Dawn Patrol

today, we took charlie to monmouth park racetrack for their "dawn patrol" program. they open the track up to early risers, provide juice, coffee, and doughnuts, and give you a tour of the behind the scenes workings of the horse track. it is a very informative tour that takes you through the stable area, the backstretch of the track, and even into the jockey's room. cool stuff.

after dawn patrol, we headed north to sea bright to check out the pod of dophins that have been frolicking in the river for the past week. reports have the number of dolphins in the pod at around 14, all of which are moms and their calves. this is a big deal because dolphins don't normally hang out in the rivers in NJ. you usually find them a few miles off shore in the ocean. every now and then, they may come in close to the beach and give you a little bit of a show, but not that often. many are worried that the 4th of July boat traffic in the river will hurt the dolphins, so they are attempting to coax them back out into the ocean before next week.

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