2026 - Week 18 - Thursday Three

 

1. I had such a great time at Nicole's National Scrapbook Event during the weekend! It's always great to visit with like-minded friends.. . And I completed 20+ layouts.

2. Craig enjoyed time with his fishing buddies... and I semi-successfully got the flea tx on both cats. ha

3. We've been near The Gulf since Tuesday with some of our Alabama Airstream Club friends ...enjoying warm breezes and good seafood -

  -

 

#HardwickAdventures 

Aishling the Airstream Update No. 065

 Ft. Wilderness Campground

Walt Disney World

Orlando, Florida

[where you can have ice cream for dinner - lol] 

Or Dole Whips for brunch - ha 

Seriously.

And Pro Tip:

Buy your Mickey treats at WalMart.

[You can get six for the price of one on property.] 

You're welcome.
#WeCrazyWeKnowIt

And even though we don't buy park tickets - 

WE LOVE FORT WILDERNESS

[and all of the surrounding world!]

This may be our favorite campsite there!

1500 Loop - 

Backing up to woods with no campers behind us!

And yes! A carriage came through our loop!

[And no poopies, so yay! Just keepin' it real - ha]

LOVING my mirror on my bike! 

LOVING taking boat rides around the kingdom! 

[And the sky trams too -see them there in the background -]

We were on our way to a favorite meal at the Swan Preserve

Amore

Mediterranean

DELISH

always. 

 

We did enjoy more than a few meals out...

But decided that we might, in fact, enjoy our little breakfast at 'home' more than what we can get on property-  

We took the boat over to The Contemporary to hop on the monorail 

 

out to Epcot to enjoy the lights and people watch a bit... 

We ended up enjoying the fireworks

 from the boat launch when we returned.

   We LOVE riding our bikes around Ft. Wilderness 

and did it at least once each day --

We also LOVE those warm Florida days and the quiet pool down in the cabins [which BTW are pretty neat looking!]  

We could easily be snow birds! 

Craig enjoys the on-going scavenger hunt game at The Fort and always brings a few things he's found at Unclaimed Baggage to share each day - 

We enjoy going over to the The Contemporary balcony for the fireworks  - you can see the entire show complete with the sound track - 

The night we were there it was free-reign [no 'special' dessert party raking up half the balcony - lol]

 

Our favorite meal is without a doubt the storybook meal at 

Artist Point over at the Wilderness Lodge.

[Fashioned after the lodge at Yellowstone -] 

  

[Just a short boat ride away -] 

What can we say?

 

Seeing Snow White, Grumpy, Dopey, and the 'evil' Queen is always fun!

And the food is WONDERFUL - 

we usually get prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes and a pop over or two.

YUM. 

The appetizers and desserts are good too 

And we saw Old Faithful erupt as we were leaving!

Pretty cool!

Two last things:

Our favorite trail is behind the settlement and loop 3 - very rustic along the canal... and you can see Space Mountain and Tron in the distance...

 

And we always pick up a wondering fire pit [another on-line group] to enjoy while we're there. As you can see this is Sparky and it's a few years old now.
 

Traditional goodbye to the campground photo 

We'll miss this warm weather!

 

Enjoyed our 2026 trip so much! 

See ya real soon!

Side Note: 

We've noticed the bath houses stay much cleaner if you're in FHU loop. 

2026 - Week 17 - Thursday Three

1. It's been a good week here at home --> got some housework and yardwork done... and a good load of clothes to the Good Will. 

2. I've completed the front of my stitched bag - just a bit more to go... trying to decide if I want to make a cloth lining...

3. We've driven the same highway every single week for about 5 years now and this week is the first time we've seen thousands of tiny white butterflies on the side of the road. SO PRETTY and magical!! Conversely,  it's almost the end of April and I've not seen one firefly in our yard...

[My friend Al createdthe photo - VERY close to what we saw...]

#HardwickAdventures

Aishling the Airstream Update No. 063 - 064

 Two quick overnights at campgrounds Craig wanted to check out

on our way to see The Mouse - 

 

We stopped and had a nice lunch with friends 'along' the way - 

It's always nice to visit together! 

R. Schaefer Heard [COE]

Near West Point, Georgia 

From the internets: "R. Shaefer Heard Campground is a waterfront facility on the southern shore of West Point Lake, which spans parts of Alabama and Georgia. This man-made lake has 525 miles of shoreline that provide excellent opportunities for fishing, camping, boating and other recreational activities." 

My take: It's not *too* far from civilization - about 30 minutes to Lagrange, GA and 45 minutes to Auburn, both nice size towns - EVERY SITE IS WATERFRONT - and you can see the water was down for winter while we were there... 

Great internet / cell service!

 Bath house review is UK because we didn't use them. 

If we have occasion to, we'd camp there again.

 Onward to Casey Jones RV Park 

Lake City, Florida

From the internets: "We are family owned and operated. Whether this is your first stay with us, or you have returned, we want you to feel at home here. All sites are pull thru and full hook up water, sewer, electric, cable and wifi.

My take: This is definitely and over-nighter park [for us]. It is conveniently off the I-75. Easy to get in and out as all sites were pull through on grass. Camp staff directed us to pull in pretty close to each other. It worked for our need - 

Great internet / cell service.

Bathrooms - no review - 

We would stay there again if we needed a stop -

[#documented] 

2026 - Week 16 - Thursday Three

 

1. We had a wonderful time with camping buddies while we were at Chewacla for the weekend. Got my first mosquito bite of the season. Hmmm.
2. After buying a knitting needle or two while gone, I found the missing one on our driveway when I got home. Yay.
3. I've enjoyed a couple of lunches with friends this week -- so good to catch up together!  And I MADE the best strawberry cake ever! Thank YOU, @SouthernBite - it's delicious

#HardwickAdventures

 
PS - this bike path was little bumpier than we remembered...

Aishling the Airstream Update No. 062

 

Oak Mountain State Park

Birmingham, Alabama

 

We did a little winter camping with our Alabama Airstream Club

and it felt more like spring! We had 30 rigs registered and enjoyed meeting and getting to know some of our Alabama Club members that we didn't know - 

 

During the first night of the rally we played a fun get-to-know-you game that really got people talking with each other as they gathered in groups of things they had in common - and switched groups every 10 minutes or so. [We may have to play this game again another time!]

 

This is the first time we've been to Oak Mountain since they renovated the campground - and, omgoodness, y'all - it's fabulous! We enjoyed using the pavilion for a couple of meals including shared appz and a chili night...

 

It was February and

the weather was WONDERFUL!!

 We scheduled one day to go over for lunch at the Irondale Cafe [the cafe that inspired Fried Green Tomatoes -- book and movie --]

 

And omgoodness - it was delicious!!

Craig had called ahead so they were ready for our large group - 

 

And we filled the place up! 

It's surprisingly nice to watch the trains go by!

 

But some of us decided to walk across the tracks for a photo by the mural...

Fun.

Until we got stuck on the wrong side of the tracks by a train that kept going forward / backing up... and another that went by on the other side... 

 An adventure for sure! 

[And it's good to have adventure friends -]

We also had scheduled time to visit Silver Liner - a local restoration place that specializes in Airstreams. Gavin and his team were great to welcome us in! 

[Again - prearranged. We didn't just show up. HA.] 

 

Some of us enjoyed craft time in the wonderful pavilion... a time to visit and share together while doing a simple craft...

And others enjoyed a great discussion on maintenance and things that might make your camping experience easier or more enjoyable. 

Such a great weekend and a wonderful group of streamers that included lots of Alabama members we'd not met, as well as club members from Arizona, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and new Airstream owners from Maine who happened upon us.

Oak Mountain State Park - 

Just look at those improved sites!!

Great bath houses, internet - and close to anything you might need.

We'll definitely be back!