Good List Week 7
Turtleback Zoo
My inner child loves animals, but I've long been resistant to visiting the zoo: animals in pens and cages, isolated and away from their natural habitat. I recognized those thoughts as adult discomforts, and challenged myself to take my inner child to the zoo anyway. It went well, standing by the cows my inner child wanted to hug their furry bodies and befriend them. This zoo has a wide array of animals, though not all were exhibiting themselves: alligator, komodo dragon, snakes, penguins, birds of prey, hyena, flamingos, gibbons, giraffes (unseen included the lion and bear).
I remembered that I grew up near the Cohanzick Zoo, going there as a small child, and passing by often over the years, walking, biking, driving. Zoos have a deeper meaning for my inner child, and I am thankful for the courage to explore that meaning.
Mills Reservation
Another nearby spot that I've managed to miss in the several years I've lived in Essex County - Mills Reservation is a delightful wooded park with trails and an overlook looking over New Jersey and New York City. We had perfect spring weather, and when a friend invited me, I jumped at the chance to get outdoors in company. She's big into outdoors meditation, sitting in the park, listening to the breeze rustle the trees, the people, the dogs, the birds, I realized that outdoor meditation had been a goal of mine and by opening myself to saying "yes" I found myself exactly where I wanted to be.
Ridgewood
I'm a fan of the library system here in New Jersey, and the dozens of libraries part of the BCCLS system. I pasted the list of libraries into claude and was recommended to visit Ridgewood library, so I ventured out on the parkway north to the unvisited town of Ridgewood. It is charming, very similar to Montclair (in fact, many of the same restaurants haha), except with my main gripe resolved: a quaint park in the center of town, with benches and space to just sit and be. I opted for Korean for dinner, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality.
I spent more time in town than expected, so by the time I got to the library I was in a bit of a hurry. Still, I took time to absorb it, and found it to be a classic library: history displays, art displays, a seed sharing program, a reading room, and floors of rows and rows of books. I found the book I was seeking, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer - I had heard him on NPR last week - and said til next time to Ridgewood.
Side note: the Good List Visualizer has been updated to include these new entries.