After our last trip back from the South and before our first long trip North in May, we’ve been able to squeeze in some last minute adventures.
The first wasn’t all we had hoped but still decent time away. We litereally decided the day of the trip, that we should go out Saturday night, April 11th into Sunday, as we had nothing on our calendar, a rare weekend occurance. Searching around we found a campsite at Atsion Lake, a Jersey Pine Barren’s site near Hammonton. The site was nice enough and we had a peaceful night with a lovely fire. The campground is close to the road, so a bit noisy and the bathhouse has a shower that you have to hold a button the whole time you want water. I saw a lot of complaints about that on reviews, and I now understand why. It makes it hard to turn your body and rinse all over while holding the button it. Otherwise it was acceptable and close to our favorite canoe / kyaking place, Pinelands Adventuresif we ever want to use it for a base for a canoeing weekend.
Once we left the campground, we decided to head over to the nearby Columbus Market. We’ve been to the inside and outside markets many times but have never seen one of their truly overwhelming flea market days. Once we got tired of wandering around, we picked up our favorite garlic stuffed olives from Jersey Pickles, and then headed off for another adventure.
And an adventure it was. For a while I have been wanting to visit Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preseve. Each other time the timing didn’t work out or the weather was uncooperative, so it seemed a good day for it. BUT, we had some navigation issues. I was under the mistaken impression that the preserve was on the NJ side of the Delaware River. We started navigating, using RV life, the app that warns us of RV hazards as there are many narrow roads and bridges in the area near Trenton. The app was directing us through a tunnel that had warnings about not going through with propane, so we detoured around. We later put together that this is what messed us up. The preserve is actually in Pennsylvania. When we detoured around the tunnel, we also bypassed the only bridge that we could safely cross the river in that area.
Short story is, we had to give up on the preserve after several frustrating, confusing instructions trying to turn us around. Instead, we pulled into a park so I could take a short nap and then went into Lambertville to park, walk around, visit a few favorite places before dinner at our most favorite, El Tule. No pictures from this trip, just some memories.
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Next up was my birthday. The weekend was full with plans, but since Steve knew all I wanted was to go camping, he made it happen. At the Jersey Shore, many places want a two night reservation even off Season. He was able to book the one night at Sun Retreats Seashore, a slightly overpriced but decent campground. They have a lot of amenities, but most were closed until the Summer crowds hit. Still we had a peaceful spot and perfect weather. We got there Thursday night in time to cook dinner over a campfire. In the morning, Steve cooked one of his Scromlettes for us and we sat, relaxed, played games, and enjoyed the day until we needed to head out.
We went to all of our favorite Cape May places…Sunset Beach, the lighthouse and its trails, the bird sanctuary, and into town. We saw a few birds, trying out the new binoculars that were a birthday present from my kids, and spotted some dolphins frolicking off the coast. We soaked up the weather, had vegan ice cream and later wine and appetizers while listening to music at Willow Creek Winery. Our last stop was at Good Earth Organic Eatery, my favorite restaurant for one of their great dinners.
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Then we had another weekend come up with no plans on Sunday, so we figured a road trip with Spud and camping somewhere that Steve could easily work Monday while I relaxed. We found a spot at Killen’s Pond in Delaware, a place we had stayed once before. We started from home headed for Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge. We spent the afternoon on their drive through tour, watching birds and fox, hiking some trails there that we hadn’t before, and soaking up nature.
Killen’s Pond Campground was mostly empty, due to the time of year and it being a Sunday night. Their sites are laid out in a group of circles. There was maybe one other group in our circle, but since the circles back on each other there was a group from the next circle right behind us. They were quiet and pleasant to talk to. Mostly we just enjoyed our dinner and campfire. In the morning we pulled around to the other side of the park. We did have to pay the small daily visitors fee to park there, but Steve had good Internet and I could wander and explore. There were some open trails, I could explore as I didn’t want to venture to far into the woods by myself. There was a bridge over the pond with a bench that was a great place to sit until it got too sunny and then there were chairs and steps at the Nature Center that overlooked the area and provided some shade. When Steve finished work we went in search of some dinner on the way home. We found a little Thai / sushi resturant that was good, though not memorable. All and all a nice way to fit in another adventure into our busy schedule.
