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| MUSAP found a sign of spring |
Road trip! This is my first extended driving MUSAP adventure and I will do photo stops in 5 states, plus Washington, DC. Also have plans to meet my cousin in Maryland, see friends in Virginia, and see a UNH grad performing in stage in Pennsylvania.
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| road trip |
First stop ~ Cheesequake State Park in Matawan, New Jersey. The name has intrigued me for several years. Here’s a fun web page with information about the origin of the name Cheesequake and Other Curious Places. I had seen signs for the park when driving on the Garden State Parkway on the way to Atlantic City, but had never had time to stop. I was happy to discover that there is no entry fee before Memorial Day.
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| love the name! |
Cheesequake State Park is about 386 acres with many trails, play areas, picnic spots, and camping areas. I was surprised to see so many different kinds of habitats - there are marshes, open fields, forest areas, and wetlands. There is a lake that is open for swimming in the summer. It’s a gem situated in an urban area. Part of the park road goes under the Garden State Parkway.
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| blue skies and spring breezes |
It’s a very nice park for walking and photography. I didn’t visit the park office, probably would have learned more about the area than I did exploring on my own. I had printed out a park map ahead of time so I used that as a guide. I stopped at the White Trail first. The map looked like it would be a nice looping walk, however the recent rains had water flowing across the trail so I quickly decided to explore other parts of this park.
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| wet trail |
My next stop was a parking area near the Spring Hill Picnic Area. I decided to try the trail out to Arrowsmith Viewing Area. I noticed an osprey platform, but didn’t see any birds in the nest. I passed a man on the trail and he pointed out an osprey sitting in a nearby tree. I took a few photos, then went back to my car to get my longer lens and tripod. The osprey took off by the time I got set up, but I looked over at the nest platform and there were 2 ospreys posing for me over there.
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| osprey on their platform |
I walked the rest of the trail and was happy to see small signs of spring now that it was April. The twigs on some trees were showing small buds, the moss on the ground was moist and green.
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| sign of spring |
I decided to follow the signs to the lake next. It is down by some wetlands and I really didn’t see much of it from the parking lot. I did find another trail to try - this one led to a boardwalk over saltwater wetlands that then went into a forest. In the forest I saw small sand mounds that looked like ant hills, but it seemed like bees were going in and out of them. If I got close the insect either retreated back down the hole or flew away. They didn’t seem aggressive, but I wasn’t going to get too close.
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| insect burrows |
It was nice to see bright blue sky and feel the warmth of the sun. Wish it hadn’t been quite so windy!
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| pine |
Not impressed with Best Western in East Brunswick. front desk clerk was friendly but didn’t provide much other than key cards and room number. had to call for wifi password, wifi speed was excellent. My room had older feel, especially the bathroom. There was traffic noise despite being set back from the main road. Worst were the dirty clock buttons and dirty tv channel card. At least the IHOP next door offered 20% for BW guests ~ nothing fancy but convenient.
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| yuck! |
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| MUSAP |
visited 04/05/14
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