I still want a cool fort.  I built a shed last year (someday I'll afford the siding), but it wasn't really the same.  More expensive for one thing, and it's not exactly exciting to hang out with only teh wheelbarrow and the lawnmower for company. 

When I was a kid (my daughter's age), I devoured "the three investigators," the only series other than Narnia for which it can honestly be said that I cleared out the library.  (Light years ahead of the dumb Hardy boys.  That the leader of the three investigators was a chubby, thoughtful kid probably had nothing to do with anything.)  Anyway, one thing I remember most clearly is that the gang had an elaborate headquarters in the middle of a junkyard, with several hidden entrances known to, and readable by, only them.  It was, needless to say, the Coolest Hideout Ever. 

The efforts to recreate something like that in the various dangerous and rusting piles of trash (forgotten junkyards and derelict farm buildings abounded back then, along with many random finds) within walking distance of my childhood home weren't, sadly, ever quite the same.