Submitted by Bill Feagin on Tue, 11/25/2008 - 18:46.
I love the comment about Baxter State Park, and I quite agree--as a kid in Maine (1969-81), my family visited there many times, and I can remember sliding down the falls in the streams running down from Mt. Katahdin. I currently live with my wife in upstate New York, in the foothills of the Catskills, and when I first arrived here 6 1/2 years ago, I quickly realised that I had always needed mountains on my horizon, and the Catskills were those mountains. I also realised just how much I'd missed the Northeast in my 20-odd years down South, in Louisiana (1981-93) and Tennessee (1994-2002). I was born in Tennessee in the fall of 1968, so it was not until my return there 26 years later that I came to appreciate that state's natural beauty--the Cumberland Plateau and the Smoky Mountains (I lived in Knoxville for 10 months) have some really gorgeous scenery--and even only at 15 years' remove do the Louisiana bayous take on the colouring of affection (I was talking with a co-worker just today about teenage Saturday mornings spent fishing with my dad there). My wife and I were married on a blustery Sunday afternoon in the Catskills in October 2004, the fall colours blazing all round us, and it's here, and New England, in the fall that I come to appreciate this region's natural beauty, and why it's in the Northeast that I feel truly at home. I've seen wildlife here, too--bears trundling across roads or driveways in search of something only they know about for sure--but the message of how necessary conservation is only hit home on the Fourth of July weekend this year.
My wife and I had opted to spend the weekend in the Greater Boston area, and we had 2 really wonderful experiences on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was the day we and three friends took a whale-watching tour out of Boston Harbour out to Stellwagen Banks, where we observed half a dozen humpback whales cavorting about near the surface of the waters in the Gulf of Maine. I can't even begin to describe the sense of joy and wonderment just the sight of fins and flukes penetrating the Atlantic waters gave us all--it brought home just how important it is that these gentle giants be allowed to continue traversing the oceans of our world. The second experience came while we were visiting my wife's cousins who live in Boxford, north of the city of Boston, in an area my wife and I plan to move to within the year. They took us for a drive round Cape Ann, and just outside the town of Ipswich, we happened on Wolf Hollow, which is an actual wolf sanctuary. We went in and paid $7 apiece to see their presentation of the wolves (there are 4 in residence, plus a wolf-hybrid puppy brought in because one of the wolves needed a companion); it's an hour long and very well put-together, giving you all the facts about wolves--e.g. they are truly no threat to man, nor have ever been, and their family model inspired that of the Native Americans--and during the course of the presentation, the wolves all howled in unison! For anyone who's never had the experience of hearing a wolf howl, it is truly the most wild sound known to man--thrilling, in a word. I recommend a visit to the place for anyone finding themselves in the vicinity of Ipswich, MA, and if I'm not mistaken, their website is http://www.wolfhollow.org ...but if I have that wrong, you can easily Google up "Wolf Hollow Ipswich MA" and find them. They were the first animals to be placed on the Endangered Species list, and were recently removed by the Bush Administration at the behest of a hunters' group; doubtless we have all heard of the "denning" incident that occurred in Alaska on Sarah Palin's watch? This must not be allowed to continue--we need the wolves as much as we need our other creatures, and I think we should lobby our new President to fix this terrible injustice.
Wild places in the Northeast
I love the comment about Baxter State Park, and I quite agree--as a kid in Maine (1969-81), my family visited there many times, and I can remember sliding down the falls in the streams running down from Mt. Katahdin. I currently live with my wife in upstate New York, in the foothills of the Catskills, and when I first arrived here 6 1/2 years ago, I quickly realised that I had always needed mountains on my horizon, and the Catskills were those mountains. I also realised just how much I'd missed the Northeast in my 20-odd years down South, in Louisiana (1981-93) and Tennessee (1994-2002). I was born in Tennessee in the fall of 1968, so it was not until my return there 26 years later that I came to appreciate that state's natural beauty--the Cumberland Plateau and the Smoky Mountains (I lived in Knoxville for 10 months) have some really gorgeous scenery--and even only at 15 years' remove do the Louisiana bayous take on the colouring of affection (I was talking with a co-worker just today about teenage Saturday mornings spent fishing with my dad there). My wife and I were married on a blustery Sunday afternoon in the Catskills in October 2004, the fall colours blazing all round us, and it's here, and New England, in the fall that I come to appreciate this region's natural beauty, and why it's in the Northeast that I feel truly at home. I've seen wildlife here, too--bears trundling across roads or driveways in search of something only they know about for sure--but the message of how necessary conservation is only hit home on the Fourth of July weekend this year.
My wife and I had opted to spend the weekend in the Greater Boston area, and we had 2 really wonderful experiences on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was the day we and three friends took a whale-watching tour out of Boston Harbour out to Stellwagen Banks, where we observed half a dozen humpback whales cavorting about near the surface of the waters in the Gulf of Maine. I can't even begin to describe the sense of joy and wonderment just the sight of fins and flukes penetrating the Atlantic waters gave us all--it brought home just how important it is that these gentle giants be allowed to continue traversing the oceans of our world. The second experience came while we were visiting my wife's cousins who live in Boxford, north of the city of Boston, in an area my wife and I plan to move to within the year. They took us for a drive round Cape Ann, and just outside the town of Ipswich, we happened on Wolf Hollow, which is an actual wolf sanctuary. We went in and paid $7 apiece to see their presentation of the wolves (there are 4 in residence, plus a wolf-hybrid puppy brought in because one of the wolves needed a companion); it's an hour long and very well put-together, giving you all the facts about wolves--e.g. they are truly no threat to man, nor have ever been, and their family model inspired that of the Native Americans--and during the course of the presentation, the wolves all howled in unison! For anyone who's never had the experience of hearing a wolf howl, it is truly the most wild sound known to man--thrilling, in a word. I recommend a visit to the place for anyone finding themselves in the vicinity of Ipswich, MA, and if I'm not mistaken, their website is http://www.wolfhollow.org ...but if I have that wrong, you can easily Google up "Wolf Hollow Ipswich MA" and find them. They were the first animals to be placed on the Endangered Species list, and were recently removed by the Bush Administration at the behest of a hunters' group; doubtless we have all heard of the "denning" incident that occurred in Alaska on Sarah Palin's watch? This must not be allowed to continue--we need the wolves as much as we need our other creatures, and I think we should lobby our new President to fix this terrible injustice.