Getting WILD in Tupper Lake
19 June 2022
Happy Father’s Day to all those dads of humans and fur babies alike! We kept our same MO of the past few days and slept in until 9-10ish. How am I going to recover from all of this and get back into a work schedule??? That’s a problem for another day. Today we worked on the sweet orange rolls again, showered and headed out for our one planned adventure - The Wild Center in Tupper Lake.
The Wild Center is about 25 minutes from Saranac Lake. It’s a neat indoor/outdoor science/natural history type center. We started with the indoor exhibits. There was displays about glaciers, creatures native to the Adirondacks, plants, weather, etc. One of the most exciting exhibits was the otters! They had two otters swimming around in an enclosure and they are super cute! We sat and watched them play around for a little bit before moving on.
We also saw plenty of fish and turtles. There were two turtles having a little battle over one particular spot on a rock. One was occupying said spot and the other wanted it. It was trying to get out of the water right where turtle #1 was sitting. When turtle #2 finally got up onto the rock it decided that turtle #1 needed to get out of its way and pushed it back into the water! Turtle #1 wasn’t having it and got back up on the rock. This all happened at turtle speed, but was amusing to watch it all transpire. We came back a little bit later to find that turtle #1 had reclaimed its spot, but turtle #2 hadn’t quite given up yet. I hope turtle #2 realizes there was enough space on that rock for both of them OR there were two other rocks it could go sit on. I hope they come to a turtle agreement.
Before heading outside, we looked at the auditorium schedule. There was a short movie at 1 that we would watch if we were inside at the time and a creature feature at 2 with a snake that we wanted to see. Then we headed outside. There were lots of walking paths and plenty of interactive areas to check out. We could build and play with giant sticks and branches, hop around on rocks, and walk through a neat tunnel of twisted branches. We also came across an area called Forest Music. It was a walking path with a bunch of sculptures make by one artist and music created to reflect the sculptures. The art was a little abstract, but the music was neat and the path was relaxing. Ross and I both liked the same sculpture best.
We stopped back inside to see if the cafe was open, unfortunately it wasn’t, so we headed back outside to check out the main attraction I was interested in. The center had built this big multi-level viewing platform that looked kind of like a big fort. It had a giant “spider web,” a nest the size of a Bald Eagle’s nest, and a huge tree with a spiral staircase in it. These parts were partially linked with some fun suspension bridges that Ross and I jumped across. Sometimes we hit it just right and I got some good height on my jumps!
Once we explored all of that area, there was one more spot to see before the 2pm snake show. We walked over to see all these twisted branches that formed almost building like structures. They were super neat and I wonder how long it took to create something like that. Some kids and parents were having fun running around in a cat and mouse way.
Since it was almost 2pm, we wandered inside and scoped out the gift shop area for a few minutes before the snake talk started. We found our seats with everyone else and the museum fellow gave us a talk on Cleo the Milk Snake. I was sad we were not able to touch or hold her, but it was a nice little presentation. The presenter allowed questions from the audience and it was amusing to listen to all the kids’ questions.
The creature feature was the last part of our visit to the Wild Center, so we headed into Tupper Lake to see if we could find something to eat. Turns out, the vast majority of stores are closed on Sunday in Tupper Lake. But - lucky for us not everything was closed. We found a shop called Well Dressed Foods that was open. We ordered a falafel wrap and a veggie burger. Both were fine, but nothing to knock your socks off. We stopped for gas for the first time on our trip, at a steal of a deal at $4.99 a gallon, and headed back to our room.
Still following the MO from the past few days, this meant nap time….2 hours later…..we got up to venture back into Lake Placid. We had our minds set on pizza for dinner, so we found a place called Ere’s to try. When I looked at the map on Yelp it looked like Ere’s was in one spot, but as we walked by, it was nowhere to be found. Checked Google….a few blocks in the other directions. Luckily Lake Placid is small and 5 minutes later we found it.
We ordered our veggie pizza and I saw something called Saranac Sodas on the menu. I had the option of Root Beer or Shirley Temple. I figured I might as well try something new, so Shirley Temple it was. Oooh boy - As soon as I sipped that bright red concoction all I could think about was melted jelly beans with a side of diabetes. Dang was it sweet! Ross helped me finish it, but I wouldn’t be sad if I never had one of those again.
On our walk back to the car, I stopped into a store quick to grab a gift and then we dropped our leftover pizza and gift in the car. Ross mentioned he wanted to sit by the fire at the Pickled Pig before calling it a night. So we plopped into some Adirondack chairs, Ross grabbed a beverage and some peanuts and we hovered over a warm fire on a chilly night. And that was how we spent the last night in New York! Back to Burlington for one more night before heading home!
Stats for the day:
Home Safe 'n Sound . . . I'll miss the vicarious-vacation I was on!
ReplyDeleteWhat an Adventure!