Orchard Beach Rock Climbing Expedition

         
             Monday brought the first glimpse of summer as temperatures reached the low 80's for the first time this year. Knowing what the temperature was going to be ahead of time, I was looking forward to a day spent in the sand reading a book and soaking in the sun. Although there was no swimming allowed since there's no lifeguards on duty until Memorial Day, and the water is still probably too cold to swim in to begin with, it was still a day worthy enough to be spent at the beach.

             I packed a lounge chair, sunscreen, a book, and picked up a quesadilla with a water bottle and made my way over to Orchard Beach. Since its not summer season yet, parking was free, and there were a great many deal of cars in the parking lot since it was such a nice day. When I arrived at the beach area I noticed there were about a hundred or so people on the sand already as if it was a normal summer day. A few people were in the water up to their ankles, but no one was fully swimming, except for a few rogues far off at the end of the beach who were out of sight of the one police jeep on patrol. I downed my black bean quesadilla rather quickly and dove into my book shortly thereafter. As I gave my eyes a break every now and then, I recalled an previous experience at this beach months earlier where a encountered an unexpected rocky terrain. It was several months earlier when I was at this beach and I walked over to the very far left end. I was always curious of what lied ahead beyond that part of the beach, so I checked it out one day and discovered large boulders of land that people were sunbathing on and fishing off of.

             The sun was beaming down on me and I was without an umbrella at the beach, so between that and needing something to rest my reading eyes with, I decided to head over to those rocks again. With the tied down low, water had exposed more of the rocky beach front, and slippery algae had formed against the large boulders When I saw the green matter, I thought of it nothing more than sea weed, so I stepped on it. As soon as my foot made contact, I almost fell down immediately. I wanted to keep going, but these rocks were proving to be slipperier than ice. What I needed was time to regroup, so instead of worrying about how slippery the rocks were, I took a minute to focus on a pair of ducks which happened to be swimming by at the time. Then when I was ready, I slowly maneuvered from one small rock to the next, to the next, to the next, until I was able to get up onto one of the higher boulders which was way above water level and without slippery algae. Once I reached that peak I saw that there were about a dozen other people around; some were fishing, some where taking pictures, and some were even sunbathing like I had seen months earlier there.

             After getting to the high-point of the rocks, the rest of the walking is far easier, but one still must be careful not to fall down and possibly face a serious injury. I walked along the rocks until I was brought to a small hiking trail which lies in the Orchard Beach area as well. I took up on the trail, not knowing what I would encounter, and for the most part everything seemed like the typical wooded trail one would expect. The only difference with the trail is that every now and then some weird guy would pop out of nowhere and look at you as if you didn't belong there. As I was walking on the trail I was able to see the beachfront area again up ahead, so instead of continuing and possibly bump into some sinister group burying a body or something, I went for a trail lane that exited back to the beach. It was nice to see that nobody stole my book or my lounge chair when I returned to the area I set up on the sand, and I went on to do a little more reading. In total I was there for probably about three before I made my way back home.

            Although I was happy I didn't fall off any of the algae covered rocks, I was even more happier to escape the hiking trail of weirdos.......

Looking At Plants All Day Must Be Boring

            As this miraculous warm winter continues, the tempurature for Friday was predicted to reach up into the low 50's, so that put me in the mood to be outdoors. I pondered with the though of waking up early and just driving somewhere outside the city limits, but watching a movie late the night before and not getting up until 10:30am the next morning ended that plan very quickly. Behind door number two was enjoying the nice day and being out in nature of a more local level, so I decided to drop by the New York Botanical Garden. My last time there had to have been in the 5th grade back in 1992, so its safe to say I was due for a return.

            Knowing I would have a great deal of walking to do ahead of me, and the fact I had no breakfast, I first went to the Pelham Bay Diner nearby to get a big meal into my stomach. As soon as I looked at the menu I received the sudden urge to try something new, and with that, try something that seemed like the stupidest option available. Based on those parameters I selected the southern fried waffle which was a belgian waffle with two eggs and fried chicken breast, which actually turned out to be three chicken fingers. I sat at the counter for the purpose of not leaving a big tip. Usually if I sit at a counter at a diner to eat, I'll only leave two dollars as a tip, unlike a table where I typically leave three dollars. With my food I also ordered an iced tea, and when I was almost finished with it she asked if I wanted another. I wasn't sure if refills were free or not, so I just waived it off and declined. When I was done with the food as well as the iced tea, without asking she just took the glass and refilled it, so either refills are free or she just let me have one extra as maybe the manager wasn't around. It was a nice gesture of her part, so when it came time for the check I decided to go one dollar above the usual counter tip and give her three bucks.

            I did have fifteen dollars of cash of me, but not wanting to use the cash I paid with my debit card, and asked the cashier to exchange my five-dollar bill for singles, so I would have three to give to the waitress as a tip. With everything at the diner finished, I was left over with twelve dollars cash. The drive to the botanical garden was only ten minutes away and when I reached the parking lot, I was somewhat surprised to see parking wasn't free, they charge twelve dollars, so there went the rest of my cash. After leaving the car I saw the big sign for the New York Botanical Garden entrance, and it dawned on me its the Botanical Garden with no letter "s" at the end, I always thought and always spoke as if it was the Botanical Gardens with the "s", so already I learned something. Using my debit card I paid the twenty-dollar entrance fee, which is twice as much as the Brooklyn Botanical Garden I visited a couple of months ago. Once inside I realized the place was twice as large as the one in Brooklyn, so twice the fee started to make more sense. Thought it was a nice day, it wasn't nearly as warm as I thought it would be, and I did under dress a tad, plus didn't bring my hat, therefore felt a little chilly. Needing to get warm, I stopped off at the cafe before beginning my journey to get a large cup of coffee. The day before I swore off having coffee for a long while as I felt my heart powering the east coast electrical grid, but this was a special situation, so I used my debit card again to make the $2.18 purchase.

            The coffee turned out to be a total disaster that I ended up throwing out before I was even halfway finished. First of all, it wasn't even that warm, the coffee itself tasted like dirt, and the stirers they had were too short to accomodate the large cups, so all the sweetness was stuck at the bottom. There was a girl in the information booth who looked absolutely bored out of her mind, so I contemplated giving her something to do by asking for a map, but I declined and figured I would just wing-it. The first major exhibit I saw was inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, which is basically the Garden's main attraction, and that was their Carrbean Garden display. The entrance had a donation box with a whole two dollars inside, if I could reach inside I would have a counter tip for the next time I go to a diner. This particular display was made up of plants and trees that can be found in the Carribean Islands and parts of South America. There was even a makeshift medicine-man hut built to show how tropical witchdoctors and healers set up shop. The best part about the conservatory is that its a heated greenhouse, so it was a good way to warm up and make up for that terrible cup of coffee. There were other items inside the conservatory, but from where I was there was a sign saying it was closed due to repairs, so I just left. Once I was outside, I noticed there were other people inside the other parts of the conservatory, but I couldn't figure out how they got there. I tried one other door which was locked, so seeing the situation as hopeless, I carried on to another area.

             The second building I came upon was the Mertz Library, and although it didn't seem like a place that would house plants, I decided to check it out. When I entered there was a guard sitting at a desk who also looking bored out of his mind. The lobby had a small exhibit of orchids, but overall this library was for researchers and staff members, it wasn't a place to see plants, so I left. As I walked past a tree out front I heard an unfamiliar bird chirp, so it made me look up, and to my delight it was a cardinal. The last cardinal I had seen previously was actually at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, and there were many of them there. For some reason it seems these types of birds just like these Botanical Garden places. Soon after I heard more unfamiliar bird noises and in the trees I saw a bird with blue feathers. At first I thought it was a bluejay, but this was a little smaller so it had to be some type of finch. It was quite unique for these parts and I can't recall ever seeing a blue bird around here like that one. Lastly, I encounters some robins, and when you see those that's the sign spring should be right around the corner. From that point there were about three different paths I could've took, and it was then I began to regret I didn't take a map. I selected one path that brought me to the Bronx River, which cuts into the Botanical Garden as well as the neighbor across the street, the Bronx Zoo. There was a nice waterfall as well as rapids downstream that gave off a pleasant sound with the mix of birds and squirrels.

            There's benches all over the place for people to sit down, rest, and enjoy the surrounds, so I walked closer to the water and took a seat. A few minutes later a teenage couple was heading in my direction, and I'm not sure if there were looking for a private place to do whatever, so I cut my break short and moved onto the trail. Soon enough I came upon an outside garden as well as another greenhouse, but this greenhouse was locked at all entrances. I kept walking and walking and wasn't seeing any other buildings. There were maps at the certain points of the paths, but none of them had the usual, 'You Are Here' sign, so reading the map was totally useless. When there were still no other buildings around I realized that this Botanical Garden is more of an outdoor venue, where was the one in Brooklyn has more indoor areas. Once I felt I wasn't missing out on anything by not seeing indoor exhibits, I was able to enjoy the trees, rocks, and scenary around me as I continued on the path. It brought me back to the Bronx River a second time, but at this location the waters were calm and there was even a duck swimming downstream. The air grew chillier and the sun was beginning to set, so I needed to hurry up and see if there was anything else around. There was, the children's section, with yet another worker in the entrance booth looking half asleep and bored to death. After that I was ready to leave for the day, but as I got closer to the exit it was bothering me that I wasn't able to see the rest of the inside of that initial conservatory, knowing other people found their way in there somehow. Instead of walking straight out, I took a right and headed back to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

            This time the donation box near the entrance had a whole four dollars inside instead of just two. I walked past the Carribean Garden section and finally found the other entrance to reach the other parts of the conservatory. Similar to the Brooklyn one, there were two large manmade ponds with giant goldfish inside, but not as many goldfish as the the Brooklyn-version. The inside was also set up in a similar manner; There was a desert room, warm climate room, medium climate room, etc. There was also a staircase leading downstairs and a very intruiging hallway that looked like some underground tunnel a James bond villan would use to get to their headquarters. I was quite templated to walk down this hallway to find out what was on the other side, but something about made it seem like it was for employees only, so I left not knowing the answer to that mystery. I still wasn't sure if I saw everything there was to see at the Botanical Garden, according to the maps of the side of the path, there looked to be alot of different attractions, and I doubt I saw them all, but I figured it was probably getting near closing time, so I headed back towards my car. Empty was the information booth the first bored worker was standing in a few hours earlier, so I was positive the place was about to close. My legs were killing me from all that walking and I couldn't wait to get home and take a nap.

             Although if I took nap right there at the Botanical Garden, someone would've mistaken me for an employee...