Fort Lee, NJ

(LEFT: A picture of oldendays Fort Lee, NJ, complete and replete with soldiering boatmen... little did they know that the bend in the river to the left would one day house a parks building for the Palisades Park Commission. They fought for freedom. They got freedom... and public restrooms.)

After careful research, I have learned that the little collection of buildings and playgrounds down on the waterfront is simply part of the Palisades Interstate Park. This section rests below Fort Lee, NJ. And for the first time since moving here, the park is full of life. Well, human life. (I'm sure the birds were there the whole time.)

16 cars in the parking lot. Older couples walking along the path by the beach (well, really the whole park is fill bolstered by large rocks, but there is a little beach made of river sediment and sand). There is even one lone child swinging off the bright green monkey bars.

I think we can safely say that spring is knocking on the doors of Fort Lee, NJ. And that its citizens don't mind enjoying a park that is alternately bathed in Sunday morning sunlight, then plunged into wintery shade with every passing cloud.

Shadows move across the river in rolling stripes. The wind keeps things fresh. It feels a little like Deception Pass... but without the large logs, the seaweed, the bridge, or the golden retrievers and Labradoodles pooping on the sand. We take what we can get.

(In an aside, my neighbor saw me staring out my window with my binoculars and quickly drew her shades. Apparently she doesn't follow the Hudson River Report or she would know I only write about river-related things... and not about women in blue bathrobes with white piping who have trouble with the cords of Venetian blinds.)