Picnic In the Park

We decided to go on a spur of the moment picnic on Saturday. Living here in the mountains of western New Jersey, there is no lack of State Parks to choose from. So, we made some sandwiches, grabbed some drinks, snacks, picnic basket and blanket and took off on our adventure. We had done this one other time and had a great time down by the Delaware Water Gap. This time we wanted to stay a little closer to home. So, we picked a state park that is just about 20 minutes from our home. The mountain is so beautiful... incredible views!

So, we pulled into the deserted parking lot, saw about 7 - 10 picnic tables in this little clearing and that was about it. There was a little shed which looked way too small to even be a bathroom and absolutely not another soul around other than the 3 of us. I was feeling a little uneasy for no good reason at all. Maybe it's the New Yorker... you know.. going into "foreign" territory (aka a park) puts my entire body on full alert. (If I was in a NYC subway by contrast, I probably would have been fine - go figure!). Anyway, we walk over with all our gear to the picnic tables only to be greeted with a sign that was bolted down to the corner of the table. In big bold letters it said " YOU ARE IN BEAR COUNTRY!" There were 3 or 4 sentences underneath it that I didn't even bother to read... You had me at "Bear Country". Now, this wasn't a news flash.. there have been bear sightings in my own neighborhood and one was killed by a car last week not far from where we live. But do I want to have to eat my sandwich with the fear that Yogi is going to come scampering out of the wilderness to join me? No thank you. So, Steve & I looked at each other, grabbed our things and explained to Chris that we were going to have a different kind of picnic. (Thank God I have a husband who is from the city like me who understands what my limits are!)

Back to the mini van we walked. I opened the back, readjusted the chairs so that the back row of seats folded down to a flat surface, laid out our blanket and set up our picnic... that's right.. in the minivan... with the back hatch/door closed shut. It was like being in the park without having to BE IN THE PARK. It even smelled like the park because when we arrived at the park, I had doused each of us with OFF to make sure that the mosquitoes didn't attack us. We were prepared LOL.

We enjoyed a nice lunch while watching Toy Story 2 on my son's video player. I personally had one eye on the player and one eye watching out for Yogi. Although Yogi was not spotted during our time there.. I had a feeling he was close by (I watched too many horror movies in my youth).

Not sure we'll be going on a picnic anytime soon...well.. maybe at the beach.