Driving past a deli, I lamented the fact that I didn't even have time to get a real east coast bagel while I was in Jersey...let alone see all those Jersey shore kitschy motels!
...and then it happened...
i had just passed a recreation area with a lake and a pier on the right hand side of the road...and a pretty large restaurant on the left...when, i saw a large dog crossing the road. I slowed down and the dog seemed to be apologetic for being in the road and picked up it's pace...to get across into what looked like someone's yard. Then I realized that it wasn't a dog...it was a BLACK BEAR...crossing the road in the middle of RESIDENTIAL NEW JERSEY! I could not believe my eyes...especially since the next sight I saw, just a half block later was a woman walking her small dog!
I picked up my phone and called the Nichols'...as if somehow they could confirm that I had really seen what I just saw. And much to my furthur surprise they didn't seem that alarmed that a bear was walking loose in the middle of suburbia. As a matter of fact, they seemed surprised that I would be surprised that I saw a bear crossing the road. Apparantly, West Milford is KNOWN for it's wandering bears...and they aren't dangerous (???). I asked, "well, shouldn't I report it?" and Ginny told me I probably be laughed at if I did...which to me, only proved to me that I really was in New Jersey...where the phrase "shut up, you're an idiot"...is in all actuality a term of endearment.
So, I may have been facing a 9 hour site-seeing-less drive on the boring turnpike...but I had one heck of a site seen that amused me for quite a few miles of the 750 yet to come. I"m just sad that I didn't have the camera in hand....could you imagine? Bobble and the bear!!!! Well, actually, bobble has met a bear before...here's bobble when Brownie Hoshaw visited.
directions to bear crossing: Echo lake road ??? ...aka...twilight zone
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