If you read my previous post on this topic, you’ll know I was excited to go to the NJ Wildlife Heritage Festival. But unfortunately it was raining fairly hard when it was time to leave home. (It’s about a 2 hour drive to get to Pequest – the festival location.) After some discussion, we decided to go; after all – it’s a rain or shine event!
It rained most of the way there and was still raining as we arrived. The vendors and exhibitors looked wet but appeared excited as well. We visited the museum area, checked out all the real and stuffed animals, got some great free informative NJ fishing and wildlife pamphlets and afterwards decided to go get some lunch in town and come back. We happened on a real nice hot dog stand called “Hot Dog Johnny’s” just down the road in Buttzville, NJ. After some great dogs and drinks, we headed back and finally the rain stopped.
First stop was the shotgun and archery stands. It was the first time my older son shot a real shotgun. I kind of chuckled to myself because I knew he had no idea of the recoil involved. The instructor was patient and showed him how to safely handle the gun and finally he squeezed the trigger and boom! The instructor asked him if he wanted to try again, but he politely declined. I asked him why later, and he admitted that it scared him a little! 😉
Both my younger and older son had fun shooting arrows at the archery exhibit. Some good instructions were provided by the facilitators and they actually hit the targets!
It started to lightly rain again so we moved on up to the exhibits that were under tents. My younger son bought a kite and decorated it while my older son went to the fresh water fishing pond and caught a nice rainbow trout (Catch and release only). Here’s a small picture of the group he was fishing with:
We finally made our way to the fishing pool for children under 8 years of age and my 5 year old caught his very first rainbow trout! He was really excited! (I’ll post a picture of his fish a little later.) And just as we were putting his fish back into the pool, Smokey the Bear showed up in a fire truck. Could you ask for anything more?
It started to rain pretty hard, so after visiting a few more exhibits, we decided to head back home. Both boys as well as my wife and I had a very nice time. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for something to share with your friends and family next year. Hopefully it won’t rain on you!
Catch you later.
-Mark
