Hike on the fourth of July

We just love these three-day weekends! H & I spent the first couple of days at Island Beach S.P. again working the 8am-6pm shift and doing nothing but blissfully watching the tide roll in until we had a nice visit from a prehistoric monster under our umbrella. Took the holiday itself to once again visit Pine Meadow Lake. After an easy three-mile hike comes a sweet spot rarely visited, unless of course it's a holiday weekend. The peace was short lived, though, as a gaggle of geese came along looking for a handout. H clanked her trekking poles to scare them off but that didn’t work so well. "Chuckwagon" (as A is now called) suggested that we drop a log or rock into the lake near them to hasten their retreat. I retorted, "Maybe I'll jump in and drown one of them and then the rest will get the message." Of course I did not commit that heinous act but I did however jump in the lake. We were only blessed with this solitude for about thirty minutes before our peace was interrupted by about a dozen middle-aged Russians who commenced yelling and carrying on in their native tongue, probably something to the effect of "I wish these American idiots would leave so we can sit on the nice rock." Then they started drinking beer and got louder. We endured the torment long enough and left with our freedom snatched, our Independence Day celebration thwarted. By the Russians. Oh, what irony. Alas, we packed up and went over and sat in a nice spot over at Lake Wanoksink. Sitting quietly lakeside reading Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire in the late afternoon sunshine was perfect. After another half hour a couple of Palisades Interstate Park Rangers passed by and asked us, "Have you people seen a naked guy running around about here?" Answer is, of course, "no," but had there been such a sighting it would make an interesting story. That naked guy could have been me--only moments earlier I had changed out of my wet bathing suit into clean dry clothes. Even behind my pine tree cover I could have been mistaken for the dreaded Harriman streaker! Dusk settled in and we moved out back to the trailhead at Sebago Beach. It took a long time to cross Seven Lakes Drive as the mass exodus picnickers left Tiorati Circle and headed back to the outer boroughs. It was rather entertaining to see the park police pull over a guy who was driving in the wrong direction at one of the traffic circles. MRANT back to work tomorrow!