Now that we have those tee pee photos out of the way, let’s continue on with the TCD gang’s Tuesday afternoon at the Fort.
During one of our looping excursions, we saw these folks setting up on the 1500 loop:
This may not look like much to you, but these folks had the biggest blue tarp I have ever seen used at the Fort. Once they had it set up, it covered their entire campsite. The whole entire campsite. Then, they set up their tents beneath it. I meant to get a photo of the finished product. But, it took them so long to get the tarp up that it was too dark for a good photo on Tuesday, and then I forgot to go back for the shot. You’ll just have to take my word that it was quite a sight. Very big. Very blue.
The folks with the Herbie the Love Bug tow vehicle had their cart down and ready to go on Tuesday:
I’ll jump ahead of our timeline here to share that I ran into our own Starbuc71 in the Pioneer Hall golf cart parking area on Friday morning. He was driving his sweet Herbie cart. I told him to make sure and check out these folks. I’ll bet he took some side by side photos. (hint, hint)
Later in the afternoon, as I was making plans for dinner, I realized that we needed some real butter for something that I was going to make.
So, we made a run to the Meadow Trading Post.
I hate the fact that golf cart traffic is blocked on the bridge.
And, I also hate having to drive all the way around to get to the Meadow golf cart parking area.
So, when I am over in the 1500-1900 loop area, I park in the grass at the base of the bridge on the pool side, walk over the bridge, and use the back door to enter the Trading Post. That isn’t so bad.
As we headed over to the Trading Post, I casually took this snap shot:
That’s all it is.
Just a snap shot.
But, sometimes it is good to stop and really look at a photo.
And I suggest that this is one of those times.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
And, I think this one is.
Actually, it's worth more than a thousand.
Take a moment and look at all that is going on in this one photo.
It’s just a quick shot taken on a Tuesday afternoon.
But, if you look, you will see this tent set up behind a site on the 600 loop. What a great place to camp. What a view those lucky folks were treated to on this trip:
(This and the next three photos are zooms on the same photo)
And here, we see an egret enjoying his day at the bottom of the photo, and two lucky campers enjoying a canoe ride out in the lake:
And here, we see what looks like a father and son getting ready to load up in a canoe, and across the lake, a couple just sitting out in the sun behind their site, taking it all in:
And here, we see a bunch of kids who parked their bikes and are gathered around a picnic table to work on a craft:
All of that in one little photo.
And this is just one little corner of Fort Wilderness.
On a pretty typical Tuesday afternoon.
And folks wonder why so many of us are crazy about the Fort?
Now, here’s a shot taken within seconds of the one that we just took a closer look at:
Now you see that a couple of kids have entered the shot. They are wearing bathing suits, and wrapped in towels. They are coming from the pool. It was in the 70’s on this November afternoon. Some of you reading along were probably someplace where it was cold. Or snowing. But, here at the Fort, folks were just enjoying a typical warm November afternoon.
Magic.
That’s what it is.
Magic.
Speaking of the pool, as we headed over to the Trading Post, I took this photo of the Splash Zone:
And, here’s a shot of the pool taken from the bridge:
I won’t go through the whole zoom in exercise again with these photos, but let me point out to you that there were a lot of kids enjoying the splash zone. And, a lot of folks in the pool. On a typical November afternoon.
We went in to the trading post through the back door.
And, I noticed something new immediately.
It was a pressed penny machine:
I hear you.
That doesn’t look new.
It sure isn’t.
In fact, it's quite old.
But, it is new to this location.
I haven’t seen this particular machine for years.
My best recollection is that this particular machine used to be set up near the ticket window at Pioneer Hall.
But today it was sitting in the Meadow Trading Post.
It wasn’t there on any of my previous visits this year.
About that, I am absolutely certain.
So what’s the big deal?
I’ll tell you.
Look at the design on the pressed penny on the far left:
It’s Musket Mickey.
That’s a big deal.
Truly.
Musket Mickey has all but vanished from the Fort.
But, here he is!
On this ordinary Tuesday afternoon.
And, for a mere investment of $.51, I was able to purchase a pressed penny.
Here it is:
I wonder what happened here?
Why has Musket Mickey returned?
What does this mean?
I don’t know.
You might think I am happy about this.
But I’m not.
Do you want to know why?
I’ll tell you.
When I got home, I compared this pressed penny to some which I recently found from one of our visits to the Fort from long ago. That’s right, I recently found some old Fort pins, and some old Fort pressed pennies. The new one was identical to the old ones. Identical. So, there goes my idea of selling my old ones on Ebay.
If you have plans to visit the Fort anytime soon, make sure to bring two quarters and a penny, and stop by the Meadow Trading Post. Somehow, I don’t think Musket Mickey will be there very long.
Anyway, we didn’t go to the Meadow Trading Post to get a pressed penny.
We were there to buy some butter.
Which we did.
I will leave out the price.
I don’t want to put a damper on my report.
As I paid for my purchase, I noticed that the checkerboard was open.
I issued a challenge to my DD.
She accepted.
There was a display of some odd Mickey Mouse grabber thingies there next to the checkerboard, so my DD borrowed one to use while trying to beat the old man:
There weren’t many customers in the trading post while we played, so the castmembers at the register were watching us and laughing. I guess that ‘s a pretty boring job.
Eventually, we reached the point that we always reach. My DD saw that things were not going to work out in her favor, so she “accidentally” bumped into the board, and all of the pieces moved. It happens every time. Only sometimes it is me doing the bumping. We have never actually finished a game of checkers. Has anyone?
Well, when we got done with our game, one of the castmembers walked over and asked who won I told her no one, but that I would have had it not been for the “accident.” She asked for my first name. I told her. She said hold on a second. She walked over to the register, and wrote on something, and then came back to the checkerboard. She had a certificate declaring that I was the checkers champion of Fort Wilderness, and she also presented me with a gold crown! And a couple of Mickey Mouse stickers, too.
How about that?
More pixie dust.
While in the trading post, I noticed that they at least had a few Christmas decorations:
I headed out of the trading post and back to the cart.
Sporting my crown.
Back at camp, we all enjoyed some hammock time:
Here’s a view from the back of our site, looking toward the four way stop:
Here’s what I saw looking up from the hammock:
I love that view.
I could lie there all day looking at that view.
And all night, too.
Here’s the view looking from the hammock out toward the back of our site:
The sun continued to sink lower and lower in the sky:
And, then it was Tuesday evening.
We would eat at the site, and then head over to Hollywood Studios to use our Toy Story and Rock ‘n Roller Coaster Fastpasses. Plus it was EMH at Hollywood Studios.
So, we had a fun evening in store.
TCD
