The Wild Center

            We had been driving for hours. Through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and upstate New York, stopping once to go to Fort Ticonderoga. The overall trip took five days. We also went to Harmony Hill.  I did not really like Fort Ticonderoga, Harmony Hill was OK, but my favorite place was the Wild Center.

We slept at a tiny little motel called Shaheens Motel. The next day when I woke up my parents said that we were going to the Wild Center. The Wild Center is kind of a natural history museum in Tupper Lake NY,  in the heart of the Adirondack Mountain Range. The wild center was right around the corner from Shaheens Motel.

            We arrived at the Wild Center very shortly. Before we walked in a man ran up to us holding a bird’s nest. Inside were two turquoise eggs. It was a Robin’s nest! The man said that he had found the nest near a wood shed. The wood cutting noise must have scared the mama and papa birds away. Without the protection of their parents, the little birds inside the eggs had not hatched and would never hatch. The man said the nest would be featured on the Wild Walk.

            We entered the building and looked around. We had walked into a large circular room with a glass ceiling. Blue light shone into the wide room. On the right side of the room was a gift shop and a theater, on the left side was a huge plastic glacier gushing water and making loud crumbling noises because there was a stereo next to it. Bordering the room stood tall Birch trees.  In front of me, was an enormous window showing a large shallow pond with water up to the window.

 We got the admission for the museum and decided what we would do first. We decided to watch a movie about the Adirondacks.  The movie was actually a slideshow showing all of the mountains and towns around the mountains. When we were done with the movie we went to look around the museum. The exhibit we were at had fish, ducks, and turtles. Suddenly there was a slight commotion. Everyone was going to  the entrance room. We went as well. I saw what was causing all the mayhem. Standing (or sitting, it was hard to tell ) on a table was a fat, dark brown, porcupine.  

The porcupine was very, very, very chubby. In fact it looked like a spiky balloon.  It was cramming  as many handfuls of leaves it could fit into its little mouth.  “Today I am here to talk to you about three special animals, the river otter, the striped skunk, and the northeastern porcupine” said a lady standing next to the porcupine.  “This porcupine’s name is Sibley.  Sibley was domesticated by human beings and could not go back to the wild. Porcupines are sometimes considered pests because they gnaw on wood, for example, you might find a porcupine chewing the siding off your house or on the bark of a tree. There are a lot of wood chopping companies around this area so there are a lot of people finding porcupines all over the place. Keep your dog away from a porcupine because the porcupine smell is irresistible to a dog and it will be mauled. A porcupine’s quills are specially designed with barbs so that when your skin tries to push them out, they get in deeper.” Then she told us about skunks and river otters and took our questions . Shortly after that we went back to the motel to have lunch.

            When we finished lunch we went back to The Wild Center to take the Wild Walk. We started the Wild Walk by following a dirt path. Then we came to a wooden covered bridge with pictures of birds on it. When we stepped off the bridge we were on a platform. The sun was shining and we were very high up in a clearing. In front of us were three dark red metal poles coming up together in a point. I saw more of these strange statues on other platforms. On my left side there was a woman at a desk. On the desk were three pairs of binoculars. I took one and looked around. I could see a Blue Jay eating at a feeder 10 feet away. Then we went to the next platform, and the next. My favorite platform was one with a gigantic eagle’s nest that you could sit in.  After the eagles nest we went to a platform with a huge rope spider web that you could walk on and a gargantuan plastic spider. I don’t really like spiders, they’re so hairy and have too many  eyes and legs. In fact I don’t like any bugs.

 

Visiting the Wild Center was an amazing experience for me. I learned a lot about things I didn’t know about before. Did you know porcupines eat bark, the American Kestrel is the smallest falcon, and rat snakes can grow up to five feet long? . The Wild Center was a child friendly environment, with diagrams, interactive displays, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff.  My trip to The Wild Center was a vital part of my homeschooling education and I can’t wait until my next learning adventure at The Wild Center.