stefa70

I know Lou doesn't really need my help but he is so much fun to get into trouble with. :jumpforjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPK7IlsX2ns&feature=player_embedded

My first trip was in 1977 and I was 1 1/2 years old. My second trip was in 1979 and I still have my certificate from my day at the Mouseketeer Clubhouse; which I believe was at the Contemporary Resort.

We went to the Fort about every two years or so...my dad tells stories about the FWRR....and we have "slides" of it. I like to think I remember the FWRR, but realisticly I probably remember the "slide" show. I believe the FWRR was a seasonal operation at that time and was not running 365/7 as it was when it began.
I do remember hopping on the trams and buses. We always stayed in the 900 loop (Quail Trail), right across from the Meadows. I do remember seeing the old "Wilderness Homes".
River Country was awesome and it sucked when it closed. We always swam and made sand castles on the Bay Lake Beach too.
I remember walking up to the Meadows Trading Post and buying the plastic cubes filled with various types of candy, playing checkers, etc.
One of the best things then was the evening movie and sing a long. I am glad that is still around. The thing my DS always brings up about our trip to the Fort two years ago is watching "Cars" outside with Smores and popcorn, and "exploring" in the golf cart.
4 months and 2 weeks to go!!

I grew up near lots of cliffs and natural waterfalls/springs. There was a spot we used to go to and jump off into water that was easily 15-20' below. We referred to that cliff as the enema!! Had to be very, very careful about which bathing suit to wear when we went!

Don't forget Stef's buffalo chicken recipe. It's awesome!

:lmao1: Where does the ticket line form?
I'm curious to see if they do a better job of blocking that path from the camping riff-raff.
If the Fort freeloaders can blatantly walk to the outpost bus stop with coolers, towels and charcoal to invade the Fort pool, I'm all for trying the same thing there.

I'm late, but I'm here!
Am I the only one who think Innoventions is silly? It just seems like there's nothing of interest in there anymore. Maybe if I had little ones, I'd feel differently?
I bet you missed your Tab when you found all the room issues.

My favorite "meal" in all of WDW!
(Yes, they are large & filling enough to be a meal)
This is me in May guarding it with my life!

Now that's what I'm talking about! Wrap one up and start another! :thumbsup2:
Bonus points for CM booty shot.

Ok so when we left off we had made an unscheduled stop at Lyman Lake. It was a beautiful place but we had a date with our first National Park of the trip. So we packed up and headed out around 7 a.m. One thing I have found especially in the wide open campgrounds is that once the sun comes up, its pretty much to bright in the tent to sleep much more.
We got on the road and continued north in Arizona until we finally reached our destination. The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. This is one of the lesser known national parks but it is very striking.
Heading north


And the road just goes on and on.

At the unofficial visitors center. We were to early to get into the park by about 30 minutes.

We made it!


Last time I was here it was only an hour till we had to be out of the park. Which meant we could enter but we were going to have to drive straight through with a minimum of stopping. As a bonus though the Ranger at the entrance station saw our guitars in the back seat and said she would let us in for free if we played her a song. So my buddy grabbed his guitar and played her Smoke on the Water and we got in for free. It was great.
This time we paid. I didn't mind. For those of you that have not yet visited a national park here is some general info on them that has seemed to hold true to all I have been to so far. You pay for you entrance by the carload. The fee does vary but is usually around $20. Onc eyou have paid to get in you can come and go with your receipt for the next week. If you are staying near a park you can really take your time and visit as much as you want over that week.
If you plan on hitting multiple parks in one year you should check into their Interagency Annual Pass for $80. This lets you into most federal recreation sites across the country for a period of 12 months. If you are senior citizen of age 62 or older you can buy he $10 lifetime pass that gets you and your vehicle and passengers into the parks for the rest of your life. Also includes some discounts on camping and other things.
A link to info on the Interagency Annual Pass: http://store.usgs.gov/pass/index.html
A link to information on the Lifetime Pass, these must be purchased in person: http://store.usgs.gov/pass/senior.html
Moving along now. We stopped at many of the spots along the way and walked some of the shorter trails to see the petrified forest up close.








In some pieces you can see the growth rings.

My first time out here it was later in the day getting on towards night time and a big storm rolled in so we missed out on seeing a major part of the park and thought that this was the Painted Desert.

As you will see later, not even close.


traveling to another portion of the park.


Sadly when the area was first discovered and ongoing even today, people take the pieces of petrified wood home reducing what is left for us to see. This is not as common now as they have put security cameras in place at the walking areas to monitor for that. And if you see someone taking something you are encouraged to inform a Ranger. Unlike the Fort's Ranger these guys are very knowledgable and helpful.

Almost all of the lumps you see are pieces of trees that fell probably due to flooding millenia ago and the water covering them slowly leached out the material of the wood replacing it with crystals until perfectly preserved pieces of fosiilized wood.




Probably getting close so I will continue in next post.

You may find this hard to believe, but my initials are SAS. (S also stands for Stephanie, and I was just born to be sassy) ^-^
:rofl2: Gee Andrew, now that we've all seen Uranus, how ya gonna top that? :rofl2:

Loving the TR!! And I must say you are a better person than I am for letting the "buddies" tag along. Hell, there are times I don't even want my husband along on my camping trips let alone some rookie vegetarian and her offspring. LOL!
Can't wait for more!!

Stef - I just saw this and read through the whole thing...Jordan is in my prayers. And you, Trevor and Nate are too...its hard when someone you love is over there...I'm looking at a sister and a brother-in-law being over there somewhere before the end of the year. :heart: :hugs2:

Bandit (4 mnth old yorkie/schnauser hybrid) sitting on the floor after just having asked me, " hey dad, when we heading to the Fort?" Which is kind of hard to believe, when you consider he just joined our family on Thursday. How did he know we were such Fort Fiends already?
Backstory: we lost our beloved Zeus July 6th. The hole in our family was huge, but fate is trying to fill part of it with Bandit. We rescued him from a shelter. He was picked up as a stray, but is in great shape. He has no trust issues and will gladly roll over and let you pet his belly. Health wise he is great and it appears that someone put some potty training effort. While we will never know, we think somebody just couldn't afford to care for this loving pup. We will do our best to give him a great life!

Last I heard, he was framed.
TCD

Seems like we don't see as much of Sonny as we used to.
Does anyone remember when there was a live band that came up from the floor? Can't remember the name, but I can visualize the outfits. Definitely the 70's!
Their were 2 that I remember. Michael Iceberg in the 70's a keyboardist, and Tobasco a band in the 80's
http://youtu.be/80twRmDsAV4
http://youtu.be/V21ZZnSgzSk

Hey! I just now figured out that this TR has kept going! Duh. I really should get out more.
I loved the commentary and pics! You made me feel like I was home. :heart: If only you guys had taken off hunting after that, the homesickness would be complete.
That portajohn was NASSSTEEE! I would prefer the tree as well. Where I grew up, it would not be unusual to hear someone shout into the woods "Hurry up Stef - shake the dew off yer lily and let's go!" :rofl2:
I also enjoyed Big Time getting stuck. That's always really funny - especially when they're cocky. It's only a little funny when they're just stupid.

Yeah, where can I get some dam bait?

Do cats count? This is my best friend Kahlua..

from the Disney Parks blog...
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/07/lucky-dog-mickey-meets-his-biggest-four-legged-fan/

I woke up early Saturday morning, excited to the point of nausea (could be the beer's fault too )
Around 3:00 pm, we got word that Jordan's father, Mike and Jordan's uncle were heading out. We hopped in my Jeep and headed east.
*Amanda had to be in Fort Lauderdale this weekend for a baby shower, so she wasn't able to go. Her younger sister, Bobbi, went in her place.

We stopped for gas and I needed caffeine!
White chocolate caramel cappuccino. Imagine for a second, ME, excited and all jacked up on caffeine!

Have you ever seen a bumper sticker that says:
"If your not the lead dog, the view never changes"
That also applies to horses.

It seemed like HOURS before we came upon the airport sign. (it was really about 45 minutes)

Our exit! :jumpforjoy

After numerous tolls (Damn that Beeline Expressway!) Orlando International is in our sights.


Now my phone is blowing up with texts and calls from Mike.
"we're here, where are you guys?"
"we're gonna grab a bite to eat, let me know when you get here"
"Flight is delayed from Dusseldorf, it will be 5:32 pm:
Thanks Mike! Like I needed him to add to my anticipation. :drama:
We finally make our way up the parking garage.

And drove up and down the aisles to find a parking space.
Phew, finally parked. In the elevator banks we found a family of armadillos. Only in Florida

Being at MCO, of course, Disney was not far from our minds.

Riding up the escalator to the gates.


A quick "touristy" photo with Nate and Bobbi.

Now, more texts from Mike.
"we're going out to the gates, tell them your meeting military and they'll let you out there with a pass"
The line through security was horrendous, as it usually is, and when we glanced at the arriving flight board, Jordan's plane was landing early at 5:15. It was just about 5:00 at this time, so we told Mike we would stay at the main hub and wait.
This would also give his immediate family a few minutes to greet him, before we went in for the attack.
Honestly this was the longest 15 minute wait of my life.
(Notice both mine and Nathen's half smiles. We were not in photo shoot mode, we just wanted to see Jordan home and healthy!)

Even Trevor had a keen eye on the exit gate.

The kids got as close as they could with being tackled by TSA.

Nate was wearing his camo crocs, his Army shirt, and his Infantry hat that Jordo had left behind for him on his last visit. Bobbi had her camo shirt on, but left his sign she made in the truck.....I told you, we were excited and unfocused!
I'm wearing the dog tags that he had made for me. His picture is etched on the front, and on the back it says
Mother of an infantryman. I love you.
:heart:
Drumroll please...............We spot him! (directly under the word enter)

And the picture that says it all!

Funny conversation between two 20 ish men:
Jordan had called Nate on Monday and said
"Bro, when I get home, if I cry, it's not because I've become a pu**y, it's just I miss you guys so much!" :rofl2:
We all knew there would be tears.
I let Trevor be in charge of the videoing. I have trimmed it down to about 40 seconds to give you the gist.
Imagine the beginning, about 2 minutes of waiting, discussing how much longer, wondering what side he'd be on..... then about 2 minutes at the end, hugging, crying and chatting. (Most of the crying was me :hah: )
You will see Jordan spot Nate and run off to the left, and Bobbi intercept him at the pass before he could get there, the boys reunite, then me hold him like any mama would, and finally Jordo say "Pops!" (to Trevor, which turned the video into a view of a plant, wall and our feet, which is why I trimmed it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_LE5BtUf8&feature=plcp
With the sobfest over, we made our way out.



We piled in the elevator and I tried to get a shot of everyone, but cut poor Mike out. Oops.
Jordan's dad, Jordan, Trevor, uncle, Bobbi and Nate.

One last look as we parted ways. Jordan was both excited and exhausted.

We got back to Inverness, thrilled to death that we finally had him home safe. Nathen spent the evening at Jordan's house and I fell asleep around 9:00.
He will be home until the 13th, then back to Afghanistan until December. We're not going to think about that for now and concentrate on loving and squeezing him for the time being.
So many families aren't lucky enough to get their loved ones returned from war, we are going to savor every moment!
Thanks for riding along, and all the past support you guys have given. As much as I adore writing Disney trip reports, this one was extra special.
:hugs2:

For some of you long term fiends, you will know who Jordan is. For those who don't, I will give you a bit of back story.
Jordan is my son's BF. They met a couple of years ago and hit it off immediately! Jordan was essentially raised by a single Dad, who is a nurse at Shands hospital in Gainesville.
Translation: Jordan never really had a Mom around and Dad worked endless hours to support not only his own children, but also another young man (Mike) who's family left a lot to be desired.
Jordan fit into our family like a glove, and I couldn't love him any more than if I had given birth to him myself. He spent most days and nights here, including Christmas mornings.
Jordan had spent his high school years in ROTC, with the plan being to enroll in the Army. But before he left for boot camp, we took him on his first trip to the Fort and he instantly became a fiend.
November 2010 - Jordan's first Fort souvenir.

And back again in January 2011.


He was to leave at the end of January to begin boot camp in Georgia, then off to Washington for training before being deployed to Afghanistan.
We were all sad to see him leave. When we came back to the Fort in March, we brought GI Jordan with us.

He rode bikes

He drank beer

Played cornhole

And went to all the parks with us.


I had started a prayer thread for Jordo on FF.net, and got some great responses. I made an album with his Disney trip pictures and printed all the prayer/well wishes out and mailed them to him at boot camp. It was a great way to raise his spirits and give him a piece of home.
On our annual Nate's birthday trip, he got a brief leave (before being sent to Washington) and drove straight to the Fort at 6:00 AM to be with Nate.

We got one more brief visit in October, and then he was sent to Afghanistan.
We did our best to keep up with him through phone calls & facebook, but we thought about him constantly.
Every time we would get word that he was getting a leave, we would get excited, only to be then told it was going to be a "little while longer"
Frustration is an understatement!
He would post pictures when he could, to ease our fears. (Jordan is on the right)

Now that I've given the back story, we will time travel to last week.
Jordan is finally given a date! He will be arriving in Tampa on Wednesday the 25th, sometime at night.
I was determined to be at the airport, at all costs. Because I open the gym at 4:00 am, I knew it was gonna be a long night/morning, but well worth it.
Wednesday comes and we are informed Jordan is now stuck in Kuwait and his papers aren't complete. It's looking like Friday evening before he arrives. :banghead:
I would go on a military rant right now, but it wouldn't do me any good, so we're just going to grin and bear it.
Friday rolls around and Mike comes over to tell us that FINALLY, it's set in stone.
Jordan will arrive in Orlando at 5:30 pm on Saturday. We had some friends over and "celebrated" on Friday night. Even with many beers and little sleep, we were going to be there when he got off that damn plane!
Continuing in next post...............

Thanks for sharing this story Stef! I got a bit choked up there for a second. My family has been very lucky to have my brothers come home each time they have gone off to war also. You can never take it for granted. The back story made me feel nothing but love and respect for your family too. It was great to see him come home and I will pray he returns home each and every time he ships out and into harms way.

Uh oh!
Be glad that she's happy. Because we work closely with Humana insurance, we teach classes called "Silver Sneakers" which is an exercise program designed for the older crowd. If you have Humana insurance, they pay for your membership, which means every morning from 10-11, I am surrounded by at least 50 older folks.
While their are a few feisty ones like Mama, most of them take every opportunity to whine, moan, bitch and complain about their aches & pains, the government, the kids of today, or even the weather.
It really makes you appreciate the good ones, who understand their gonna have health issues and the world sucks a lot, but make the most of their days.
I applaud you and Ed for doing so much with Mama and keeping her happy and loved. A lot of the older folks aren't that lucky, and unfortunately, that may be part of their problems.