The joy of eating

The joy of eating..
Cream of crab soup, premium salad, fried pickles, delicious parmesan potatoes, and finger licking good ribs.

Secret code

I thought this was merely a joke. Just yesterday,  one of my grand girls saw something written in cursive... and then said she couldn't read cursive. See the look on my face... I'm still filled with all kinds of thoughts... none of them good. Go figure.

True

Absolutely true...

Horsing around with pot.

Horsing around with pot... Actually several pots. Heeee. Giddy up springtime projects.

Carved in stone

Carved in stone... why?
Because it lasts virtually forever.
But it brings up many questions that go unanswered and logical scientific explanations are not valid or convincing. Simply, the answers to who, why, how, and when, go unanswered. Draw your own conclusions, but evidence of structures across the planet, eons ago, was the result of higher intelligence and technology beyond even our capabilities today.  Call it what you will, but the natural evolution of humans could not have accomplished much of what is in evidence from the past millennials. Superior or devine intervention  beyond ancient history is the only conclusion. It's not so much a question of what they did, but who and how. Even the few things that could have accomplished with tens of thousands of men hours, the question remains, why would they choose the hardest way possible to accomplish the task? I know what you're thinking... one of two things... Gods or Aliens! Which by definition equate to the same thing. But then again, call them what you will. Too much physical evidence as well as written accounts indicate that things were built, things were witnessed, and accounts  were documented of capabilities beyond that of mankind. But then again, perspectives & beliefs come into play, as well as truth, which in itself is subjective, and then there's also facts, which also can be elusive and incomplete. Bottom line, the probabilities high that beings not of this Earth came here with all their technology & knowledge... hence, all the unexplained wonders.

Trail food

Trail food... a popular choice for dinner is the Fort Wilderness Campground , Trails End Tavern. Okay, its basically the only place for dinner at the campground. Standard dinner fairs is the country western buffet. All you care to enjoy fried chicken, ribs, sides,  and home style corn bread. Good wholesome down to earth American country food and plenty of it.  Nothing over the top in the wow factor scale,  but simply good. So if you're staying in the campground you'll probably have some meals here. If you'd care to visit... It's worth the trip verses most of the food in MK.  Easily accessible from the Magic Kingdom via boats right a the MK entrance. Just look from the campground boat... enjoy the ride... enjoy the atmosphere of the campground,  and have a good meal. Then enjoy the boat ride back to MK for the evening and have some dessert between the rides & shows. The campground makes for a nice diversion from the park and gives you time to refresh the mind & body from the day long venture into the busy park. If you happen to be there in December,  save some time to walk into the 100, 200, and 300 sections to enjoy RV Christmas decorations... They go all out.  

Disney food festivals

Disney food festivals.  I have mixed feelings about the food festivals at Epcot. The offerings are specific to the countries around the world,  and while you may get to experience food from other cultures,  I find it to be much to my benefit to view the people leaving the food kiosk with their selections. Now I know its a matter of personal taste, but there seems to be three conclusions about the food. Looks great, tastes great... looks questionable, tastes good.. and OMG, what were they thinking, looks not too good, tastes very questionable.  So for me it's buyer beware. I'm kinda a standard American food faire kinda guy. But I do enjoy something new that looks & tastes good.  Lots of things at the festivals doesn't get past the "look test". Most guests are happy to answer your questions... "oh, what did you get? And what do you think of it? Answers very for "it's great"... to "its okay" ... to the polite response, "I didn't care for it". .. and the occasional... It's awful.  Seems to be that 2 out of 5 people think it was good... another 2 say its merely okay... and 1 of 5 really didn't like it, and usually include a comment that it's not worth the money. Of course there's the folks that plan on drinking their ways around the world, and as you might expect, the alcohol allows them to think everything is good, as long as it comes with a beer, wine, or hard liquor. Go figure. All in all, the festivals are good... I just like to see the offerings that other guests get, before I chose to venture into another cultures food. Here's a few that fell into the  "what were they thinking" category, and basically failed the "look test". 

Star light... star bright

Country life... away from the city lights.... away from any lights at all...
Cool crisp air, no moon, no clouds... just black sky and stars...
Lots of stars ... bright beyond belief...Priceless!

On the water

On the water... Disney style.
There's lots of basic transportation to get around on Disney waterways. It's always been my favorite transportation mode. The monorails are great but the waterways boats hold a special attraction.
Some you probably know... some perhaps not... and some simply a trip down memory lane. 

1 &2 boats that go between Wilderness Lodge, Fort Wilderness Campground,  the Polynesian, the Grand Floridian, and the Contemporary Resort and Magic Kingdom. 
#3 Main Ferry boats between Magic Kingdom and 

The ticket and Transportation Center.

#4 boat goes between Disney Springs, Saratoga Springs, Key West Resort, Port Orleans French Quarter, and Port Orleans Riverside.

#5 Epcot boats that travel vis World Showcase, and the Epcot hotels...

The boardwalk Resort, the beach and yacht clubs Resort, the Swan and Dolphin Resort, and also travels to Disney Studios.

Next 5 are actual rides.

The next 3 are rental watercraft.

The last 5 are gone but not forgotten watercraft ...

1 Seven Seas Lotion ferry... and 4 Magic Kingdom 

Rides that are no more. 

Hammer time

Hammer time

Weapons of choice

Weapons of choice... when eating steamed blue crabs. Personal choices are varied,  and its probably mostly influenced by what you grew up using. We grew up using what was easily available... the everyday dinner knife. The preferred knife would have a blunted not sharp edge, tapered to a blunted point, and a heavy handle. Why? Okay... the heavy handle is used to crack the crab claws by holding the blunted edge, hence the need for the unsharpned edge, so you don't get cut. The narrow blunted point is great for picking out the crab meat, which is brought to your mouth and eaten off the knife tip... again, blunted so as not to get cut. Traditionally a wooden crab mallet is used to crack the claws, and that's okay... I've used both the knife and the mallet... but the proper knife can be the one tool to do it all.
Then there's the seemingly odd choices that others use. To each his own. Just seems strange to me... nut crackers, little picks, little forks, slim handles. I've even seen kitchen scissors being used... generally outside if Maryland. 

Knife of choice

To each his own... 

Too sharp... sharp point...

Might be okay...

Problems

I see blogger is having major issues publishing anything with photos. 
Tired of seeing publish failed. Arggg!

PROBLEMS CONTINUE.... 3 DAYS NOW... WHAT IS THEIR PROBLEM? 

Underwater

20,000 leagues under the sea. First there was the movie,  and that inspired the Disney world attraction. There's always been the connection between Disney attractions or shows and movies. Unlike the age old question... Which came first? ... There's a easy answer. In this case it was the classic movie. I say classic as it relates to my generation.  The movie was a big hit back in our day, but probably never seen by anyone under 50.  As for the attraction, no kids have ever had the experience.  I know, it was a bit hokey, and technically unsophisticated,  but coupled with the thought of the movie, it was still nice. Alas, it went the way that so many other attractions that faded away from memory. Plus the advance of technical ability left the attraction lacking greatly in the wow factor and guest popularity, as it neared its ultimate demise. 
Other factors also contributed to its demise. Ultimately giving way to the expansion of Fantasyland as we enjoy it today. 

Fed up

Fed up and disgusted.

Lessons

Lessons learned in life.

Do you really want to know?

Do you really want to know? What goes into scrapple, sausage, and hot dogs?
Now I don't know about other countries as to what goes into certain foods, but I'm sure it's probably somewhat similar. The good old American favorite... hot dogs & sausage as well as the mid-atlantic favorite  "scrapple" have been enjoyed for many years... perhaps for 200 plus years. And everyone grew up hearing the same thing... ya just don't want to know what goes into those delicious meats. What's a part of the ground up mixture that tastes so good.  I remember back in the 70s when ingredient labeling began. Some companies were very literal in the contents and some were less graphic. One brand in particular,  which changed its label quickly was very graphic... too graphic for all concerned. Beef and pork hot dogs ingredients were listed as follows. Lips, tongues, ears, eye lids, feet, skin, innards, organs, head meat, rectums, and basically any part of the beef or pig that could be salvaged from all the unused parts that no one wanted to know about. Boiled, separated, and emulsified, with fillers and spices for flavoring added, and compressed into casings, then cooked or smoked to reduce the high bacteria laden mixture to accepted levels. Yum! See, I told you ya didn't want to know. Scrapple was made pretty much the same way. Nevertheless,  all are still enjoyed today as part of the daily American diet. Nothing is more American that the hot dog. Sausage & scrapple are breakfast standard fares. Dinner sausages rule the grill aside hot dogs & burgers. The best thing is... just not to think about it.... Simply eat & enjoy. Or stick to fresh chicken, pork chops, or steaks... or become a vegetarian. Yeah... That's not happening. 
Just as I thought... ya really didn't want to know.

Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland reconstruction. 
When Magic Kingdom first opened there was the very futuristic twin water towers at the entrance to tomorrowland. Very futuristic, very pretty, and absolutely perfect representation of a vision of the future... tomorrowland!
Sometime later the twin water towers were removed and replaced with rocks... Rocks!  I must have missed the concept of rocks being futuristic. The rocks have had perhaps many paint jobs over the years,  but they're still rocks, and are there to this day.
Tokyo Disney opened with the original twin tower water falls that we once had at Magic Kingdom.  Wow... how nice they look. Again, absolutely perfect representation  of a vision of the future... a real tomorrowland. A great idea revisited.
So why did Magic Kingdom change to rocks? I never found the answer. All I have is the thought... what we they thinking?
Disney is always changing and evolving.  Old favorites disappear,  usually replaced by something better... but still missed.

Tokyo Disneyland