Part of the beauty of visiting Rehoboth Beach, DE, where my Silver Lake series is largely set, is visiting places that appear in the books.
I was fortunate enough last summer to visit several of them and to revisit many of those again this year but a dull day that threatened the area with rain gave me the opportunity to visit one about 12 miles out of town.
For those of you who have read the entire series, you may recall Jethro taking Jake for a nature trail walk in Shattered Hearts, book 4 in the series.
For those who haven’t read the books, here’s an extract that mentions my destination for the day –
He barely registered what direction they were travelling in and only realised that the car had stopped when Jethro declared. “We’re here. Let’s walk.”
“Where are we?” asked Jake, gazing round as he climbed out of the car.
“Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge,” replied Jethro as he locked the car. “Lots of nice peaceful trails to walk. A good place to walk and talk without interruptions.”
“Don’t think I’ve ever been out here,” mused Jake. “Might have been here on a field trip as a kid.”
“Follow the signs for the Pine Grove Trail,” instructed Jethro, pointing to a path that led into the trees.
Nodding, Jake stuffed his hands in his pockets and set off along the trail. With dry crisp leaves crunching beneath their feet, they walked in silence for a few minutes. Around them, they could hear birds in the trees. Giving nature’s magic time to relax Jake a little, Jethro bided his time before saying, “If the story Jim and Grey told me is accurate, when we get back to the studio, we are calling the police, son.”
Jake merely shrugged his shoulders.
Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge is a 10 000-acre sanctuary for migratory birds. It was established in 1963 by President John F Kennedy and contains a wide variety of natural habitats including freshwater and salt marshes. There’s woodlands and grasslands and ponds that among them are home to around 270 species of birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals… and insects that bite!
It’s a vast site and to do it justice you really would need several hours to explore.
In Shattered Hearts, I mentioned on specific area –
They walked on towards Fleetwood Pond in silence. As the still pond came into sight, Jake said, “The day that hornet stung me, she was out at JJL.”
By sheer luck, we parked at the spot that natural routed to Fleetwood Pond!
I didn’t have the luxury of a whole day to explore sadly. Instead, I had a couple of hours to walk the trails, keeping my eyes peeled for wildlife. Like my trip to Gordon’s Pond last year, I encountered a problem. Most of the seabirds seemed to be MIA. I did see an osprey soaring overhead, quietly surveying its territory. There were numerous dragonflies flitting about. In the bushes beside the pond, small birds were singing. In the woodland areas, there were deer quietly going about their day.
It really was the perfect location to meander and to think.
I could almost hear Jake and Jethro ahead of me on the trail.
There was one essential item that I forgot to take with me. Bug spray!
Let’s just say that the mosquitos at Prime Hook fed well on Scottish blood that day!
For more info on Prime Hook please see link below-
Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
If you’ve not caught up with the Silver Lake series yet, the books can be ordered worldwide using the links below
Amazon.com links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Amazon.co.uk links –
Stronger Within – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VXDSC1M
Impossible Depths – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C0GS30K
Bonded Souls – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSQHG71
Shattered Hearts – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZY8ZSDM
Long Shadows – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RR1FGLG
Coral McCallum 