Day 2 - Singin' in the Rain (and lovin' it!) - May 28

Thursday Blog Day 2

Well, this is no shortage of water in the Adirondacks and the fire index certainly must be “low” because it rained just about the whole day today. In spite of the weather, we are having a great time and they are not even complaining. (This is very odd.)

We awoke this morning to pouring rain but we had a great breakfast overlooking the misty Lake George. We checked them out of their rooms and were pleased to see how well they listened to our request to be good guests. Many of the students even made the beds, not sure that happens at home.

We headed out to Natural Stone Bridge and Caves and arrived in the pouring rain. This was a little challenging as we go on a tricky nature trail over rocks, roots, bridges and ledges. This is a magnificent example of erosion and natural weathering. The owners have had this property in the family for over two hundred years as the land was granted to them for service in the Civil War. This is the home of the largest natural marble cave in America. The river was very high and it disappears into the ground in the cave. It demonstrates the power of water and how it shapes the land and even carves stone. Many of the students bought geodes (fast cooling on the outside and slow cooling on the inside which creates crystals) which they have “popped” to expose the surprise inside. If you were lucky enough to receive a gift, it probably came from here.

We left for the Wild Center passing along the way the Lake Placid Olympic Complex and all the sports facilities which are still in use today. The Wild Center is a beautiful museum near Tupper Lake. It was designed by architects to be “green” complete with a moss roof and composting toilets. The designers knew how to engage visitors and make it aesthetically beautiful. We first enjoyed a wonderful film entitled “A Matter of Degrees” which taught us that all of the ice ages and changes in climate only differed by 9 degrees as the Earth’s orbit changed just a little. Glaciers and animal species came and went with only a slight adjustment in temperature. It was a very compelling story. We had a great lunch and had a porcupine and snake encounter. In our groups we toured the museum which is set up in a series of eco and animal systems. We enjoyed watching the otters and the trout in their natural habitats. We worked through a scavenger hunt prepared by Mrs. Ciarametaro which helped focus us on specific content we wanted them to learn.



We drove back to the Lake Placid area and checked into the Comfort Inn. We decided to let them enjoy the indoor pool to relax a little before we had dinner at 6:30. We have hired a disc jockey from 7-10 to spin and manage the karaoke at the last grade 8 dance. The chaperones always pick a cool song to sing and no matter how bad we are—they always cheer for us. It will end tonight with Stairway to Heaven and this last phase of their grade 8 experience is coming to an end.

We will tape them in at 10PM and leave in the morning for Ausable Chasm which also brings us through a 2 mile nature walk along the chasm walls. We hope the water level will be right for the raft ride out of the chasm as we are looking forward to that. We will ferry over to the Vermont side and head for Ben and Jerry’s. We expect to be home around 5:30 and pick up will be at the Doyon School. It has been a total pleasure to celebrate with this wonderful class of young people. Everywhere we have been there are unsolicited comments from the managers expressing how impressed they are with their behavior and the respect they show at all times. You have done a great job as parents and we will miss them as a class as they move on to their next four years of school.

“Making a Difference” starts at the Ipswich Middle School.

For all the damp chaperones,

Cheryl Forster