Family & Fall in New Jersey #1

I just returned from a beautiful trip to New Jersey to see Stacie and Tom and my grandson Chase and granddaughter Haley. I have been fortunate enough to spend a part of Fall in several states when visiting them. I had not been to New Jersey since around 1976 when I went to the Boy Scouts National Executive Institute for school. I remember being impressed with the beauty around Mendham, New Jersey where the Institute is and I was equally impressed with the beauty of New Jersey this time. New Jersey and particularly Newark certainly get an unfair rap from the media and people in general.

Here are just a few of the pictures that show the beauty of the state.

These were taken at a lake in their neighborhood on a hike that the three of us took.

Somebody apparently lost their goldfish or Koi. When I saw it under the metal grate I thought it was a fish but it was so still I couldn't be sure. Then it started swimming out and back. 

These pictures were all taken on a hike that we took at Round Valley State Park, a beautiful multi-use park that is very close to their home. If our clothes look the same in the pictures from both hikes it's because we took them both on the same beautiful day.

I was scheduled to run a half marathon at Sandy Hook, New Jersey on Sunday but as you can see from the next picture, our United States government got in the way of those plans. If things go as planned it looks like I will be running that race in October of next year.

HURRAH POLITICS!!!

Despite not getting to race I had a lot of good runs around their town. The following pictures are just some that I took on those runs.

 

That pretty much covers the "Fall in New Jersey", the next post will cover "Family in New Jersey". I hope the pictures do a decent job of showing just how beautiful it was there.