State Parks @ MindSay

I haven't updated in what seems like forever. I turned 29 over the weekend. I didn't want a big hoopla surrounding it, but it just so happened it fell on the weekend I would be in Disney. Now I spend a lot of time in Disney World. I am a fanatic, and not just for the parks, but the hotels as well. I have actually gone for a weekend and not gone to the parks. Every year I buy a seasonal pass which allows you access to all the parks year round with some black out dates. The black out dates only apply to the busiest times of the year, so no beef there. Now I always go and I always get impeccable service. So when I went this weekend, I received disappointment after disappointment.

     First to start with my girlfriend had planned all of our dining for the weekend. She was all excited because we were both going to be dining in a place we had never eaten before. It is called Gulliver's Grille and is based on the story of Gulliver's Travels. So anyhow I will try to make this as short as possible. We sit down in a nearly empty restaurant and I notice most of the tables around us are messy from the previous occupants. Then a waiter came over and took our drink order. A few minutes after another person came to take our drink order. So we told him we already placed it and he left. While we are waiting for our drinks we overhear several tables complaining to the manager about the service and the food. Then we receive our drinks a few minutes later. Then approximately 20 minutes goes by. The tables still haven't been cleaned and our order wasn't taken. Now I must mention that they were not short staffed, there were numerous people wandering around aimlessly. So we bitched to the manager and got our drinks for free. We then left and he offered us a free dinner and we politely declined. So we left and it was about ten and all the restaurants in the hotels were closed. So we were reduced to eating at the food court at our hotel which is the equivalent of eating in the high school cafeteria.

     That was day one and we were upset a bit. Now I have no complaints at all about the first half of our second day. Even the weather was perfect for my taste. It was in the 50's and it was misting out. Not a full rain, but if it wasn't Florida I would have thought it was going to snow. Things went well until dinner again. We got great service, but the food sucked. I mean real bad, and I don't usually complain about food. I am not picky where that is concerned, but it was barely edible.

     So now we move onto the third day, I am trying to move it along for the sake of my readers (if I have any). We get up and go to breakfast at the place we usually go. That was good, but when we go back to our room to make sure everything was out we got a surprise. The air was on full blast and the clock radio was blaring. Neither of which we left on. So we checked the room and noticed a funny smell. The unmistakable smell of smoke, the evidence of two cigarette butts which was in our toilet. So we immediately called housekeeping. Well I say we and I mean my girlfriend. She was livid. We had already encountered a bunch of crap on this trip and were pissed. So she called and bitched to them. Now usually when Disney hears you are upset they are right there with the free stuff to give out. Now I don't know this from experience, because I have never had a bad time there until now. I do know people who have complained about stuff and they gave them free nights in hotels or free tickets to the park. They weren't budging and told us there was nothing they could do.

   So after that we just went to MGM studios. There we encountered several employees whose second language was English. Now that is usually unheard of in Disney unless you are in EPCOT in the countries. I have also never encountered an employee without a smile on their face or not have the answer I needed. I encountered all of them on this trip. I asked an ice cream vendor where the Narnia exhibit was and he shrugged and said, "I don't know." I was flabbergasted. Then when we finally found the Narnia exhibit, there was an announcer there. The man murdered the English language repeatedly. I had trouble hearing him. Now I expect this sort of thing in a mall in Miami. Not in Disney world. It just seems to me that they have cut all the jobs from the  people that were there a while. Simply to cut costs, and hire a bunch of immigrants so save money. People that don't give a shit about their jobs.

     Now maybe if they just spent less money on their endless shitty movies and direct to video sequels they could concentrate on their theme parks. I mean every time I go there, there is at least 30 more Tinkerbell trinkets than the last time I was there. I mean how much of this crap do we need? All I can say if this is what I am going to be getting from Disney in the future then I can just stay in South Florida where nobody has the answers and nobody speaks English. Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with people speaking another language, but this is America. Learn English or go the fuck home. Don't ask me if I habla espanol. Then when I reply no give me a look of surprise on your face.

Despite rain on Thursday and Friday, this was a great weekend for camping.  Chris and I went out to High Falls State Park on Thursday evening and set up.  It lightly rained on and off all evening, but thanks to a dining fly I borrowed from my Scout troop, we sat in a dry area, enjoying a tasty beverage or two, and watching our fire despite the precipitation.  We also enjoyed a magnificent grilled salmon dinner with sweet potatoes and steamed veggies.  Eating like kings really helps to alleviate any frustration with Mother Nature.

Unfortunately, we found out my new tent leaked, so we had large drops of water bombarding us throughout the night.  We still managed, and while a bit groggy in the morning, eggs with tortillas and salsa helped us wake up.  I tend to remember great trips based on the meals I eat, and I really enjoy cooking and eating while I'm out camping or vacationing.  Friday was a quiet day, as it continued to drizzle on and off.  We did a lot of sitting around and relaxing, and also took a short hike to the ranger station after the ranger came by and yelled at us for not having checked in yet.  We didn't have our pink "reserved" tag up, and apparently that upset the ranger.  Funny thing is, we had until 10:00 p.m. according to the instructions, and he yelled at us at 2:00 p.m.  Even stranger since he wasn't at his station the night before when we arrived at 5:00.

Jamie, Bryan and Marsha arrived about 6:30 p.m. that night.  We set to dinner early so we had some daylight left as we got things ready.  I had prepared a chili and then baked some cornbread to go with it, which made a wonderful warm dinner with the drizzle still going.  We topped it off with Russian Cherry Delight, which meant we all ate much more than we needed, but it tasted great!

Chris and I had set another tarp over the tent, which fixed the rain problem.  In addition, Marsha and Bryan just set up their mattress on a tarp underneath the dining fly and slept outside.  They got a little wet, but had a good time.  We could tell by their laughter and giggling.  To make up for them getting wet, we had pancakes and maple sausage in the morning.  I think nearly everyone fell back into a food coma, and most took short naps to allow breakfast a chance to prepare for lunch.  Jamie and Marsha each read a little bit, while Bryan and I threw some fishing lures in the water.  For the record, the water won, but we won't tell anyone that.  We would say we caught these magnificent fish, but at the very last second, the line broke, because they were much larger fish than our 4lb and 6lb line could handle.  Sure, that's the story.

The planned lunch was forgone as Bryan pulled out some MREs which gave us something to snack on, along with some reheated chili.  After lunch we opted to get out and finally do something.  The weather had let up, although it was still partly cloudy.  We left the campsite and went out to Dauset Trails Nature Center.  Chris had been mountain biking there before, and he and I stopped by on Friday as he was showing me where the trails were.  None of us had ever looked around though, so we walked the animal trail and found a real gem of a destination in middle Georgia.  I plan to take the Boy Scouts back there sometime to hike on some of the trails as we get ready to hopefully go to Double-H, a Boy Scout High Adventure Camp next summer.

We stayed at Dauset until they closed at 5:00.  They have a wonderful selection of wildlife including a bald eagle and a black bear which were great to see in a more natural setting than any zoo I have visited.  We left the center and headed back to camp.  While not everyone was hungry, the girls didn't want to wait until late to eat, so we started up a campfire and prepared dinner while playing a bit of Texas Hold 'Em at the same time.  Dinner consisted of steak, sweet potatoes (except for Bryan who had a baked potato), corn, Vidalia onions all cooked over the fire along with rolls warmed in a box oven.  It was delicious and again more than enough food.  I was accused multiple times of planning too much food, but I firmly believe that one thing you should not be while camping is hungry.  You may be cold and damp, but at least eat well!

Jamie led dessert making with banana boats and s'mores, while I drank my dessert.  We all turned in early, and were able to throw off the (ineffective - but I think I'm fixing that) rainfly and look up at the stars.  It was a beautiful night... until I head a dog and something else down in the river at 4:30 in the morning.  I don't know what it was, but it sure sounded strange.  It woke Jamie too, but no one else.  Never saw any signs of what it could have been in the end though.

Low cloud cover rolled back in sometime between 4:30 and 7:30, and it was a gray morning.  Chris went back to Dauset Trails for a few hours of biking while the rest of us at french toast, bacon and honeydew and then slowly took down camp.  We burned the last of the wood and sat around long enough to eat turkey quesadillas with Chris when he got back, before we all went home to clean up and recover.

Today has been more cleaning and recovery, since it is a federal holiday and I don't have to work.  It was a great weekend, despite the dampness, in my opinion, and the best part is Jamie and I are going camping again next weekend.  Next weekend we're joining my sister Erin and her fiancé Brody at a park up near Nashville.  I asked Jamie what she wanted to eat, and she said pancakes for breakfast and steak dinner, just like this weekend.  I guess that makes it easy, since I know what I have to buy and how to cook it all.  Hopefully next time we'll broaden our horizons some more with new variety.  I'll just keep planning until then!