Visit to The Wild Center

We finally used our free pass to visit The Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks.


It's a beautiful building located on a beautiful site. Lots of landscaping is ongoing. A pond is located on one side of the building and it comes right up to the side of the building almost at eye level. The admission fee is a bit steep at $14 for an adult. But it includes admission to the awesome multimedia presentation, "Carl Heilman's Adirondacks" in the Flammer Panaromas Theater.


The main attraction at the museum are the otters and they are loads of fun to watch. They seem to enjoy performing for the spectators.


But they are just too fast to allow a good underwater picture.




The museum is a great place to learn about aquatic wildlife. You will also learn alot about what is going on under the forest floor. There are also many, many videos explaining everything from possible effects of global warming on the Adirondacks to invasive plants to natural history of white tailed deer.

There are a number of trails located on the property including one that winds its way down to the Raquette River. I'm guessing that the trails are not as cool as those located at the Paul Smiths VIC because they are located in a relatively populated area.

The most important part of the museum is the "classroom". It is outfitted something like a biology lab and includes "tons" of things that students can put their hands on.

All in all the museum is worth a visit even with a $14 admission fee. It remains to be determined how much return traffic the museum will have.

An Egghead for President

I love Eugene Robinson's editorial in todays Washington Post. He writes that the next President of the United States needs to be a brilliant person and I agree completely.

Actually, I want a president smart enough to know a good deal about science. He or she doesn't have to be able to do the math, but I want a president who knows that the great theories underpinning our understanding of the universe -- general relativity and quantum mechanics -- have stood for nearly a century and proved stunningly accurate, even though they describe a world that is more shimmer than substance. I want him or her to know that there's a lot we still don't know.

I want the next president to be intellectually curious -- and also intellectually honest. I want him or her to understand the details, not just the big picture. I won't complain if the next president occasionally uses a word I have to look up.

A President that can reason. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Democrats have some good candidates running for President and I could support a number of them. But you know what? I'm one of those that think Al Gore should be our next President. He has already shown he could win a Presidential election and his political stock has since risen. Don't give me that crap about being "stiff and wooden". I could care less. We need someone with more than half a brain in the White House. The current president has proven that.

Al Gore can do exactly what "Tricky Dick" Nixon did back in 1968. Rolling Stone online describes exactly why Al would make a great candidate for President.

If the Democrats were going to sit down and construct the perfect candidate for 2008, they'd be hard-pressed to improve on Gore. Unlike Hillary Clinton, he has no controversial vote on Iraq to defend. Unlike Barack Obama and John Edwards, he has extensive experience in both the Senate and the White House. He has put aside his wooden, policy-wonk demeanor to emerge as the Bush administration's most eloquent critic. And thanks to An Inconvenient Truth, Gore is not only the most impassioned leader on the most urgent crisis facing the planet, he's also a Hollywood celebrity, the star of the third-highest-grossing documentary of all time.

"He's perceived very differently now than he was six years ago," says Frank Luntz, the Republican consultant who advised George W. Bush to dispute global warming during the 2000 and 2004 elections. "He's an icon. Imagine that: Al Gore, Mr. Straight and Narrow, Mr. Dull on Wheels -- now he's culturally cool."

Saucy Posse Wins Women's Open VT City Marathon Relay

Team placing in all relays.


43rd place with 1049 teams behind. About 4% of teams ahead.

Team placing in open relay



25th place with 639 teams behind. About 4% of teams ahead.

Team placing in open relay - women



1st place with 95 teams behind.