Seward Johnson and Grounds for Sculpture

We had a wonderful time at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton Township today.  A special exhibit of the sculptures of Seward Johnson is showing there into September.  Here are a few that show off his more whimsical side.

More Biking

We just rode 8.7 miles round trip on the Henry Hudson Trail.  We parked off Dutch Lane Road in Freehold and headed north.  We turned around south of Rt 520 where the trail heads off into a meadow before stopping.  Since it is a beautiful Sunday morning, with temperatures forecasted for the high 80's this afternoon, there was a fair amount of bike traffic and walkers.  I imagine there are many fewer people on a weekday.
Yesterday we biked 7 miles just within our neighborhood.  And W swam in the pool for the first time.  Plus we walked in the neighborhood in the evening.  So we are finally getting some exercise.
While we were walking yesterday we took a tally of houses under construction - we counted 33 and that does not count another section where there are at least a few.

Great Bike Ride

We had a great day today.  It was a beautiful day for a bike ride.  We were somewhat constrained by the fact that W had a lunch engagement, so we started out for Princeton early this morning.  We parked the car on the east side of the Delaware and Raritan Canal just north of Route 27 in Kingston and rode up the Kingston Loop Trail to its end on Route 518.  That trail was ok though narrow in spots.  It obviously is not very well traveled.  At Route 518 we switched over to the D&R Canal trail that goes between the canal and the Millstone River and continued north.  The trail was a bit muddy in spots due to yesterday's rain but in general it was in very good condition and we didn't have trouble making way with our hybrid bikes.

We met this turtle on the path and later saw a couple in the canal.

There were pretty forget-me-nots along the canal at one point.

And remnants of a lock as well.

We finally turned around at the Griggstown Causeway, which shows on the map as Route 632.  When we got back to Route 518 we continued down the D&R trail and it was a mess.  It was not in nearly as good condition as the more northern section.  We are so glad we did not start there or we may have given up.  So next time we will drive to Route 518 and park in the small lot there and head north.  Our total travel distance was about 10 miles.  We should be able to go farther next time if we don't have any time constraints.
Then after W's lunch we went bike shopping.  We both ordered Trek bikes which we should get next week.  They will stay in NJ and we will leave our older bikes at camp.  Then we can ride wherever we are.

Back to NJ

We drove back to New Jersey today in time for W to go to his new all-male book group.  While we are here we will take care of lots of things we didn't have a chance to do before we left for camp - like buy a grill for the patio - and W has a couple of doctor's appointments.  We'll be here for a couple of weeks then head back to camp for the rest of the summer.

Spider

As we were unloading from today's paddle I saw this neat spider on the garage.

Paddling Long Pond

Fourteen of us paddled Long Pond today.  We thought we might make it into Slang and Turtle Ponds as well, but ended up paddling nearly 9 miles just around Long Pond.  Since the water is fairly high, we paddled into Pink and Little Pink ponds and up the stream towards Mountain Pond.

It was a beautiful day though quite warm in the mid-80's by the time we stopped.  We didn't have much bug trouble except initially in the parking lot and the carry where there were huge numbers of mosquitos.

I found some new plants.  Wild Calla or Water Arum (Calla palustris in the Araceae)

and a beautiful member of the gentian family - common name buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata in the Gentianaceae).

Paddling the Rollins, Floodwood, Fish Creek Loop

We had a nice nearly 8 mile paddle today, plus a walk.  We drove into the Rollins Pond campground and parked at the boat launch.  We had to pay a day use fee of $8.  We had thought we could show a property tax statement to prove we pay taxes in NY, but you must have NY license plates on your vehicle in order to avoid the fee.  We put the boats into Rollins Pond and checked out camp Woodlure that was built in the 1920's by W's great, great uncle.

Then we paddled into Floodwood, down Fish Creek, through Square and stopped at an empty campsite where we parked the boats.  We then walked about 1 1/2 miles back to the car and drove back to pick up the boats.  This is a route we used to do when we had the heavy tandem boat and didn't want to portage it.  It was nice to do it again, since we like paddling the length of Fish Creek. 

We weren't bothered by bugs as long as we stayed away from shore.  But as soon as we got close to shore we were surrounded by black flies.  So we didn't make as many stops as we would have liked.  We saw some hobblebush (Viburnum alnifolium in the Caprifoliaceae) in bloom alongside the road.

Memorial Day Paddle and Picnic

We had a great paddle on the Lower Osgood River today.  It was showery to start but the skies later cleared and the bugs weren't too bad.  I saw marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris in the Ranunculaceae) for the first time in the Adirondacks.

And bog rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla in the Ericaceae).  

And the many blueberries along the shore were in bloom as well.

Then we had a pot luck with our paddling friends - 24 in all.  A great way to start the season.

First Paddle of the Season

We paddled on Lake Clear for the first time today.  Since we have a long paddle tomorrow, we did not go as far as we could have into Mill Pond, but we still traveled about 6 miles.

It is a beautiful day with temps in the low 70's and no bugs to speak of.  We're not sure if they are already gone, haven't started biting yet, or just will be less of a problem this year after the hard winter.  I guess time will tell.

At Camp

We just arrived at camp.  I was surprised to see the trillium still blooming.  I guess everything is late this year.  And the black flies are in abundance.  Exactly why did we leave New Jersey?