

The first thing I saw was a couple of unsupervised kids about to break another tetherball off of its tether:

I am surprised there are still tetherball poles around the Fort. I see this kind of thing multiple times every trip. And usually it is with bigger kids. As a result, the tetherball courts are usually broken more than they are not.

Our first stop at the beach was the so-called photo booth.

We ran into our old friend Amanda there.

You may remember her from the TCD Halloween TR- she is the young lady who looks like a young Ellen Degeneris. But with brown hair and a deeper voice.

She was in charge of the photo booth. I know that this photo is blurry, but it's the only one of Amanda that I have, so I am posting it anyway. What was going on here is that guests were supposed to write their New Year's resolutions underneath the cutouts and then pose for a photo, taken by Amanda. Amanda had a digital camera that she was using, and she said all of the photos would be shown as a slide show on a big inflatable screen there at the beach. They didn't give Amanda an eraser or anything else to use to wipe off the board after each guest, so she was using the sleeve of her jacket. That is what she is doing here:

The activity guide told us that we could use the props they had at the photo booth for our photo.

There were no props.

Luckily, we brought our handy 2012 glasses:

Those glasses bug me.

I remember the first time I saw NYE glasses with the eye holes like that was back in 2000. The twins were 4 that NYE, and they had some of those glasses. We have bought glasses like that every year since. When it finally got to be 2010, I figured we would be done with them. But I figured wrong. I guess these glasses will always be with us. It doesn't make any sense to me, but I guess enough people by them that the manufacturers will keep on making them.

We had to wait for a few people to take their turns at the "photo-booth" before it got to be our turn.

People were writing all kinds of serious and sincere resolutions.

Boring.

Then it was our turn.

Amanda took these photos:

That's how it's done!

As you can see, we were serious and sincere too.

That canoe we had seen earlier in the evening was set up right across from the photo booth:

They had filled it with water and rubber ducks, and that was the Lucky Ducky event.

Our old friend Jenna was running this:

You can see the prizes here. As far as we could tell, you could win a glow stick or a NYE noisemaker. You know, the kind that you spin around and it makes a clacking noise? They had those, plus good old horns:

The TCD twins tried their luck with the ducks, and both won a glow stick.

Whoop-Dee-Doo.

But, anything free at Disney is still appreciated!

Even though neither the photo booth or lucky ducky events were really all that great, I still appreciate that the management of the Fort went to the trouble of hosting these events. They were both fun. And free.

I looked forward to getting to see all of Amanda's photos in the slide show later in the evening.

But for now, we headed back to our site.

We had our mugs with us, so before walkng back to our cart, we stopped at Trail's End for a drink.

To my surprise, I ran in to quite a scene.

There was a clueless older guy driving his golf cart right down the path in front of Pioneer Hall. This is not allowed at any time, and it especially was not a good idea on a busy night like tonight. The older guy attracted the attention of two of the geriatric Fort security specialists, who were hot on his trail. You can see it all going down right here:

And, that's not all.

Check out what else is in that photo.

A hippie!

Yes, a hippie.

Here he is:

You may be asking yourself what a hippie was doing there strumming his guitar in front of Pioneer Hall.

I asked myself the same question.

Then he started walking toward me.

So I got the heck out of there without finding out.

I wish those security guys had used their tazers on him.

That would have made a good photo!

Rotten hippies!

So that was some good free entertainment we got to enjoy there in front of Pioneer Hall.

We found our cart amid the hundreds parked in the field, and headed back to our site.

To do so, we were directed out through the path that the guards were blocking when we arrived.

I saw what they were doing then- they had made the path one-way.

But, they also made a lot of folks go out of their way for no good reason.

The golf cart parking area in front of Pioneer Hall was empty. And there were a bunch of open spaces at the marina.

Whatever.

We got to see the end of the Auburn game.

The SEC showed its dominance again.

At 11-ish, we then made our way back to the beach.

Same deal on the parking.

It is amazing how many carts there are at the Fort.

You never realize how many until everybody shows up at the same place and time.

Like now.

That field was totally full of golf carts.

They then had folks start parking down the path.

The beach was as busy as I have ever seen it:

The inflatable screen was there, but we had either missed the slide show, or there was some technical difficulty with it:

It seems that we had arrived in time for the dance party.

Because there was a whole lot of dancing going on!:

I took a couple of quick videos, because the scene was one that I knew could not be captured with just photos (click on these images, and the videos will play) :

The TCD twins love a nice dance party.

They joined in the fun, and had a great time.

I have to say, that there probably is no other place that the TCD gang would like to spend NYE better than right here at the Fort!

As midnight neared, I pulled the girls away from the dancing, and we found a good spot on the beach to watch the fireworks.

The beach was more crowded than I have ever seen it.

I attribute that to the nice weather and the fact that they have all of the activities scheduled at the beach.

For watching fireworks at the Fort, we bring our own folding chairs, and we sit back from the water behind everyone else.

It isn't important to be near the water here, like it is over at the Polynesian, because you can't see the lower lever fireworks from the Fort beach. They are blocked by Discovery Island.

I poured the girls some pink champagne, and we had a toast to the New Year which was about to begin:

And then the fireworks began!

It was the same show we had seen the night before.

Complete with the countdown with fireworks shaped like numbers. I got one of the 8's here:

After the countdown, things went wild:

You can see that even at the far end of the beach, where we were, there were a lot of folks there to watch the fireworks:

I love how the finale lights up the whole beach:

And that was it!

It was 2012.

Everyone headed back to their sites.

At the same time.

Here's the line of golf carts heading toward the Settlement area from behind Pioneer Hall:

And here are all the people still getting in to that line (looking back toward the old River Country entrance) :

All of those carts were being directed out to the path- they blocked all other possible exits.

Needless to say, it took a long time to get out of there.

Luckily, some genius decided to start blowing his horn.

And then a bunch of other geniuses, including the genius behind me, decided to join in.

That made the whole sitting in a golf cart traffic jam thing all the more fun.

But, we eventually got out of there.

And got back to the site to chill.

The temperature had dropped quite a bit by midnight.

I would say it was in the low 60's.

I had left the heat running in the camper, so it was nice and warm in there when we got back.

The girls started watching the New Years Eve shows that were on.

And none of us made it back out of the camper for the Fiend party that was going on at TiggerInBama's site.

Fail.

So that was our New Year's Eve.

We had to pack up and go home in the morning.

You might think that means this trip report is getting near the end.

If you thought that, you are pretty smart.

Because it is getting near the end of this trip.

But, don't you worry.

I was up early in the morning, and I have some more photos to share.

Including my favorite one of this trip.

And, I also had a Fiend encounter on the beach that I need to tell about.

So, please be sure to check back.

TCD

[FtWildernessFamily...Holly 25]

OH NO!!!!!!!! I can't believe this report is ending soon. BUMMER!

Love the pink champagne. And I've never seen the beach that crowded. WOW.

My Maddie would have loved the dance party......

[charitycase20....Charity 10]

Oh how I wish they had dance parties every weekend! Gracie would love that!

I can't wait until Saturday!!!!

[stefa70 205]

Cute picture of the 3 of you with your resolutions.

Just think, while you were doing that, I was 20 feet in front of Zac Freakin Brown! (sorry, I still haven't gotten over all of my sick fantasies)

Hate to see another report ending.

[HappyCamper...Deb 61]

Thanks for sharing your NYE with us. The dance party looked like great fun. I'm excited for our NYE next year of the fort. Thanks to your sharing, I think the HappyCamper Clan will do the same for NYE. Parking your bum on a chair on the beach with family and friends to bring in the new year sounds delightful.

Waiting for your favorite photo...

:suspense:

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Cute photo booth pictures and congrats to the twins for being "lucky ducky's.. I have serious crowd issues so I don't think I would go to the beach for the fireworks. I especially would not like being in the line up to get back out again.

The fireworks pictures are awesome, thanks for sharing them.

I didn't even make it to midnight here. What can I say, apparently I can't hold my vodka and champagne like I used to. :rofl2:

I'd say I was looking forward to the next update but that means your TR is ending.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OH NO!!!!!!!! I can't believe this report is ending soon. BUMMER!

Love the pink champagne. And I've never seen the beach that crowded. WOW.

My Maddie would have loved the dance party......

Whoops, I meant to mention that the champagne was really just sparkling cider.

And don't worry about this trip report ending.

Another TCD TR is always on the way!

Oh how I wish they had dance parties every weekend! Gracie would love that!

I can't wait until Saturday!!!!

They do have a smaller dance party at the pool most afternoons.

And, then, of course, you can always do the Hokie Pokie at the campfire every night.

Cute picture of the 3 of you with your resolutions.

Just think, while you were doing that, I was 20 feet in front of Zac Freakin Brown! (sorry, I still haven't gotten over all of my sick fantasies)

Hate to see another report ending.

Yes, as we were there on the beach, there were people all kinds of other places celebrating the arrival of the new year.

Next year, the girls want me to buy regular passes so we can be in one of the parks for midnight.

I think we are probably going to do that. and I will miss the beach if we do.

Thanks for sharing your NYE with us. The dance party looked like great fun. I'm excited for our NYE next year of the fort. Thanks to your sharing, I think the HappyCamper Clan will do the same for NYE. Parking your bum on a chair on the beach with family and friends to bring in the new year sounds delightful.

Waiting for your favorite photo...

:suspense:

Yep- the beach at the Fort is a perfect place to ring in the new year!

I hope that you are there next year!

Cute photo booth pictures and congrats to the twins for being "lucky ducky's.. I have serious crowd issues so I don't think I would go to the beach for the fireworks. I especially would not like being in the line up to get back out again.

The fireworks pictures are awesome, thanks for sharing them.

I didn't even make it to midnight here. What can I say, apparently I can't hold my vodka and champagne like I used to. :rofl2:

I'd say I was looking forward to the next update but that means your TR is ending.

Thanks, Doodle.

But, you will be at the Fort soon enough.

And then you can write your own report!

I hear you about not making it to midnight. If I wasn't at the Fort, I might not have made it either.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Before we move on, I need to back up just a bit and mention two things that I meant to as we were going along.

They both about Fiend encounters.

There were lots fo Fiends around the Fort for the holiday weekend.

It seems like there always are.

I mentioned earlier that I got a chance to meet the Fiend who goes by Caveat Lector here on ff.net, I had a nice visit with him at his site one morning as I was out looping.

I met another Fiend for the first time on this trip. First, he came by my site to say hello one day. It was Wak648, whose real name is Bill. He and his family were staying over on the 1600 loop. We had a nice little chat, and I got to meet a couple of his kids. I saw Bill and his family again one morning when I stopped by Trail's End for a coffee refill. They were seated at one of the tables enjoying breakfast, so I got to meet the whole crew. Later that same morning, I ran in to the whole gang at the Meadow Trading Post- and Bill gets big props for the fact that his entire crew was dressed in official ff.net gear. Bill told me then that they were cutting their trip short by a couple of days, as a big storm was approaching where he lived (way up in PA), and he wanted to beat it home. So I didn't see Bill or his family after that.

But, it was good to meet you Bill.

The other Fiend encounter I wanted to mention is that when we were down at the beach early on NYE, I ran into fellow Fiend anolefan. As many of you may have noticed, he hasn't been around much lately. Tom told me that he still reads the boards every now and then, but that with his new job responsiblities and all of the activities his kids are involved in, he has chosen to not spend as much time on-line. That's too bad for us, but I understand. So, in case any of you are wondering, anolefan is fine, and he is still enjoying the Fort. We just aren't going to be hearing much from him for a while. Tom if you are reading along, and I hope you are, it was good to see you again, and I hope to see you around the Fort later this year!

In addition to Fred, Bill and Tom, I ran into lots of other Fiends on this trip including AuburnChris, Lorna, Lou, Total Joker and Missy, The TiggerInBama's (Kelly and Stacy), and The MillerMouseketeers. On NYE, I ran in to Denny/Home Brew in Trail's End. It was great to see you all!

Now, back to the report . . .

TCD

[CKCK 45]

Love your resolutions. Can't wait for the TR on the first one...