Mantanzas Pass

I thought the views from the edge of the water were very nice at Mantanzas Pass.  That was the most remarkable part of the venture.  The tide was out when I was there which gave me the chance to see the lower parts of the mangroves, I was surprised that so many of them were not deeper in the ground and that some ended where the water was when the tide was in.  I suppose that is because they cannot grow in the water.  I never thought too much about the mangroves being infused with the water's edge and how that would impact the plant.  

The most memorable sound in the mangroves was the movement of the lizards in the leaves and fallen branches.  It was sort of spooky actually because I was there alone.  I also didn't expect to be eaten up by mosquitoes in the middle of the day,  I was not prepared for that as I work a sleeveless top that day.     

My hometown has grown in population.  I grew up in a town called Savona, New York.  When I lived there you could not find it on the map,  I had 32 kids in my graduating class, and everyone knew everyone else.  Now there are more families there, the school system has merged with another small town near us.  They changed our school into an elementary school and the other town's school into a high school.  The community must be more widespread, and less recognizable or tight knit.

Savona had a lot of natural elements, there was the steep hill that we (tried to) ski on, there is the woods that we hiked and hunted, the ponds and lakes that we fished, and the farmers with their dairy cattle and fields of corn to feed them.  To sell that to build condos and turn it into a small city would take a lot from the environment and impact the ecosystem there.  There are other areas that would be less damaged by such projects, they would have to look elsewhere.

When they were running the highway through a neighboring town many of the homeowners did not want to give up the land and the homes that they raised their families in.  The state used eminent domain to acquire the land and people lost money on their lands.  I always thought that was wrong and that they should have tried to change the route of the new highway.  The road runs all along the base of the mountain, it took a great deal from the land and the environment.  I would not sell for less than the land it's value, especially if it is a natural setting, unless it was to be used for a natural project.