Bear Mountain

I love Bear Mountain! It's so close to my parents' house - only about 10 minutes away and an easy drive. And most of the time it's absolutely beautiful. If you go early enough in the morning, you might be the only person at the summit. And on a clear day, you can see the downtown Manhattan and the Empire State Building from the summit.

During this visit, I went to Bear Mountain not once, but twice. The first time, with my brother who took a day off to spend with me and Mark. We left the house pretty early and stopped for breakfast at one of the bagel shops in Pomona. Then we drove up to the summit along an empty winding road covered in yellow leaves. After spending time at the summit, we drove down the mountaint to the lodge and walked to the little zoo there.

The zoo was great! It has a nature trail with lots of interesting information. Even my brother admitted that he learned a lot of new things. And we saw some pretty cool animals, even a couple of bears. The only thing that sucked was that I had to carry Mark most of the way since he refused to sit in a stroller and got tired less than half-way through the walk.

The second time, I took mom to Bear Mountain. We wanted to set out early in the morning, but I overslept. Then it was time for Mark's nap. Then - lunch. Finally we left at around 1pm. Of course, there were tons of people at the summit, but this late in the day there was no haze and the views were stunning! Mark didn't care though. He picked up a big stick and spent the entire time running around a big rock and fighting a clump of tall grass that grew at the side of this rock.

But check out these golden retrievers we saw on the way back to the car! Aren't they cool?! And I can't get Mark to wear sunglasses or a hat.