More Pictures of Core Creek Park, Back in May

  I’m going back to the archives again for these pictures, which I took back in May at Core Creek Park.  The lake pictured here is Lake Luxembourg, which was constructed sometime around 1980.  Previously, it was a park named after the creek which ran through it, which was dammed up to form the lake.  Core Creek remains a stream as it enters and leaves the park property, but most of its run within the park limits is now flooded out.

  I’m not an engineer, so I have no real idea how it is planned.  I didn’t see any models or drawings of what the proposed lake was projected to look like.  There are busy roads nearby, and at least one bridge across the creek that probably had to be replaced.  There are several developments around the perimeter of the park, but in 1979 it was almost all farmland, and it was probably far enough away from the lake not to be affected by the flooding.  The development boom came later, in the early and mid-80’s, and this of course would make park side and lakeside properties desirable and expensive.  The houses and estates would maintain a high asking price as long as the flood hazard was minimal.

  Also nearby and just out of the view of the camera is St. Mary Hospital, which borders the park.  I often see medical staff taking walks on their lunch break, and there is a back entrance along the park road for ambulances to get in.  The traffic near the main entrance of the hospital can get congested, so this offers a back way during the rush hours.  There have been some improvements made to the roads near the hospital, but some of them are still narrow and weren’t really built to handle heavy traffic.

  If I remember right, I took these pictures in the mid-afternoon, and they look a little shadowy.  The picture of the field now looks a little blurry to me.  I checked the settings, which were on a relatively low shutter speed.  I forget if I took these pictures on automatic or if I set the controls myself.  I also forget how much I played around with the editing on Picasa. However, there is something I like about the blurriness, perhaps just the way the grass swaying motion is blurred.

The Alternate Plan

A view across Neshaminy Creek at Tyler

Geese on the creek

  Up until Friday, the plan was to do a hike at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey.  However, because of commitments with the children and some home projects, we decided to keep it near home and do a hike at Tyler State Park.  This allowed them to take care of business at home, and also to bring their wives and kids along.  We all ended up doing a fairly short late afternoon walk through Tyler.   I was looking forward to going to the shore, but this worked just as well for me, too.  I was up for a few hours in the middle of the night, and this allowed me to go back to sleep at 6 and get up at 9.  

  It was a little cold, but still a nice November day to go outside.   Most of the leaves have now fallen from the trees, and what still remains on the branches has now turned brown and will soon be gone as well.   Up until about two weeks ago, there were still a lot leaves on the trees, and still a lot of orange, yellow, and red.  But now late autumn has set in, and winter will soon arrive.

Heading to the Shore on Saturday

This Saturday, I plan on taking a day trip to Island Beach State Park in New Jersey, and do some hiking on the trails around the park with my brothers.  The attached photo shows the southern end of the park.  I took that picture from a jetty by the Barnegat Lighthouse, which is across the inlet.  What’s pictured is actually the southernmost point of a long spit, another part of the east coast barrier islands.  The northern end, I believe, joins the mainland Point Pleasant Beach.  I was at Island Beach Park only once before when I was in high school, for a day trip.  I don’t remember much about it, except that it that got cut short by a thunderstorm.  Hopefully, there won’t be any problems this time.  Last I checked, Saturday’s weather is supposed to be mostly sunny.

    I haven’t really studied the route we’ll be taking yet, but a good part of it will go through the Pine Barrens, and will probably border the huge area consisting of the Fort Dix, Maguire AFB, and Lakehurst military bases.  We’ll go through Toms River and then across the Barnegat Bay to Seaside Heights, which has recently been put on the map by a popular reality show.   From there, we’ll drive down to the park.  I don’t know much about the trails we’ll be taking, but since they’re short, I think we’ll be going along several of them.

   Aside from its use as a beach and seaside park, I learned something that I found interesting about Island Beach.  It may not be known as a popular filming location, but I know of at least one movie, or at least part of a movie that was shot there.  When I watched the third segment of Creepshow, I noticed that it looked more like it was shot on the east coast than along the Pacific.  When I checked it out on IMDB, I found it was shot at Island Beach Park.  I didn’t make out clearly the lighthouse in the background, but next time I check out the movie on YouTube, I’ll look for the familiar half red and half white colors of the Barnegat Lighthouse.

     As far as I can remember, I have been to Toms River twice, once when I was passing through on the way to Island Beach Park, and one more time about 15 years ago.  A friend took me to visit his parents’ house, which was a part of the motel they owned on Route 9.  I knew we were near the shore, but it was dark by the time we got there, and Route 9 is a few miles inland.  We stayed a few house, and then were on our way back to Pennsylvania.  Other than that, there are two things I remember about Toms River.  One was that the original Amityville Horror movie was shot there.  The technical crew found a house in the town that was nearly identical with the haunted house in Long Island that was the subject of the film.  The other thing I remember happened more recently, when their little league team won the World Series in Williamsport, Pa.  The stretch of Route 37 running through Toms River is named after the hometown heroes.

  Assuming all goes as planned, I’ll be there on Saturday, and sometime next week I’ll have some pictures and a story posted.  I’ll try to remember to do a little more research on where we’ll be going and the trails we’ll be taking, so I’ll have a better idea. 

 

  

Changing of Seasons at Peddler's Village

    I got out to Peddler’s Village on Friday and took a few pictures.   Right now, it seems like they are between big events, as it seems most of them come in the fall.  Their annual Scarecrow Competition was in October, and the annual Apple Festival usually occurs in early November, probably last weekend.  The next big event is the Illumination Ceremony where all the Holiday lights will go up around the park, which will probably remain lit until New Years.  And, of course, it will kick off their busiest season.  There is also the Gingerbread competition, where all the entries, or at least the highest ranking ones, will be on display in the gazebo.  The most basic rule of the competition is that every visual element of the display must be edible.  I managed to sneak in between these events, and there was still at least some fall foliage left.

  The temperatures were in the 50s and 60s, but with the wind, it felt a little colder, more like a milder winter day.  Since it was Friday, and Veterans Day, a lot of people had off, and there was no school.  There were a good number of children, at least in the enclosed section known as Giggleberry Fair.  There were plenty of people in the carousel area and in the arcades.  Just one small problem I remember. While I was in the bathroom, I heard a child mumbling something to himself, and he didn’t sound good.  As I was walking out the door, I heard him saying something about his stomach not feeling good, which sent up alarms in me right away.  I was suddenly just a little afraid of touching anything or getting too near to anybody there, in case anything was spreading around.  But so far, I am still feeling normal.  But it’s a reminder that that time of year is approaching.

  I saw some people working in the Village Green as I was walking through, probably setting up displays for the Holiday season.  There are already lights set up around the mill house, ready to be fired up on Friday night to start the season.  The transition is underway, and the season will get kicked off Friday night.