Down to the lake

So did you heed my advice? Did you find some time to go outside this weekend? Yesterday (Sunday) was a beautiful CA weather day for us here on the East coast. Here it is in the mid-to-late July and we're having this incredible low humidity. Usually this time of year finds us in the 90's with humidity at about 120%! So forgive me if I sound over enthusiastic here about a sunny day. I just really despise humidity. SO... what to do? I sort of got forced into doing some cleaning in my apartment... 2 of my houseplants got knocked off the shelf by a strong gust of wind, and knocked a ton of dirt onto the carpet. So after getting that thing (I think) they call it a "vacuum cleaner" out, I got some of my apartment cleaned. But then I was torn... what to do on this beautiful day? I went online and was looking at the google maps trying to find a lake or something to go to. Well, long story short, I ended up just getting in my truck and driving south with no particular place to go. After about 15 minutes, I found myself on "auto-pilot" heading down a route I traveled many times in my teens and 20's. I used to go to this one campground quite a lot called "Bass River". I knew there was a semi-large lake (well, large for South Jersey) that I thought would be a nice place to set up a lawn chair and chill.
I took my "patented" dirt road short cut. It's really cool to travel down a dirt road for several miles only seeing maybe 1-2 other 4x4 trucks in the middle of the most populated state. Its also a little scary, thinking your out here on your own in the middle of nowhere. I stopped and took some nice photos (I hope to post to flickr tonight). I had a young deer run in front of me (I was traveling slow of course). I tried to take some photos of a bunch of "swallows" that was very difficult since they don't hold still! I got back in my truck and continued to the lake. It was great and once I got there I was glad I made the hour and a half trip. I brought a book, but never got past more than one page because it was just so beautiful to look at the lake, the blue sky, and the several groups of people that had the same idea as myself. It was almost like a flashback too... Here were these groups of people that to me had a "piney" feeling about them. It's hard to describe if you are not from Jersey, but a "piney" is kinda like a hillbilly but with a tad more style. Then it hit me, that this lake probably attracts the locals that have been coming to this place since the 30's. Kinda neat.
I also was glad to see a new bird that I had never seen before. I was sitting in my chair, and I kept seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, yet when I turned and looked I didn't see anything. At first I thought it was a toad, but then I continued to watch and sure enough it was a very tiny bird with the most amazing camouflage! He was only about 10 feet away from me, yet when he stood still, I could barely see him. It looked like a cross between a sparrow and a nuthatch.
So after about an hour and a half of just enjoying my surroundings I decided to head back. I took the highway this time instead of my dirt-road shortcut. Turns out, it's actually faster via the highway (according to google maps). But certainly not the same scenery. I almost stopped into one of the local "piney" bars with a bunch of Harley's out front, but decided to just keep going back to my familiar territory. Lots of motorcycles that day.
So, Just hoping that you too made an effort to go outside this past weekend (If the weather was nice were you were.)