A few days ago I was having lunch in the city at one of those bar/restaurant-type places which still had all its Christmas decorations up. The inside wasn't crowded at all; I was sitting alone at the bar, snacking on some potato pancakes, and there was a small group of six people at one of the tables. The group from the table seemed in good spirits and there was much giggling and laughing coming from that direction (perhaps with the help of alcohol). Two of the women from the table left the group and came over to where I was, which had more surrounding Christmas decorations, and asked if I could take a nice picture of them with the decorations in the background. Only only using one hand and leaning sideways on a bar chair, I snapped a picture that they were absolutely delighted with (also perhaps with the help of alcohol). The owner of the camera even made a comment that it looks like it was done by a professional photographer. Little did she know about the blog or anything, but she was halfway correct. More importantly, it made me realize that it been quite a while since I last had gone somewhere to take a ton of pictures.
It didn't take me long to figure out where I should go to give my camera some strong exercise as I've been also thinking about the geese migrating down to this part of the Northeast, as they normally do each winter. A great place to encounter geese in large numbers is the river and pong alongside the Bronx River Parkway. I've passed by them millions of times in the car, but was long overdue for me to visit in person and see them up close. I wanted to get up there during the early part of the afternoon, but having to run a few errands first, I wasn't able to start my drive till about 2:30 pm. The day was already grey with on and off mists of rain, and with it being winter, I only had about two hours of daylight to work with. I kept going back and forth in my head whether it was too late in the day. With the grey sky, perhaps the geese had already flocked to their sleeping quarters. Since its not too far a drive, I figured to go ahead anyways and hoped for the best. The Hutchinson River Parkway was crawling as usual on a weekend day around that afternoon time, all the way to Exit 13, which I needed to take. Once I got on the Bronx River Parkway I wasn't sure which exit I should take for the pond since the river runs long across several different exit points. It's always best to get off a highway sooner, because you can always get back on, than it is to completely overshoot an exit and fuss over scrambling back. With that train of though, I drove off the first exit which took me to the Village of Bronxville. As soon I was off the parkway there was a public parking area with meters which was right next to the river I was seeking. It seemed like to good starting point, so I put two hours worth of quarters in the meter and begun my journey to find geese. It was only a few minutes after three in the afternoon, but the sky was growing darker, so I needed to hurry to savor whatever remaining daylight there was.
I walked up to the river to see if I would have any immediately luck with finding any geese, instead I encountered a good samaritan who was walking around with a box to pick up pieces of trash discarded near the river's edge. There were no geese yet, but I did find a license plate which someone humorously nested in between some tree branches. After crossing a street I came upon the Bronx River's "official" ending point. Apparently there's a walking tour (The Bronx River Walk) with twenty-five stops of information, similar to the headsets they hand out in museums, and I was at number twenty-five, so technically I was walking in reverse. To download the app or receive more information on this walking tour, one has to visit the Information Center which is a couple of minutes more travel north the Bronx River Parkway. This is also the point where the walking tour would begin. It would've nice to actually get the headset or official guide to the river tour, but I didn't have the time for that - I needed to stick with the geese! The river was lively and the water was pushing hard downstream. Nothing powerful enough to go rafting with, but it certainly looked challenging enough for a goose to have to deal with. There were two mini-waterfalls, the source for the river's action up to this distance, but still no signs of any geese. Naturally, after the waterfalls the water becomes much calmer, and the river opens wider and forms a pond-like structure. I became concerned when I scanned around the pond and saw no geese anywhere in sight. When I pass by in a car it always seems like there's hundreds of the them around, but on this particular day that I go, the cupboard looks bare. There were a few joggers, some dog walkers, and one cyclist dangerously speeding back and forth passed everyone. My eye caught a turquoise green plaque implanted on a large rock up on a hill. I could see what it said, so I got my mountain climbing in and hustled upwards to see what it said. Weather and age had eroded it, but it mentioned something about the establishment of the Bronx River Parkway Reservation.
As I've seen in some other places, there were still footprints of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in the form of trees snapped in half or completely uprooted. The Metro-North Harlem Line train runs parallel with the river, and with chopped-down branches, there's also spare rail parts dumped side-by-side. My fingers started getting cold and I was losing hope I would encounter any geese. Just then I saw what looked like one goose coming down the river. I couldn't be quite sure, so I sped up closer to the river to have a better look. Finally, I struck gold. Not only was there this one goose taking point, but there were four to five others behind it. I threw small sticks into the water so they would think it was food and come closer to me, but they weren't easily fooled. The real problem is that they were heading downstream and I was walking upstream. Yes, I could follow them, but there's no way to know if/when they would be getting out of the water, and where. At least it was a sign and geese where around and it wasn't too late in the day to find them. So I let that pack of geese go on there merry way and continued upstream, thinking there were more geese in ahead. For people walking their dogs, small bags are actually provided at different spots along the river for people to pick up after their dogs have completed the digestive process. After a few minutes of walking, I didn't find any more geese. There was a bridge for me to cross and start heading back, so with the sky continuing to darken, and my limbs getting colder, I figured I should head back. If anything, maybe I could catch up to that small pack of geese that breezed by me earlier. I go to cross the bridge and as I look down at the water, I see what appears to be a goose, but its head is green and its smaller in size. Then I realized, it was a duck. Not just one, there were two more resting on a rock by the side of the river. As I crept towards them, other ducks from afar must have though I had food. Before I even knew it, I had about ten ducks ganging up on me. They kept coming two at a time and once they were all together, they would form V-shaped and other types of patterns.
Whatever type of initial disappointment I had with the geese, the ducks certainly picked up the slack and made the trip worth it. There was a teetering amount of daylight left, so in case the case the geese came out of the water to graze, I hurried back downstream to find them. My hunch paid off, by the side of the parkway I saw some geese plucking through the grass. I'm not sure if this was part of the same flock I saw heading downstream earlier, but it likely could've been. This is a bit of a dangerous area for the geese because some tend to venture too close to the roadway and there's no match for a speeding vehicle. Unfortunately, while driving there its common to see a few geese who openly challenged a vehicle and lost. They escape the frigid Canadian air, only to meet up with a tire. The closer I got to the geese, the more they would back up towards the parkway. I had to be careful to not to get too close and end up getting charged with second-degree goose homicide later on. I spend some time with them and then continued on my way. Much like the jester who positioned a license plate in the tree branches when I first arrived, I also saw a small girl's pink glove sticking on a branch's end. There would be one final treat courteous of the pond, I found another small flock of ducks congregated at a quiet section of the river. These ducks wouldn't let me get as close as the first group near the bridge did, and with darkness closing in, I bid them farewell and left river for the day. I could've went back home, but with the long walk and my body chilled, my stomach was calling for me to locate a bakery or coffee house for a hot cup of coffee and some type of dessert. Bronxville also had its Christmas decorations up along the streets and overall it was looking very "Christmassy". I had no idea for sure, but I figured there had to be an old fashioned bakery there somewhere, if not, I would settle for a Dunkin Donuts or a Starbucks. Early on I wasn't having much success, but there was an indoor BP gas station I found intriguing. I came upon one point where the village/town was cut in half by the Metro-North tracks. Perhaps there was a bakery across the way, but how would I get on the other side of the tracks?
I turned my head to the right and found the answer: an underground walkway. How ingenious!! Not only can pedestrians travel under the tracks this way, but there's also a street for vehicles to get to the other side. On the walls underneath both sides of this secret passageway displays the date 1916, the year the Bronxville station was built by the New York Central Railroad, aka New York Central, that phased out by 1968 and would become engulfed by the Metro-North system. Luckily I found this method to getting to the other side because not too long later I discovered Topps Bakery. There were two tables inside, so I liked the idea of being able to sit down to enjoy my coffee and snack. I couldn't decide what to get, a large slice of strawberry cheesecake was very enticing. Since I had a slice of lemon-meringue pie the day before, I needed to cool it on the calories, so I wound up taking a bear cookie with a giant "B" on it, likely for Bronxville. Soon as I make my purchase and wait for the coffee, I turn around and see both tables had been taken. One by two old ladies and the other by this guy who looks like he didn't buy anything inside the bakery. I should've put my sweater on one of the chairs as soon as I got in, but it didn't seem like any of the other people in there were aiming to sit. I had to take my cookie and coffee to go. At least it gave me something to do as I made my way back to the car. Then there was a moment which I knew I was destined to come to the river on this grey afternoon. Just before reaching the car, a random store window displayed a movie poster from the James Bond film "Moonraker" with Roger Moore in the lead role as Agent 007. With having met Roger Moore a few months ago at a book signing to promote "Bond on Bond" at a Barnes & Noble store in the city, and now seeing this Moonraker poster in the window of a Bronxville store, everything had come full circle!!
When I arrived I had put two hours worth of quarters into the meter, but when I got back there were only thirty-three minutes left. Most of the other cars had left this parking area, but I wasn't looking to leave immediately. I wanted a minute to rest my legs for a before taking to the highways, but then all of a sudden I see this red mini-van pull up a few spots away to my right. A middle-aged woman got out of the passenger side door and began looking at the meters. It didn't take look to realize she was looking for a vacated parking spot that had time left on it's meter. She eventually came to my meter and found a goldmine of thirty-three minutes (probably a minute or two less by this point). Turning around to face her husband, most likely, she signaled the driver to get ready to take my spot as she must have assumed I was leaving right away. The mini-van backs out of its original spot and positions itself to take over my spot. I really wasn't looking to leave at that point, but the lady was still hovering around my meter. She never really looked at me, and I wasn't in the mood to try to communicate to her to find another spot, but instead of letting her wonder why some weirdo would want to hang out in a car parked by the side of a river as evening approached, I hit the ignition and took off.
The length some people will go to save a few quarters.....
It didn't take me long to figure out where I should go to give my camera some strong exercise as I've been also thinking about the geese migrating down to this part of the Northeast, as they normally do each winter. A great place to encounter geese in large numbers is the river and pong alongside the Bronx River Parkway. I've passed by them millions of times in the car, but was long overdue for me to visit in person and see them up close. I wanted to get up there during the early part of the afternoon, but having to run a few errands first, I wasn't able to start my drive till about 2:30 pm. The day was already grey with on and off mists of rain, and with it being winter, I only had about two hours of daylight to work with. I kept going back and forth in my head whether it was too late in the day. With the grey sky, perhaps the geese had already flocked to their sleeping quarters. Since its not too far a drive, I figured to go ahead anyways and hoped for the best. The Hutchinson River Parkway was crawling as usual on a weekend day around that afternoon time, all the way to Exit 13, which I needed to take. Once I got on the Bronx River Parkway I wasn't sure which exit I should take for the pond since the river runs long across several different exit points. It's always best to get off a highway sooner, because you can always get back on, than it is to completely overshoot an exit and fuss over scrambling back. With that train of though, I drove off the first exit which took me to the Village of Bronxville. As soon I was off the parkway there was a public parking area with meters which was right next to the river I was seeking. It seemed like to good starting point, so I put two hours worth of quarters in the meter and begun my journey to find geese. It was only a few minutes after three in the afternoon, but the sky was growing darker, so I needed to hurry to savor whatever remaining daylight there was.
I walked up to the river to see if I would have any immediately luck with finding any geese, instead I encountered a good samaritan who was walking around with a box to pick up pieces of trash discarded near the river's edge. There were no geese yet, but I did find a license plate which someone humorously nested in between some tree branches. After crossing a street I came upon the Bronx River's "official" ending point. Apparently there's a walking tour (The Bronx River Walk) with twenty-five stops of information, similar to the headsets they hand out in museums, and I was at number twenty-five, so technically I was walking in reverse. To download the app or receive more information on this walking tour, one has to visit the Information Center which is a couple of minutes more travel north the Bronx River Parkway. This is also the point where the walking tour would begin. It would've nice to actually get the headset or official guide to the river tour, but I didn't have the time for that - I needed to stick with the geese! The river was lively and the water was pushing hard downstream. Nothing powerful enough to go rafting with, but it certainly looked challenging enough for a goose to have to deal with. There were two mini-waterfalls, the source for the river's action up to this distance, but still no signs of any geese. Naturally, after the waterfalls the water becomes much calmer, and the river opens wider and forms a pond-like structure. I became concerned when I scanned around the pond and saw no geese anywhere in sight. When I pass by in a car it always seems like there's hundreds of the them around, but on this particular day that I go, the cupboard looks bare. There were a few joggers, some dog walkers, and one cyclist dangerously speeding back and forth passed everyone. My eye caught a turquoise green plaque implanted on a large rock up on a hill. I could see what it said, so I got my mountain climbing in and hustled upwards to see what it said. Weather and age had eroded it, but it mentioned something about the establishment of the Bronx River Parkway Reservation.
As I've seen in some other places, there were still footprints of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in the form of trees snapped in half or completely uprooted. The Metro-North Harlem Line train runs parallel with the river, and with chopped-down branches, there's also spare rail parts dumped side-by-side. My fingers started getting cold and I was losing hope I would encounter any geese. Just then I saw what looked like one goose coming down the river. I couldn't be quite sure, so I sped up closer to the river to have a better look. Finally, I struck gold. Not only was there this one goose taking point, but there were four to five others behind it. I threw small sticks into the water so they would think it was food and come closer to me, but they weren't easily fooled. The real problem is that they were heading downstream and I was walking upstream. Yes, I could follow them, but there's no way to know if/when they would be getting out of the water, and where. At least it was a sign and geese where around and it wasn't too late in the day to find them. So I let that pack of geese go on there merry way and continued upstream, thinking there were more geese in ahead. For people walking their dogs, small bags are actually provided at different spots along the river for people to pick up after their dogs have completed the digestive process. After a few minutes of walking, I didn't find any more geese. There was a bridge for me to cross and start heading back, so with the sky continuing to darken, and my limbs getting colder, I figured I should head back. If anything, maybe I could catch up to that small pack of geese that breezed by me earlier. I go to cross the bridge and as I look down at the water, I see what appears to be a goose, but its head is green and its smaller in size. Then I realized, it was a duck. Not just one, there were two more resting on a rock by the side of the river. As I crept towards them, other ducks from afar must have though I had food. Before I even knew it, I had about ten ducks ganging up on me. They kept coming two at a time and once they were all together, they would form V-shaped and other types of patterns.
Whatever type of initial disappointment I had with the geese, the ducks certainly picked up the slack and made the trip worth it. There was a teetering amount of daylight left, so in case the case the geese came out of the water to graze, I hurried back downstream to find them. My hunch paid off, by the side of the parkway I saw some geese plucking through the grass. I'm not sure if this was part of the same flock I saw heading downstream earlier, but it likely could've been. This is a bit of a dangerous area for the geese because some tend to venture too close to the roadway and there's no match for a speeding vehicle. Unfortunately, while driving there its common to see a few geese who openly challenged a vehicle and lost. They escape the frigid Canadian air, only to meet up with a tire. The closer I got to the geese, the more they would back up towards the parkway. I had to be careful to not to get too close and end up getting charged with second-degree goose homicide later on. I spend some time with them and then continued on my way. Much like the jester who positioned a license plate in the tree branches when I first arrived, I also saw a small girl's pink glove sticking on a branch's end. There would be one final treat courteous of the pond, I found another small flock of ducks congregated at a quiet section of the river. These ducks wouldn't let me get as close as the first group near the bridge did, and with darkness closing in, I bid them farewell and left river for the day. I could've went back home, but with the long walk and my body chilled, my stomach was calling for me to locate a bakery or coffee house for a hot cup of coffee and some type of dessert. Bronxville also had its Christmas decorations up along the streets and overall it was looking very "Christmassy". I had no idea for sure, but I figured there had to be an old fashioned bakery there somewhere, if not, I would settle for a Dunkin Donuts or a Starbucks. Early on I wasn't having much success, but there was an indoor BP gas station I found intriguing. I came upon one point where the village/town was cut in half by the Metro-North tracks. Perhaps there was a bakery across the way, but how would I get on the other side of the tracks?
I turned my head to the right and found the answer: an underground walkway. How ingenious!! Not only can pedestrians travel under the tracks this way, but there's also a street for vehicles to get to the other side. On the walls underneath both sides of this secret passageway displays the date 1916, the year the Bronxville station was built by the New York Central Railroad, aka New York Central, that phased out by 1968 and would become engulfed by the Metro-North system. Luckily I found this method to getting to the other side because not too long later I discovered Topps Bakery. There were two tables inside, so I liked the idea of being able to sit down to enjoy my coffee and snack. I couldn't decide what to get, a large slice of strawberry cheesecake was very enticing. Since I had a slice of lemon-meringue pie the day before, I needed to cool it on the calories, so I wound up taking a bear cookie with a giant "B" on it, likely for Bronxville. Soon as I make my purchase and wait for the coffee, I turn around and see both tables had been taken. One by two old ladies and the other by this guy who looks like he didn't buy anything inside the bakery. I should've put my sweater on one of the chairs as soon as I got in, but it didn't seem like any of the other people in there were aiming to sit. I had to take my cookie and coffee to go. At least it gave me something to do as I made my way back to the car. Then there was a moment which I knew I was destined to come to the river on this grey afternoon. Just before reaching the car, a random store window displayed a movie poster from the James Bond film "Moonraker" with Roger Moore in the lead role as Agent 007. With having met Roger Moore a few months ago at a book signing to promote "Bond on Bond" at a Barnes & Noble store in the city, and now seeing this Moonraker poster in the window of a Bronxville store, everything had come full circle!!
When I arrived I had put two hours worth of quarters into the meter, but when I got back there were only thirty-three minutes left. Most of the other cars had left this parking area, but I wasn't looking to leave immediately. I wanted a minute to rest my legs for a before taking to the highways, but then all of a sudden I see this red mini-van pull up a few spots away to my right. A middle-aged woman got out of the passenger side door and began looking at the meters. It didn't take look to realize she was looking for a vacated parking spot that had time left on it's meter. She eventually came to my meter and found a goldmine of thirty-three minutes (probably a minute or two less by this point). Turning around to face her husband, most likely, she signaled the driver to get ready to take my spot as she must have assumed I was leaving right away. The mini-van backs out of its original spot and positions itself to take over my spot. I really wasn't looking to leave at that point, but the lady was still hovering around my meter. She never really looked at me, and I wasn't in the mood to try to communicate to her to find another spot, but instead of letting her wonder why some weirdo would want to hang out in a car parked by the side of a river as evening approached, I hit the ignition and took off.
The length some people will go to save a few quarters.....
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