A baby snow leopard and the mother chill.
Despite less-than-perfect weather, a trip away to the Jersey Shore was a good thing for my mind and body.
My aunt/uncle own a house in Avalon, New Jersey. It’s a quaint little town and, from what I understand, is an absolute zoo during the summer months. I can understand why, too. It’s a gorgeous spot on the Jersey Shore and it’s a cool little area.
Bad weather couldn’t screw a mini-vacation. It did allow for some great photo chances.
So who wouldn’t want to be there.
Well, during the “on” months, me.
See, I’m all about visiting places like that when it’s not so overrun by people. A couple of years ago, I went down by myself. The reason being was I wanted to just kind of veg and not have to worry about anything.
This time, there was some family. And that’s all good, too. But I still got the chance to get out and explore a little.
One issue, though? Mother Nature. She sure can be ornery at times, can’t she? Getting down there on a Thursday night was supposed to set up a weekend of nice times. Heck, it was Avalon’s Seafood Festival!
Yum!
Alas, the old broad Mother Nature had different ideas. Wind. Rain. High tide, it seemed, was all the time. The one bridge from Avalon to Sea Isle City was actually closed because waves were crashing over the walls to the road.
Still, it’s not like it was non-stop rain.
This zebra needed to scratch his back.
Sometimes weather like that makes you think outside the box a little. Like two trips to the zoo. Some geocaching. Some walking on a windy beach. It wasn’t all that bad.
And the best part?
It helped clear my mind and body, which is something I needed.
Now, could it have been even better if it had been sunny and 60-65 out? For sure. For one, the Seafood Festival wouldn’t have been postponed! You just have to make a good out of a bad, right?
I really enjoyed getting away and not having anything to worry about. I took a ton of photos, which eventually I’ll get up on my Flickr account — along with the rest of the images I’ve taken over the past six or so months.
Practicing the crane.
Anyhoo…
There’s something to be said about watching monster waves crash up against rock walls or the shore. Or seeing a high tide and the waves rolling in. It would have been cool to see some lightning so I could have tried to have taken a few shots, but no luck.
In the end, I had the chance to do a bunch of fun things, including finding a bunch of geocaches (one of which was a first to find!), take some photos and recharge the batteries a little bit.
The zoo was especially cool. I had the chance to see several baby animals, including a set of snow leopards, a giraffe (only about a month old), a bison and I think one or two others.
Here’s a quick video I shot of the baby giraffe walking.
I won’t lie that I think I should visit this fine area one time during the summer, just to see what it’s like. But I truly do enjoy going in the fall. I just hope next time, Mother Nature cooperates!
A few more photos:
Splashing water.
An egret takes off at the Wetlands Institute.
Taking off at the beach.
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