Last year, we did not go anywhere during fall as mommy was pregnant with Sheri. This year, we decided to go to Delaware Water Gap to look at the fall colours. This was the place that Daddy had always wanted to go during fall when he was studying in Princeton. As daddy will be going away for a conference next week, we decided to make the trip on last Saturday. Delaware Water Gap National Park encompasses almost 70,000 acres and runs along 40 miles of the middle Delaware River. We drove along route 209 near the Water gap. We stopped by Dingman Falls for a short hiking trail.
On our way back, we decided to take a look at the other side of the Water gap by driving on a route called 'old mine road' that we saw on the map. Utimately, it should lead us back to highway I-80 that we came from. The 'old mine road' was narrower and closer to the river than the road that we drove on the other side of the water gap. The scenary that we saw along 'old mine road' was just magnificent.
However, after driving for about 2 hours, the road that we were travelling on suddenly ended and became unpaved. At that moment, we had to make a tough decision. We either had to turn back or we could continue driving hoping that the road would become paved again. Both options that we had at that moment were not very appealing. The former was undesirable because it would take us another 2 hours to get back onto the path that we came from and we certainly did not wish to drive through the forested area that we came from in the pitch dark condition since night was falling. On the other hand, we did not wish to continue driving on the unpaved road for two reasons. Firstly, we had no idea whether the road would become paved again and lead us back to the highway. Secondly, driving on the unpaved road could possibly pose another risk of tire puncture, which obviously was the last thing we wanted to happen. Given the cirumstances that we were in, we had to make a fast decision as time was running out. We had to get out of this forested area before night falls. We decided to turn back a few metres and follow the direction of the sign that says 'Campus Inn', hoping we could ask for some directions. The road down to the 'Campus Inn' was very bumpy as it was unpaved too and worst of all, it was very narrow and pretty close to the river. After driving for a distance, we decided to turn back as we could not see any inn in sight. However, it was not easy doing a three-point turn on a very bumpy and narrow road as we had to make sure that the car would not accidentally slide down the slope. Fortunately, daddy managed to manoeuvre the car carefully and we got out of that place safely. Once we were back on the paved road, we had to decide how to get back in the shortest possible time. At that time, we had no choice, but to turn back. We saw from the map that there was a crossing point back to route 209. Just as we were about to set off, Sheri wetted her car seat and mommy had to change her diaper. After the diaper change, she refused to sit on the car seat, instead she tried to stand up. At that moment, careless mommy was too distracted to notice that she did not buckle baby Sheri up. So, when daddy stepped on the brake suddenly, Sheri surged forward and fell head-down. Oh no! Mommy quickly picked her up and tried to comfort her. She fell asleep in mommy's arms after drinking some milk. Thank God! In the end, we managed to get out of the park safely. Poor Sheri! She had a bad fall. Until now, mommy still feels very remorseful for causing baby Sheri to have a bad fall.
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