Saturday in the Park

Roberta texted me at 9:30 yesterday morning. I was supposed to be at her car, so that we could drive over to Liberty State Park to go kayaking in the estuary.

"I hate my clothes," I texted back.

"I better pick you up."

Ten minutes later, we were at the boat launch along with Michael Kraiger, getting out the park's yellow Hobie kayaks that came with pedals and knob-controlled rudders.

Nice.

A naturalist led us through the water, each in single-person kayaks, past the boat channel and over to the stone jetty. Beyond was a cove that would have been a heap of mud during low-tide.

"Those are gulls," explained the naturalist. "There's no such thing as a generic seagull. These are all different types of gulls."

We relaxed in our kayaks, under the Saturday morning sun, with the port of Elizabeth to our south and the Verrazano bridge to the east. The Statue of Liberty showed us her back just northeast of the park's peninsula. Perspective made Manhattan's skyline and the Empire State Building appear no taller than the Jersey City skyline.

Our kayaking trip took about an hour-and-a-half. We were back on dry land all too soon.

We stood eating Kraiger-supplied watermelon and Roberta's-neighbor-baked biscotti by Roberta's car. I'd brought nothing.

But I was clothed. Sometimes that's enough.