Nature Experience: Sandy Hook, N.J. - Mary Ragan

My mom decided that for Thanksgiving this year she wanted to do something different and definitely didn't want to cook all day. So she decided we were all going to go hiking on Sandy Hook which is a National Wildlife Reserve north of where I live. My sister goes to high school there and it has a lot to see and many different trails and cool areas. So cooking was done in the morning and my mom and dad, brother, two sisters and my sister's boyfriend and myself all piled in the mom van and rode 40 minutes out to Sandy Hook. After falling asleep in the back seat with my sisters I was ready once we got there and excited to be with everyone. It was drizzly but not too bad and actually created a nice noise while we were walking. Of course when we were all together and fooling around there was a lot of noise, but otherwise it would have been quite silent without hearing the rain. I only noticed a bird chirping once and a duck quacking once. It was also pretty chilly and the sand, like always, is kind of hard to walk in, especially with shoes on. Some of us being pretty allergic to poison ivy, we had to make sure we looked out for this. My sister who is there everyday identified the beach plums and said they were pretty good but at this time they were all shriveled and no good to eat. We even saw a dead bird :(. Everything is mostly greens and browns. So now that I describe it, all of these characteristics kind of make it seem desolate and not very fun. But put there with my family and running around and goofing off and just enjoying being together because it doesn't happen often, it kind of brought a new atmosphere to the place. Looking up the hill I saw my brother using a piece of driftwood as a bat as my sister's boyfriend was throwing something at him to hit. 20 some year olds running around acting like ten year olds. So we all fooled around and had a great time being together and enjoying being outside. I tried to take in as much as I could from the nature and being with my family was totally part of the experience I had on Thanksgiving at Sandy Hook.