One does not simply...

One does not simply walk into Mordor either.

Hiking on Ramanessin Brook Greenway

My friend from nursery school told me about this hike he really likes to take in Holmdel, NJ. It's mostly on the Ramanessin Brook Greenway Nature Trail, which on the maps appears to be part of Holmdel Park (but far from the spot where the State Cross Country course is). It was a 4 mile hike that went from the trailhead on Holmdel-Middletown Road across from the elementary school. You can park along the west side of the road. The trailhead is marked with a giant sign with the greenway's name.

The greenway along the river for the first 3/4 mile is inside the forest. It follows the river over a few footbridges, before breaking out into the open on a farm road. Follow the farm road around the field. There are some side hikes down to the river along the way, as well as an old red farmhouse. The road will turn north, cross the river, and head around a farm growing shrubbery.

After rounding the shurbbery farm, head north on the farm road for another 1/2 mile until you reach the turnaround spot, an old fallen down farmhouse. You can walk around it and check out where its kitchen, stables, and bedrooms were. There's an old chicken coop about 30 yards to the south. Walking back along the same route to the trailhead gave the total of 4 miles for the hike.

Light and Eye Experiment

My junior year of college, I took a class called Color and Light. This class was talked up to me by friends of mine on the rowing team, and I took it mostly because I heard about this experiment the teacher runs with the class. Although I could've done the experiment on my own (and I suggest you should try it), I took the class anyway.

THE EXPERIMENT

We walked into class one day and the teacher handed us each a bunch of cotton balls and bandanas. The windows were covered with blankets. He tells us to hold the cotton balls over one eye, and strap them to your head with the bandana. The other eye is left open and able to see. He then lectured as normal for 30 minutes. With about 10 minutes left in class, he turned off the lights in the room and had us remove the blindfolds. The eye that had been left open was struggling to see, while the other eye, now dark-adjusted, saw everything. It was a crazy feeling.

Try it yourself!

Calendar Year Movie Watching

I had never seen the movie Pearl Harbor. My fiancee had it on her movie shelf, so we put it in to watch on Tuesday night. Finished watching yesterday. Realized only halfway through that we were watching it on the 70th anniversary of the attack.

I wonder what a movie marathon would look like for the calendar year, such that the day you watch it is the date in which the movie takes place. There are easy ones to take care of such as Independence Day or any Christmas movie. But is there a movie out there for every date of the year? Nothing I can find on google.