Thunder Mountain Skeet & Trap- Ringwood, NJ

This trip reminded me of an iconic movie scene from the Christmas classic, Die Hard. Sadly these are the best representations Youtube had to offer.
Instead of Hans Gruber, we get Severus Snape.


Yippie kay yay, Muggle-fucker?
Or instead of Alan Rickman as Severus Snape we get some Eurotrash doing the video game version of Die Hard.

Shame on you, Youtube. I expect more out of you than this. I could not find a version of the real scene that allowed itself to be embedded. Here's the real one that the jerks at Youtube won't share.
Then again, if I had the ability not to rely on 80s and 90s movie references maybe I would not face this problem. I could save a lot of time and effort not scouring the internet for videos featuring the esoteric scenes from the movies and television shows of my youth. Just think how much I could accomplish if that were the case? Unfortunately, it's not.
Back to the topic at hand. While unbelievable to many from New Jersey, even though I am from Pennsylvania and many of my friends are avid hunters I have not handled many guns in my life. When I was in the Boy Scouts in the 90s we got to shoot .22 and archery. There was a shotgun to shoot as well, but I never took part. I never had a reason why I did not. It was just one of those things that just never happened. Last year I had a chance to change that following the Heart of the Highlands 5K, but for some reason CP and I were not able to stick around and shoot. I ran, we all ate some delicious breakfast at Mark and Kate's house and returned to the Pics of Me in Front of Stuff Lair. This year, I missed the 5K due to driving issues, basically leaving too late and me not being able to follow directions. We pulled in just as the race was pulling out.
It was interesting seeing the winners finish, I am usually a little over halfway when they are closing in on the finish line.

Now I know what the 30 minutes of boredom CP must feel when I am running and I have to say it made me appreciate her even more. My lack of running was followed by a trip to the shooting range to shoot some skeet.

No not that kind of skeet, skeet, skeet...
In fact, I am not sure if we were skeet shooting or trap shooting. I have no idea what the difference is and I am pretty sure it's not relevant. Thunder Mountain Skeet & Trap is located in Ringwood Manor State Park very close to the New Jersey-New York border. When most people think of New Jersey they think of South Jersey with its beaches and pine barrens and 'North' Jersey with its chemical plants, refineries, and New York City. However, that 'North' Jersey encompasses the southern part of the northern third of the state. Much of the northernmost part of New Jersey features woods and mountains. It's hard to believe, but it is very scenic and probably my favorite part of New Jersey. If you like hiking and live in NJ or NY, I highly recommend finding your way to Ringwood. If you like shooting or would like to try shooting a shotgun, I recommend Thunder Mountain Skeet & Trap. A fee of $17 got us each a box of shells and a shotgun and a helpful young man to serve as attendant. CP and I each got to handle some shotguns and shoot some bright orange objects as they flew through the air after one of us said 'Pull'.

Here's CP.

Turns out she is a pretty good shot. I will keep that in mind come Christmas time. Someone is definitely getting a good gift based solely on my survival instincts. CP may have to go by AO (Annie Oakley) if she keeps that up.

Here's me.

I am not such a good shot. You could call me DM as in Dead Meat if AO and I ever got into a shooting match. By shooting match I mean gun fight. I missed the first 5 clay pigeons but somehow managed to shoot as many as CP when it was all said and done. That's why I slipped our attendant aka un-leasher of clay pigeous and official score keeper $5 when we left.

While I'll never be a card carrying member of the NRA, this was fun. It felt pretty good to pulverize those little orange sons of bitches. Yee-haw!