A Shining New Era is Tiptoeing Nearer for the TCD Gang

[caveat lector 181]

Heading to the keys in between a multitude of WDW trips. TCD is the only guy I know that might travel and party LESS when he retires.

[Lou... 3,118]

 

 

 

Maybe we'll get an updated version of this classic photo.

He's going to kill me when he gets back. If he sees me that is.

 

 

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

Oh my...   Lou I have no idea what to say about that photo....   wow...  just wow.....     You are so in trouble...

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

We are slacking people. The hippie hijack does not seem to be going over well.

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

Grrrrroooooooovvvvyyyyyy

[jmaul 65]

What do you call a hippy's wife?

Mississippi.
 

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Q: Why do hippies wave their arms around when they dance?

A: To keep the music out of their eyes.

[jmaul 65]

What smells worse than a whaling ship?

 

The Greenpeace ship following it.......

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, enough with the hippie jokes.  I'm back!

 

And this TR will resume shortly. 

 

But first, let me take a selfie, respond to the comments:

 

You are going to have to try awfully hard to step on a pop top.  Perhaps you could just blow out your flip flop instead?

 

Hope you have a marvelous time!

 

(Try the key Lime Pie on a Stick!)

 

You were correct- no flip tops were found.

 

And, I did try the Key Lime Pie on a stick.  And also with no stick.  Both were good.

 

Us wait patiently?

I think not!

Time to start the search for new Hippie photos. We all know how much TCD loves those.

 

I will supply my own hippie photos.  See below.

 

I think TCD will bring back some hippie photos from Key West.  When I was there, it was very, shall we say, artistic?

 

You are correct.  I will post a sample in the next post.

 

By the time you post the next update, I will be on vacation without computer for a week.  Talk to you in a couple weeks, Andrew.  Enjoy KW!

 

Well, I missed saying bon voyage to you, Dave.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

 

TCD can see more characters in Key West than he can at WDW.

 

So true.

 

I have a photo of one of my favorites in the preview post which will follow this one.

 

Enjoy the Keys!

 

Thanks.

 

I did.

 

Much more than I expected that I would.

 

 

What this hijack needs is a theme.  

 

Like hippies.

 

Or banjos.

 

I saw both in Key West.

 

But I didn't get a photo of a hippie with a banjo.

 

I got the next best thing though.

 

Check back to see.

 

Do we get a Keys report?

Now who is going to be the first one to report on there car keys?

 

I will add Keys bonus material to the end of this report.

 

We could make bets on which Key the TCD gang went to.

My money is on Islamorada with only a day trip to the Conch Republic.

WBI

 

That was a good guess.

 

We stopped for lunch at Robbie's in Islamorada, but stayed the whole time in Key West.  Five nights.  It was great fun.

 

I hope they at least make a day trip to Key West.  I love that place and can never get enough pictures.  I wish I were sitting in Sloppy Joe's right now enjoying the entertainment, eating a Sloppy Joe, and washing it down with one of their margaritas.

 

I had been to Sloppy Joes before, but never realized that they actually served sloppy joes there.

 

But, now I know.  And I had one.  And I liked it!  I think I have photos.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Some teaser pics from Key West.

 

I never saw a hippie with a banjo, but a really short Darth Vader with a glow-in-the-dark banjo is a close second:

 

 

In Margaritaville:

 

 

JB was not there.  And I didn't find the shaker of salt.  I did wash down the beer with a margarita, though.

 

This was parked right around the corner from the house we rented.  Fortunately, I never saw the owner:

 

 

 

TCD

[jmaul 65]

 

 

This was parked right around the corner from the house we rented.  Fortunately, I never saw the owner:

 

 

 

TCD

 

The owner was probably inside sleeping....

 

Jerry's Dead, Phish Sucks, get a job.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Darth with a glowing banjo? Nice work.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Oh boy!!!  More from the 24-hour event followed by Key West pictures?

 

If TCD keeps this up, it should be a very nice summer!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The owner was probably inside sleeping....

 

Jerry's Dead, Phish Sucks, get a job.

 

Never thought about that.

 

The owner also probably needs a bath and a haircut.

 

Darth with a glowing banjo? Nice work.

 

That might have been the only street performer I can post a photo of on a family site.  We saw lots of men playing dress-up.

 

Oh boy!!!  More from the 24-hour event followed by Key West pictures?

 

If TCD keeps this up, it should be a very nice summer!!

 

You are exactly right.

 

We will be traveling back to the 24 hour event in the next update.

 

One small correction, though- there's another quick Star Wars Weekend trip with Twin #1 before we head south.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's see if I remember how to do an update.

 

We left off with Twin #2 standing in line outside of Be Our Guest restaurant, hoping to get in soon for lunch.

 

Here's where we stood at 10:50 am.  We had joined the line at around 10:20- so it took us 30+ minutes to get inside so we could order.  That's much longer than normal, especially this early in the day, but this was a different day since the park had opened at 6- seems like everyone was heading to lunch early:

 

 

I'm not sure where else, if anywhere, they were handing out these nifty Maleficent headbands, but we scored a couple here:

 

 

I am not really sure what I was supposed to do with this hashtag, so I haven't looked it up.  If anyone finds anything interesting connected with it, please let me know:

 

 

If you're wondering what I ordered at BOG, you must not read very many TCD TR's.  I got the braised pork- like always:

 

 

The deal that I had made earlier with Twin #2 was that if she could make it through lunch, we would take a break, and she could go back to her apartment for a nap.  She let me know during lunch that that's what she wanted to do next.

 

So, we headed out of the park after lunch.

 

Here's a free tip for you- if you ever visit the MK in the summer, and you think about using one of your FP+ choices for the FOF parade, this is the roped off area that they give you- it's directly across from the castle, but there's not a bit of shade.  I took this photo at 11:40 am, which is 20 minutes before the parade start (there was a noon and 3 pm parade today).  If you're willing to stand in the sun, there are plenty of spaces you could get at this same time and not waste a FP+:

 

 

Don't miss the Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum costumes in that last photo.

 

As you may recall, my car was out in the MK parking lot.  So, we took the express monorail that way.  Here we are waiting at the station:

 

 

You can see that it ended up being a beautiful day.  Not a drop of rain, and not too bad with the humidity.  Definitely a more pleasant day weather-wise than last year:

 

 

If you look between the trees, you can see the Fort boat down there in the Seven Seas Lagoon:

 

 

From here, we headed back to the TTC, and retrieved the car.  I then drove Twin #2 back to her apartment, and she said she'd let me know when she was ready to head back to the MK.

 

I was now on my own.

 

Although it wasn't as hot as last year, it was still hot.  So, I decided that I should take a break too.

 

But where?

 

What would you have done?

 

I decided to head to the Wilderness Lodge.  I know of several places there where there are comfortable places to sit and take a break.

 

And that's what I did.

 

I even snoozed for a while.

 

That ended up being a great choice.  The whole time I was there, less than a half dozen people walked by where I was sitting.

 

I have no photos of that place.  I'm keeping it a secret.

 

After my rest, I still hadn't heard from Twin #2.  I knew she needed some sleep, so I let her be.

 

I decided to head over to the Fort.

 

We had discussed eating dinner there, so I figured I may as well get over there.

 

I just hopped the bus and went.

 

And here we are, at the Settlement:

 

 

The peace and quiet there was quite a contrast to the craziness going on over at the MK at that very moment:

 

 

It wasn't busy around Pioneer Hall either:

 

 

There were plenty of rocking chairs available, so I sat and rocked a bit.  After a while, I heard from Twin #2, and we made our plan.

 

She would also park at the Lodge, and then join me here at the Fort.  She was going to be at least an hour though.

 

So, I could sit there and rock for an hour, or I could go and do something.

 

I chose to go and do something.

 

It was pretty hot out, so I thought about just riding the buses around.

 

But how boring does that sound?

 

I decided that I would head out by foot and check on some things that needed to be checked on.

 

So, here we go.

 

The fenced in area off of Crockett's Porch is a nice garden when the Christmas tree isn't there:

 

 

 

The last time I was here at the Settlement Trading Post, I had noticed how the rose bushes there had been cut back severely, and that there were no roses.  Well, I guess that pruning was a good thing, because there were lots of red roses around today.  And, I stopped to smell them, too:

 

 

 

 

Here's the site that we camped on for Spring Break this year (aka Fiesty's site).  It doesn't look right with someone else there:

 

 

My original plan was to walk up that sidewalk there and do what we call some manual looping.  Which means walk around a couple of loops.

 

But then I got a better idea.

 

I remembered how I had seen a bald eagle right around this spot in March, and I decided to walk back on the pedestrian path here and look for the eagle's nest.

 

So, I went this way:

 

 

There used to be a nice wood sign posted on the post you see there to the right of the path in this photo which told guests that this path is for pedestrians only.  Bikes weren't even allowed.  Now, they just have that temporary sign, and it only prohibits golf carts.

 

As I stood there, I remembered to check on the covered wagon that used to be in front of the Trading Post- it's still sitting in the back, with no signs of them fixing the ripped fabric on the roof:

 

 

The canal that runs behind the 100 and 200 loops is still much clearer than it ever used to be:

 

 

Now, we will head down this path:

 

 

If you ever come down this path and notice the metal posts off to the right side, and wonder why they're there-I'll tell you.  These posts were used to hold props for the old Haunted Carriage Rides that they used to do around Halloween time.  They stopped doing those, but nobody bothered to remove the posts, so here they are:

 

 

There's one in the center of this photo, and I'd like to point out that the grass here was recently mowed, so it's not like there haven't been CM's back here:

 

 

This is the area where they once planned to build a new dining pavilion.  And they still may one of these days.  For now, though, there is no sign of anything happening back here:

 

 

There are plenty of really tall trees back here along the path that would make great trees for an eagle's nest, but I saw no signs of any nest:

 

 

There were a couple of places along the path where it was obvious that someone had cut back some of the brush to get to the ground.  But, I didn't see any new survey markers or anything of that nature:

 

 

I have to laugh when I get to this clearing and see all the tire tracks- it's obvious that someone drives back here.  A lot of someones:

 

 

Now we're at my favorite spot, looking across Bay Lake at the MK.  I'm usually here at sunrise or sunset, not the middle of the day.  But, the view was still good.  It's hard to believe that right over there across the lake, the MK is packed full of crazy guests who will be there overnight and on into the morning:

 

 

Here are some interesting footprints in the sand:

 

 

This may be the most scenic trashcan in all of WDW:

 

 

Since I was back here, I thought it would be a good idea to check on the new bat house and see if it had any residents yet.

 

We will be heading over there in the next update.

 

And then we will be checking on something to address a dumb question that was asked in a recent thread.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

You are brave to check out the bat house residents (or perhaps lack of).

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

That wagon still sitting there is a travesty.

Fix the canvas morons.

[jmaul 65]

BOG braised pork.  Didn't see that coming.....

 

Evil is NOT complicated.....

 

Great shots of Seven Seas from the Monorail station.

 

Wow.  FW was dead that day.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Wow!  Key West, MK, and Fort pictures all in one day!  I sure would love some of that braised pork right about now.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

You are brave to check out the bat house residents (or perhaps lack of).

 

Brave?  To look at bats?  Why should I be afraid of them?

 

That wagon still sitting there is a travesty.

Fix the canvas morons.

 

No kidding.

 

How hard could it be to get some canvas and fix it?

 

BOG braised pork.  Didn't see that coming.....

 

Evil is NOT complicated.....

 

Great shots of Seven Seas from the Monorail station.

 

Wow.  FW was dead that day.

 

LOL at not seeing the braised pork coming.  I'd eat it every day if I could.

 

You need to go and see the movie, and you'll see that evil is, in fact, very complicated.  I think the point of the movie is that Maleficent isn't evil.  Someone else in the movie turns out to be the actual evil one.

 

I was surprised by the number of empty sites- we are about to see a bunch.  Remember, this was Friday afternoon, May 23rd.  The beginning of Memorial Day weekend.  I would have expected every site in the Fort to be occupied.

 

Wow!  Key West, MK, and Fort pictures all in one day!  I sure would love some of that braised pork right about now.

 

Glad you like the Fort photos- I have another update full of those coming up next.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I still have a long way to go with this TR, and we are going to get there, whether you like it or not.

 

So, onward!

 

We left off at my favorite spot in the Fort.

 

From there, I checked on the old cabin, and the relatively new, but now obsolete, bat house across the canal:

 

 

Things look pretty dam good back here since they fixed-up the dam and built that BABH:

 

 

All signs of construction are gone back here, and now there's just the refurbished dam and some cypress trees to look at:

 

 

There's the BABH:

 

 

The last time I was out this way, the gate that they installed with the fencing was removed, and they just had a temporary plastic gate stretched across the bridge.  Well, the gate is back, and everything was locked up:

 

 

 

 

With all that fencing and locked gates, I had no easy access to go and check on the occupants (if any) of the BABH.  So I have nothing to report on that for now.

 

From across the bridge, heading toward the 300 loop and looking back at the other side of the dam, it looks dam good too:

 

 

If I had nothing better to do, I could have walked all the way down to the 1800 loop, and headed over to the bridge that leads to the other side of the canal there, and then walked all the way down the canal and through the open gate that you see on the other side in the photo above.  Then,  I could have stood right under the BABH and looked to see if there was any evidence that it was occupied.  But I certainly didn't have time for  that today.

 

The last time I was out this way, there was a gator in the canal where that bird is.  Since the bird is here, I assume that the gator has moved on:

 

 

From the bridge, looking down the canal, at the lovely wilderness for which Fort Wilderness is named:

 

 

I love this view, as long as I avoid looking too hard above the tree line:

 

 

If you look too hard, this is what you see:

 

 

In less that two months, that abomination will be welcoming its first guests.

 

They spoiled my view for those guests.

 

I guess I'm the only one who cares.

 

Now,  we have popped out onto the 300 loop, and look at the empty sites here:

 

 

 

 

 

That's weird. This was around 5:22 pm on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.  I wouldn't have expected to see that many open sites.

 

Now we're out of the 300 loop, looking across the road to the bus stop.  I was plenty hot at this point, and thought about sitting on one of those nice benches and waiting for an air conditioned bus, but I was on a mission, so I headed toward the Meadow area on foot:

 

 

There was no one kid on the big playground:

 

 

I enjoyed seeing the big sycamore tree there at the playground with all of its leaves nice and green and ready for summer.

 

That tree was giving off some good shade.

 

I was starting to think that maybe the rapture had happened or something, but then a bunch of traffic came by-so at least I knew I wasn't the only one left behind:

 

 

The dog park was deserted:

 

 

I was late on the draw for this photo of a very nice Auburn golf cart.  War Damn Eagle:

 

 

There were no tails wagging at Waggin' Tails today:

 

 

Here's something you don't see every day- no scum in the canal between the 1400 and 500 loops:

 

 

The swamp across from the 1400 loop is looking lush:

 

 

You see those white flowers up on that tree?   That's a bay tree. They only bloom this time of year- if you just visit the Fort in the fall or winter, you won't see those flowers:

 

 

I don't think anyone is going to be finding any railroad spikes over there until winter rolls back around and things die down some:

 

 

Now we are walking along the sidewalk behind some of the first outside sites on the 1400 loop-these cypress trees have really grown in here and provide those sites with a lot of privacy:

 

 

There were several empty sites here on 1400:

 

 

 

They have installed a bunch of new fencing around the sidewalk that leads out of the 1400 loop into the Meadow area- I guess they're trying to stop any golf carts from sneaking by.  Commies:

 

 

I imagine the Theater Under the Stars did a brisk business over the Memorial Day weekend.  All was quiet as I walked by, though:

 

 

At this point, I was just about to the place I had come to see.

 

I will share what I saw there in the next update.

 

TCD

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

Updates aplenty today!

Love all the Fort pics as usual.

The gate across the dam SMB.

I want a cinnamon roll.

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

And only two months until I round up all the toddlers to go "swim" in the abomination's lazy river.

[jmaul 65]

That's weird. This was around 5:22 pm on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.  I wouldn't have expected to see that many open sites.

 

Is it possible they were all at MK for the 24 hour event and had their rigs in the MK parking lot?

Save a day's rent, arrive the next morning and catch some winks in the Outpost parking lot till the site is ready?

 

And only two months until I round up all the toddlers to go "swim" in the abomination's lazy river.

Don't forget the TP.  Oh, wrong thread.

 

[sherryberry 35]

Braised pork is yum! Glad you had a good time in the Keys - welcome back!