Wednesday, July 9, 2014

take a Hike

Over the weekend we drove over the river to Hudson to find Benson's Wild Animal Farm.  Or what is left of it anyway.  We'd heard it was a good place to take a Hike.


Benson's was a long running private zoo and amusement park.  The zoo/farm was founded in 1924 as an animal training center, and was opened to the public in 1926 with animal exhibits, a miniature train, games and exhibits.  It closed in 1987 and from what I've heard it sat empty for years.  In the last few years, work has been done to restore the park.


Today a few of the buildings remain, a playground has been added, there's a 9/11 memorial and some nice walking trails.  Not so nice when it's hot and humid, but it did make for a pretty walk.


We took the 2.5 mile outer loop from one end and the kids started from the other...We were supposed to meet them somewhere on the loop, but that never happened.  I was hoping we'd meet them soon after we started so I wouldn't have to walk the whole way.  :)  No such luck.  They took a wrong turn somewhere, so we missed them and had to walk all the way around.  It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been a warm muggy day...and if someone (Maybe me.  I'll never tell.) didn't have to go to the bathroom for the last 1/3 of the walk!  Thank goodness for porta potties!


I can't believe we've lived here two years and have never made our way to the park before!


Linking up to
Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday.

10 comments:

  1. That looks like a great place for a hike. I'm curious since you mentioned the river and Hudson...is this NY, NJ?

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  2. great park. Always nice to go on walking paths, especially among trees. The red shoe was really cute! {:-Deb

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  3. Love that shoe house! http://lauriekazmierczak.com/halved-lily-2/

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  4. OH MY GOSH! I went to Benson's as a kid and had totally forgotten about it until I read your post. I'm so excited that it's still a great place to hike even though the wild animal farm is closed. :)

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  5. I agree with Freda. It is really beautiful!

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  6. Nice that they set up the little things kids like:)

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  7. What a great park for a walk! I'm glad it's been restored and can be enjoyed again.

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  8. It's beautiful.

    All those trees and you didn't want to 'water' one? ha!

    That shoe is interesting, too, isn't it?

    Hope your weather gets less muggy!

    Thanks for sharing this happy little link for the letter H.

    A+

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