Mother's Day and Beyond

A few years back, I went on a hike craze where I purchased a few books on hiking. One of these books is called 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: New York City. Right at the beginning of the book, there's a hiking recommendation section, which gives you a good amount of trails that are child friendly. For Mother's Day, we decided to try out one of the recommendations. We went to Croton Point Park.

The park was nice, but there was construction going on in some parts of the park. So, there were areas we couldn't get near. The trail was a walkway along the park. We were sort of confused by the map and where we were walking. There was a section of the trail that was blocked, which we didn't go through to only find out later that we should have gone pass the blocked area. Besides that and the insane amount of wind there was, we had a great time. Will ran around and played and seemed to be having fun. The view of the Hudson was spectacular. We'll have to return and picnic here. The park is great.


I've been working like a maniac. With all the training I had to do with the new job, I really haven't had much energy to do anything else. I did, however, manage to take Will on another little hike this past week. I had Thursday morning off and it was gorgeous out. I grabbed the little guy and took him to a park (I can't remember the name of it) right below the George Washington Bridge. There's a picnic/bbq area, playground, spectacular view of the City, and since it's at the bottom of the cliff by the water, it does have great hiking.

Hugging the shore line of the Hudson River, there's a trail called the Dyckman Shore Trail. I've been on this trail before, but never have gone through it completely. It was perfect for Will and I. Since it was a weekday morning, the area was nice and quiet. I was the only one with a kid there. Everyone else was either biking, jogging, or plain walking. We walked along the trail for quite some time. Will was looking at the river, the flowers, and everything else around him. He ran, laughed, and stared. I really enjoyed my time with him.

So when Will gets tired of walking, he does this thing where he begins to squat. He began doing that here, which was my cue to turn around and head back to the car. I carried him back and it must have been the sweetest walk we've had so far. He had his head on my shoulder and faced the river. He was so peaceful that he fell right to sleep. We lasted a good hour at this park. He has energy and loves the walking.

With the weather getting nicer, I'm going to take advantage and take him to every park that has kid friendly hikes, whether they are just walkways or little getaways like the trail hugging the Hudson River. He loves stretching his little legs and I love being in nature. Perfect combination! I hope his love of walking continues as he gets older and we'll go on big hikes. Hiking for me is very spiritual. I feel connected to everything. I hope he'll feel this way, too.