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| My boys! |
It struck me recently that we haven't explored any of the
State Parks outside of the city. Memorial Day weekend seemed to be the perfect time to rectify this oversight. We decided on
Sterling Forest, mostly because it had the word "forest" in the name. It's in the Palisades area and it took us about an hour and a half to get there. Drew spent much of his childhood wandering in the woods and often hankers to be surrounded by trees. I was feeling mighty overwhelmed by the steaming city and I just wanted to get out. Our trip was perfect. It was exactly what we needed. The only glitch was all the sneezing and nose-blowing on my part. Nothing like being surrounded by flora to get my allergies going!
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| It was big! |
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We encountered various forest wildlife including chipmunks, a frog, lots of dragonflies, and a very close call with a snake! Some other hikers warned us that they heard of a snake sighting. As we were walking along a road that would take us to another trail, we suddenly heard a rattling noise and Drew and Deston immediately noticed the very long black snake directly in front of them. It started bobbing its head back and forth and we backed away to the other side of the road. It was a thrilling encounter; we avoided all brush after that!
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| The snake moves away. |
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The highlight of the day for Deston was chucking rocks into Sterling Lake. I found out Drew is quite good at skipping stones. There are plenty of parks to explore, but I think we'll probably go back to this one. The trails are good and the hiking is just right for Deston. He was engaged enough to walk without whining to be picked up. I found a tick on Drew when we got home (he was wearing shorts), so we'll be packing the bug spray for our next trip.
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| The rapids off Sterling Lake. |
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| The old iron forge. There used to be a lot of iron work going on in this area. |
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| Sometimes I'd like him to be on the other side of those bars . . . |
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| Stone bridge |
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| Vertical shot of the forge |
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| Sterling Lake |
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| Frolicking in nature |
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| Deston is posing, not almost falling |
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| Ferns were everywhere! I loved it. |
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Tranquil, no?
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