We had it planned for weeks. A trip to South Jersey to spend time with my Mom. My sister, her boyfriend, Joe and me and of course the pups ventured to the 'pinelands' just off the coast of south Jersey. We had missed Mother's day with my mom. It was the first Mother's Day that we had missed, but we live hours apart and leaving for a weekend with two dogs is nothing short of a challenge. This was our group effort to make up for it.
Joe and I chose to leave after dark with the hope of avoiding Memorial day weekend traffic, and while we didn't sit bumper to bumper, we struggled to keep the dogs (Willow in particular) calm. We tried out a new net that was to keep a properly behaved dog in the cargo area and out of the back see of our Jeep Cherokee. No such luck. Half way through the trip Willow had enough of her freedom and space and plunged through the net, over the suitcases and boxes, and into my lap in the front seat. Thankfully she was right in time for us to pull off to a rest area. After several attempts, and an additional pit stop, to get her to be safe and comfortable she nestled into my lap in the rear passenger seat. Joe had a lovely suitcase as his navigator in the front passenger seat.
It was midnight before we arrived at "the farm" a.k.a my mother's newest house and adventure. We steered the pups to the backyard by lamplight for their last rest stop of the evening. I had to be cautious not to shine the light on the geese, and lonely duck who were penned in at the corner of the yard. Willow has chased many a fowl, and midnight was no time to wrestle her away from her instincts.
I was up at dawn along with the crowing rooster from the property behind my mother's. As daylight rushed across the lawn, Willow and Dakota spotted their new "toys."
Fortunately the geese and duck were guarded by a wire fence. Although I'm pretty sure one of the geese could have held it's own against the nosey pups. I had to chuckle as it spread it's wings, puffed up it's chest, and hissed at the dogs. Intimidating? Not really.
My sister and I went to pick up breakfast at Frog Hollow. It's a small bakery in an older colonial home that would be out of place anywhere else but here. You can smell the cinnamon and sugar from the road. The best item on the menu is a bag of donuts, your choice of either cinnamon, cinnamon and sugar, or plain. And I didn't feel that guilty about eating them because they're so much smaller then an average donut.
Back at the house, with breakfast and coffee cleaned up, Sarah and Steve got to work on the tile in the bathroom. Joe and I were a bit more reluctant to get any work done. We eventually pitched in, but not before a trip to the beach.
Sadly the trip to the beach was cut short when Joe sliced his big toe open on what could have been a shell, but perhaps it was glass. We were engaged in a game of frisbee when Joe stopped short of catching the frisbee to blurt out obsenities. Within seconds the beach was splattered in red. Fortunately the sea water cleaned out the wound until we got him home to nurse Lilli. (My Mom) She really is a nurse.
While Joe spent time with his feet elevated, Sarah and I put up a new fence for the geese. And we managed to do all this in just one day on the farm. We spent the evening at my aunts house for a surprise dinner. She was ready for us, we just didn't know we were headed there for the night.
Waking up the next morning was much more difficult. After a similar morning to the previous day, I decided I would go for a run. The area is nice and flat, and the shoulder of the road is pretty wide. I knew I had to keep up with my training so I thought I would do 5 or 6 miles on Sunday and perhaps my long run on Monday. After five miles I began to realize that the trees and landmarks were no longer familiar to me. At mile 6 decided I should set a course for home wherever that could be. At 7 I finally passed a familiar landmark and knew it would be another 4 miles before I was home. Once I realized I would be doing 2 more miles then I should be at that point in training I started to pray that someone would come find me. They knew I was a novice and that I should be gone longer then 90 minutes. And at 1 hour and 49 minutes I spotted a surf board on a black jeep, with Connecticut plates. It was my sister. She found me. Wawa was all I could mutter. All I wanted was to get to the convenience store so I could by water or a viatmin water. So after 9.25 miles, I was finally back at home, and had to get ready so we could all go out for an early dinner. That was painful. Even more painful was the wicked sunburn I got from the run because I didn't think I needed sunblock. Note to self, always wear and SPF.
After a wonderful dinner at the Lobster House in Cape May we stopped at another "must-go-to while in Jersey" the Custard Slut. It's really the custard hut, but my cousins dubbed it the slut long ago. I was too tired to finish my ice cream and had to call it an early night.
The next morning we went out to a diner for breakfast. There's a trend here. We did not eat home once. My mom is a phenomenal cook, but the kitchen just isn't ready yet. Sarah and Steve left after breakfast, and I was tasked with cleaning out the chicken coup. There are 11 chicks which are about 3 weeks old. We managed to make it to the beach one more time during our trip, but it got rained out after an hour. I suppose we have a whole summer for beach days. But I don't know when I'll get the chance to go again.
