ImDownWithDisney

I guess we don't need a "call for trip reports" over here at FF.net. :rofl2:

Y'all need to man up and get a dog that's not a wuss....my dogs laugh at fireworks and fight Communists in their dreams ;-)

Ho hum. Compare that to my morning!

I lol'ed......great report!

It's hard for us Disney freaks to understand that some people just couldn't care less about anything Disney.

I've heard that there are lots of them out there in the real world.

The world is full of weirdos.

Another Boardwalk fan here. My wife and I love to visit without the kids....just stroll around and take in everything. I really liked it when they had the crepe and ice cream booth.

FWIW, Big River Grille has a location in Chattanooga. It is always great. The one time that we ate at the one at the BW it was "meh".

Being at the Fort as a child inspired me to take my own kids there. I can distinctly remember wondering what things would be like when I visited with my own family.

I love these things. I was pissed when they changed the recipe. I once ate 3 or 4 in a row. It made me a bit sick, but it was worth it.

Have had dinner at TE a couple times, but never breakfast. I really need to correct that on our next trip.

Just MHO, but save your money. It cost $75 for my family of four to eat there. The kids just pecked on theirs....they would not let them split a plate. Would have been better and $35 at Cracker Barrel.

I wish that I could somehow rig up the monorail recording to play in my truck every time someone gets in.

Wow, what an adventure! Props to you, sir.

This is one of my favorite TCD TR's. It's not everyday that you can read about such things.

Sounds like a nice week! Too bad about the wind, but at least the severe stuff stayed away from you.

You really make me anxious to get out camping. Relaxing, grilling, drinking....sounds good!

It was......it is camping time fo sho.

Sounds like you had a great week.

:holysheep: That's a beautiful 5th wheel you have there.

Thanks! We love it.

Sounds like a fun time. I love the view of the beach.

I have to ask...what are Diesel Fuels? You drank 8 of them by yourself? :hah:

Diesel Fuels are a twist on a long island tea....only with more octane. They will destroy you. No, I only had one, and I was sideways half way through it.

Awesome report!!

Thanks!

I just love it when they tell you that you won't fit, then prove them wrong. With our group they always make sure I get the hard site to back into or else I and up putting someone's camper in the site for them. Great pictures the beach looks great!!!!

Ha! it is an acquired art for some.

The beach there is nice.

Wow, talk about short but sweet!

Great report.

I love the title.

And the content.

And the photos.

Good for you for taking the girls even though Mom had to stay back and work.

I have enjoyed many Dad and the girls trips over the years, and I hope that you get to do the same.

Thanks for sharing!

TCD

p.s.- It sounds like you may have a lot of photos of the campground, I'd love to see them!

Thanks. Your trips are what gave me the idea of a dad and girls trip.

I didn't take site pics...only notes about ones that I really liked. The reserve america site has good pics of each site.

Love Ft Pickens (DH's family is from PNS), have you camped at Blackwater before? We love that campground but the last time we were there it was flooded and we couldn't get around real well, all trails under water as well as par of the road.

No, I haven't been to Blackwater. I hope to get there soon.

No, this isn't a TR about mullets. Although, I did see a few.

Nope, this is a TR about a work/play trip. 7 days....4 days of work training and the remainder spent relaxing.

So the original plan was to roll out with the entire family for a Sunday to Sunday trip. My wife's family lives in Gulf Breeze so she would hang with them while I was at work. But plans had to change. My wife signed a new position at work, and her training conflicted with the trip.

So I had the bright idea to leave early (Friday) with the kids. My plan was to spend two nights at Blackwater River SP having some quality dad/daughters time, then drop the kids off at the inlaws on Sunday. The wife would then join us on Thursday night...only taking off one day.

Well the weather fouled up my plans royally, I had checked the weather prior to making my BRSP reservations. The forecast called for the bad weather to stay well to the north. Trigger=pulled. Then the forecast was changed, and the severe weather potential was pushed further south. After some hand wrenching I decided to play it safe and push back my departure to Sunday. $40 for reservations=up a wild hog's arse. I hate ReserveAmerica.

Luckily, the bad weather went all around us. There was some damage close by our house, but we were good.

I loaded up and hitched up Saturday. Bright and early on Sunday we were on the road. I had a long talk with the DD's (5 & 6) about being good on the drive down, since I was solo with them. Luckily, they were really good, and the 6 hr trip was incredibly smooth, except for some gnarly wind.

We rolled into Ft. Pickens a bit after lunch on Sunday. I had reserved a nice shady site months ago. I had eyeballed this site last Memorial Day. Shady sites are hard to come by nowadays. When I checked in the lady at the desk peered out at our rig and said "I don't think you'll fit, and we are booked solid". Oops.....at this point I am cautiously optimistic. I am counting on my memory being correct about the layout of this site.

So down the road we go. After making my way to the site I looked at the overhanging tree limbs, tree lined road, and parked vehicles....at that point I said to myself "!@#$%^&*". I attempted one shot at it, but the neighbors truck was in the way. Thank goodness they were sitting outside and offered to move. Then the husband offered to watch for me, since I didn't have a copilot.

I circled back around the CG and lined up for another attempt. I had attracted 3 more guys who had come for the show. (Now, I don't like to brag, but I can back with the best of them. Years of pulling has helped out ;-) ) They didn't think a short bed truck with a 40 ft 5'er was going to back into this site. This is when the $$ spent on a Reese Sidewinder hitch paid off. I can go past 90 degrees with the truck and trailer. With the trailer nearly hitting a tree on the right, my front bumper nearly hitting one on the left, and the 5'er side barely missing the big limbs....I made it in one motion. Like a boss! The truck had to be parked in overflow, but I was happy with that.

I set things up fairly quickly and busted out the bikes. The girls and I looped and rode the trails around the CG. Later on we cooked some burgers on the grill. It was a good evening with them. That night I dropped them off at the inlaws.

The next four days was spent getting up early for work and eating/drinking nicely in the evening. I <3 per diem.

The ocean was crazy for the first 4 or 5 days. It was a red flag every day. The waves were really crashing. I would sleep with the windows open. It sounded like the camper was on the beach. Very peaceful way to turn in, for sure.

The weather was also quite cool. It was definitely light jacket and pant weather at night and in the mornings.

The wife (and dog) finally made it down on Thursday night.

Friday turned out to be quite rainy in the morning, but by late afternoon it was past. Some ny strips were slayed that night, along with roasted red potatoes and corn on the cob.

On Saturday the wife and kids went to Destin with the inlaws for shopping and lunch at the Back Porch. They all complained about the food there.....which is unusual for that place. I stayed back at the camper to dog sit and chillax. I walked the entire CG and made notes on which site were good for us. I am going all nerd like and compiling a spreadsheet. That afternoon I explored every part of the fort.

Saturday night I worked some magic on two huge pork chops with potatoes and fresh green beans.

Sunday was a travel day home....I hated to leave. It was a pretty good trip. I just wish that my wife could have come down earlier.

Ready to roll out

The garage was packed...the bigger the camper..the more junk you take :-/

I really like the old Florida feel of Ft Pickens

That's eight Diesel Fuels from Flounders...those things are lethal.

It is not too often that you see a tanker entering Pensacola Bay. This made the local news.

The End

I am ok planning a few meals months in advance, certainly can't imagine planning all meals like you almost need to on the DDP. But planning attractions and characters meets ahead of time??? That sounds too stressful.

x2

w00t for a WBI TR!

Yeah it is at least 10. It's an easy drive. I pulled our 5'er in without any problem. The CG has good roads, and is plenty easy to navigate. We had a huge pull through site that was very nice.

Take a hike while you're there. I did the mtn bike trails too. The back country is very pretty. Although, I would carry pepper spray. I saw plenty of wild hog sign, and there are bears in the area.

I didn't take any pictures, but the SP is wonderful. The sites are huge, there are nice trails around the park, and there is a cool "Cracker" village museum on site. We enjoyed our stay there.

I would look for a parade, then kidnap a few out of their little cars.

Nice little report!

Thanks for posting it.

No problem.

This is the park with the waterfalls, right?

Yep. The namesake DeSoto Falls is a big. There are numerous small wet weather falls in the park too.

It was weird seeing those flowers blooming when everything else looks like winter.

I don't know what they are called, but they bloom at the first hint of warmer weather. I have a few blooming on my property.

I'm sorry the weather didn't cooperate with your camping trip, but it looks like your trail ride was a success!

It was good little ride

TCD

I love the pictures of Maddie opening her presents! The look of pure joy on her face is just priceless! Looks like it was a perfect Christmas morning.

+1! Great TR.

We were going to camp all weekend at DSP, but with low temps approaching the single digits and highs only near freezing, I knew the wife and kids would just be holed up inside the camper all weekend. So today I loaded up the mountain bike and headed out. I had been checking out the mtn bike trails on facebook and the official website, and I was anxious to ride.

Luckily, DSP is just under an hour from the house. I rolled up to the campground store about 12:30. I was a balmy 32 deg on my truck's thermometer. After picking up a map, I made my way up the road past the CG to the trailhead (hiking and biking). There were two nice rigs leaving out of the CG as I passed by.

I got geared up at the trailhead and decided to hit the "family" loop first as a warmup. This loop is pretty easy, but small kids would have trouble. It was 2.5 miles around and back to the trailhead. There is also a trail leading to the old CCC quarry from the family loop, but I decided to save that one for later. This trail was pretty muddy in spots and frozen solid in others. I rode through a bunch of 3" high ice crystals that had formed in the dry night air. They looked pretty cool, but made for some slick going.

Next up I hit the "never neverland" loop. This loop was pretty bad arse. It started off rocky, rooty, and technical with several stream crossings, narrow bridges, and mud. After this creek crossing

and a short climb

I found out why they named it "never neverland". BTW, that little creek was rolling pretty good. I stopped there for a bit to catch my breath and enjoy the scenery. It's quite pretty back in there.

So just up the trail the terrain changed quite a bit. I was in a nice hardwood and spruce forest. The ground was nearly completely covered in some kind of native evergreen grass. It looked like something out of a movie. I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a pic.

Here is the bypass just before it....whoever takes the bypass is missing out on the best part of the loop.

After transitioning into a predominately hardwood forest and down a nice little curvy descent I was back into the heavy spruces. The wildflowers were in full bloom.

I finished out the loop and hit a little 1 mile trail that led to the CG. It was a bit steeper and more technical, but way fun. As I approached the CG I spooked about 20 deer that were grazing around the back sites.

I popped out of the woods and onto the CG upper loop road and did a little looping. The sites at DSP are, for the most part, HUGE with nice extra wide gravel pads behind the asphalt drive. They also have some "buddy" sites. These are pull through's and you can park with the curb sides facing each other....I wish more CG had these.

By now it was late afternoon, and there were only 2 campers plus the host in the CG. There were more deer than people. I decided to call it a day after cruising the CG.

If the weather is a bit warmer we will probably camp there next weekend....hopefully.

Any fiends that happen to be in the area should check out this state park and CG...it is very nice.

WTF is wrong with people these days. He should have killed himself first and did the world a huge favor.

We didn't like the new Mexican place either

I didn't like the old Mexican place either. We went once, but left feeling ripped off.

Huzzah! Another TCD TR!

I am also downwiththecinnamonrolls! We had one back in Nov....it was so good I had to make mention of it in my TR.

I also did the "college visit" trip back in high school. Me and a few others were supposed to visit a college in Maryville, TN, but instead we partied in Gatlinburg. We got in a little bit of trouble for that.

Convince me to go. Anybody want to share a site? (no children...or pets....or old grumpy people)

I found this album over at rv.net. It has a pic of every site. I am jonesing to stay here.

http://travel.webshots.com/album/550164442DdovJn