The first stop on our journey was New Jersey. This might seem a little random, but one of my best friends moved there last year, so I was really excited to visit. She and her husband live in northern New Jersey pretty close to the New York border, in a little town in the forest. We flew into Newark on Friday afternoon ready for a mellow weekend.

This is going to be a short post mostly because I only took like 2 photos, and we spent most of the time just hanging out, playing Settlers of Catan and catching up.

Some of the highlights were just how beautiful and green it was. We were able to go on a hike on Saturday, out to one of the many lakes/reservoirs in the area. A lot of the land in the surrounding area is part of the North Jersey Watershed, so it’s protected and has remained wild and beautiful which makes for excellent hiking. If you ever find yourself in north Jersey, definitely do some hiking. Since it is pretty rural, there are a lot of critters out there, including black bears, so just be aware of your surrounding.

We had wanted to drive out to the Jersey Shore for one of the days, but thunderstorms rolled in on Saturday night dashing that plan. So we spent Sunday just hanging out at their house watching terrible movies, and spying on critters that wandered through their back yard. We saw a ton of wild turkeys, as well as a fox catch and eat a squirrel! Then while driving to dinner we saw a bear off on the side of the road!

Having a mellow weekend with friends was just what we needed after weeks of planning, prepping, and moving. Honestly, I was exhausted, and since our friends had gone through the moving process just a year ago, they were very sympathetic and understanding. It was a great way to start off our trip, and I’m so happy we got to see them.