After the failed canoe mission, it was time to go out on patrol around the Fort to see what else was happening on the morning of July 4th.
Some cabin people actually got in the decorating spirit. This one was on the 2800 loop, it's the first cabin you see as you enter the loop:
As I continued on my patrol, I stumbled upon our next mystery.
There were a bunch of tents set up in the group camping area.
They were not there on Friday.
They must have been set up sometime on Saturday.
Tents in the group camping area are not mysterious.
But, these tents were all the same.
And rather different looking.
Take a look for yourself:
Have you ever seen tents like this?
I haven't.
And, the weird thing is that there was not a single car anywhere in the group camping parking area.
Not one.
So, who set these tents up, and where were the campers.
Are these new rental tents?
There has been a rumor that the Fort was going to get new rental tents.
Even though there were no cars around, there was stuff inside the tents.
You can kind of see some camping equipment through the front screen of this tent:
And, there were some boots outside of this tent:
Usually, when there is a group in the group camping area, they take the place over.
There will be cooking equipment, camping gear, and miscellaneous stuff everywhere. And, the parking area will be jammed with cars and trucks.
But, these campers had no stuff.
Look:
Here's a clue . . .
There was a strange, multi-colored flag hanging in the central area:
So, this is mysterious.
Where did these campers come from?
And, what is with those tents?
And, where were they all?
Is this Michael Jackson's family's encampment?
Is this base camp for an invading army?
What, exactly, is going on here?
I solved this mystery on Tuesday morning.
So, we will have to come back to this.
In the meantime, we have more stuff to look at.
One more thing about whoever it was camping in the group camping area.
They still had no bus stop:
Here is the winner of the TCD best decorated campsite award:
Do you like how this camper printed out copies of our country's most sacred documents, and hung them on a clothesline?:
Have you ever seen such a thing?
Neither have I.
So, this guy gets the award.
Here is the second place winner in the decorating contest. From the 700 loop:
I applaud the use of a pool float as a decoration.
Why not?
It looks good, right?
If you remember the schedule of events that I posted earlier in this report, you will remember that there were all kinds of activities slated for the Meadow Recreation Area on the 4th of July. One of these was a make your own tie-die t-shirt activity. It was to take place in front of the Bike Barn. We headed over to check it out. The schedule said that there would be a charge for this activity, but it did not say how much. This was something that needed to be investigated.
Here are folks making their t-shirts:
And, here is the line of folks waiting to make shirts.
Really:
(I caught a couple of Disboarders on the left on the photo above- Hello SeaBee and KingBee!)
So, with this kind of crowd, you would figure that this must be a great deal.
Would you consider $20 a shirt to be a great deal?
Well, all of those folks did.
And, so did the TCD twins.
They wanted to make shirts, too.
I said OK. Even though I have an aversion to Hippies, I still enjoy an attractive tie die t-shirt. I am an open minded fellow, after all.
But, the line was really long.
And, this was going to go for about another 45 minutes.
So, I suggested to the girls that we have lunch at the Meadow Snack Bar, and let the line die down.
They agreed to that.
We have not eaten at the Meadow Snack Bar since it re-opened after last year's pool renovation.
It was finally time for TCD to try a Southern Smothered Hot Dog!
Here's the Meadow Snack Bar menu, in case you are not familiar with it:
There was no place to sit at the pool:
We noticed a picnic table over by the Bike Barn, so we planned to head over there.
You can get your refillable mug refilled here at the Meadow Snack Bar.
It is interesting how they do it. All you do is show your mug and tell the server what you would like. Then, they hand you a paper cup with your drink in it. They won't touch the mug. I guess it's for health reasons. Probably not a bad idea. But, I saw some people working the system. For example, this one family looked like they had two mugs, but a table full of drinks. They just kept sending someone up with those two mugs.
And, this lady successfully got a drink by showing her at least two year old blue mug:
My people watching came to an end when our food was ready.
We ordered two Southern Smothered Hot Dogs:
And a tuna sandwich:
Yes, you read that right.
A tuna sandwich.
Served outside in the July heat.
Yum!
It was actually quite good.
And no one died.
Or even got sick.
Here is one of the TCD twins attacking her Southern Smothered Hot Dog:
You can see we were at a picnic table near the lake, just off of the bridge.
Next, up . . .
Time to tie die . . .
And (can you believe it?) another mystery!
TCD