No. 18 Thompson Park

I began hike 18 during a snow shower along the edge of the Swimming River Reservoir at Thompson Park, a really great, multipurpose 667 acre park.  The day was cold and damp with a very low and grey sky.  I decided to do the 4.8 mile loop hike with a .8 mile excursion around Marlu lake, took a few detours and ended up walking 8.6 miles.  For some reason I just kept wandering.  At one point I followed a doe through the woods for about 20 minutes, she didn’t seem to mind.  That took some time to find my way back to the trail again.  Eastern Bluebirds were all about and very curious about what I was doing.  I also spied on a pair of Redtail Hawks for about half an hour, they let me get pretty close, which is unusual.  I’m really glad I had my binoculars on this hike.  Now that spring is right around the corner, I can’t forget them or I will miss a lot!  I’m looking forward to some drier weather because I miss hiking in northern New Jersey.  I am thankful to have so many county and state parks close to home, but I want to be back in the mountains with more challenging terrain, in more remote parts of the state.

@ The Shop

It’s coming along!!  The floors and trim are being done this week.  Rob at Shore Remodeling is skilled, efficient, kind and trustworthy.  I would recommend him to anyone and I’m so grateful for all his hard work.  Then the next two weeks we will build the new sample wall, framing counter, table, and fixtures.  Yikes!!  That’s a lot to get done.  The only thing that has me feeling stressed out is the name change.  The state of NJ hasn’t approved it yet.  Obviously, if it’s meant to be it will be…I just want to know 🙂