Just in time for the new weekend
So I promised a more detailed entry. I've been wanting to go to New Jersey for a while now, hoping to join up with Flip and Suzanne from the Weis Ecology Center for an eagle watch on the Delaware. The plan was also to visit Elena as she and Erin wanted to finally meet. Well, since the Eagle watch was well out of the way and Erin didn't want to do that, we hung out with Elena in the good old suburbs of New Brunswick. I was also hoping to get together with Doug and Alli for some games, but I heard nothing back from them.
So we got up Saturday morning and had a nice drive into the Garden State. We got in mid-afternoon, tired and starving, so we went out for Thai for lunch, which was alright, but not the best thai I've had. But I've decided I like other ethnic foods over Thai these days. Case in point, Sunday we went out for Indian for dinner and that really hit the spot. But the great thing about New Jersey is if you want a certain kind of food, you likely have multiple options within 10 miles of anywhere you are. So after lunch we attempted to take the dogs to the nearby off-leash dog park, but it ended up being closed due to the icy conditions. We went in to New Brunswick looking for an alternative and ended up letting them run around some tennis courts in Johnson Park. We spent the evening in with some chile and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I had not seen until then. Being a huge fan of Gene Wilder, I'm still not convinced anyone can replace him, but I suppose that's for another post.
Sunday was warm and gorgeous, and Erin slept in, so Elena and I went to one of the grassland preserves to do some birding. Got 21 species with five Harrier as the highlight. I'm so excited that its almost time to go looking for waterfowl. Anyway, the idea was to spend the day outside since it was so warm. The morning was still icy, but by noon it had warmed up enough for much of the snow and ice to have melted. Still, we decieded that any kind of major hike might still be hazardous, so we went down to Sandy Hook with the intention of searching for ducks on the water. Instead of focusing on birding, we just enjoyed the beach and had a blast playing with the dogs. In fact, the dogs had a blast running around freely with so much open space. They were very good and stayed close, playing so hard that they were still sleeping it off into Tuesday. So I've got dogs that love the woods, the snow, and the beach. Excellent.
As I mentioned before, we had Indian for dinner, and it was marvellously delicious. I think I like Indian food over all else. After dinner, we packed up and headed back home. It was a short weekend, but we'll have to do it again with some more time. But we may end up back in New Jersey as I consider Rutgers for graduate school. That reminds me, I must contact some professors today.
If you haven't seen them yet, I ended up with some surprisingly nice shots from our day at Sandy hook, so check em out.
So we got up Saturday morning and had a nice drive into the Garden State. We got in mid-afternoon, tired and starving, so we went out for Thai for lunch, which was alright, but not the best thai I've had. But I've decided I like other ethnic foods over Thai these days. Case in point, Sunday we went out for Indian for dinner and that really hit the spot. But the great thing about New Jersey is if you want a certain kind of food, you likely have multiple options within 10 miles of anywhere you are. So after lunch we attempted to take the dogs to the nearby off-leash dog park, but it ended up being closed due to the icy conditions. We went in to New Brunswick looking for an alternative and ended up letting them run around some tennis courts in Johnson Park. We spent the evening in with some chile and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I had not seen until then. Being a huge fan of Gene Wilder, I'm still not convinced anyone can replace him, but I suppose that's for another post.
Sunday was warm and gorgeous, and Erin slept in, so Elena and I went to one of the grassland preserves to do some birding. Got 21 species with five Harrier as the highlight. I'm so excited that its almost time to go looking for waterfowl. Anyway, the idea was to spend the day outside since it was so warm. The morning was still icy, but by noon it had warmed up enough for much of the snow and ice to have melted. Still, we decieded that any kind of major hike might still be hazardous, so we went down to Sandy Hook with the intention of searching for ducks on the water. Instead of focusing on birding, we just enjoyed the beach and had a blast playing with the dogs. In fact, the dogs had a blast running around freely with so much open space. They were very good and stayed close, playing so hard that they were still sleeping it off into Tuesday. So I've got dogs that love the woods, the snow, and the beach. Excellent.
As I mentioned before, we had Indian for dinner, and it was marvellously delicious. I think I like Indian food over all else. After dinner, we packed up and headed back home. It was a short weekend, but we'll have to do it again with some more time. But we may end up back in New Jersey as I consider Rutgers for graduate school. That reminds me, I must contact some professors today.
If you haven't seen them yet, I ended up with some surprisingly nice shots from our day at Sandy hook, so check em out.