Quote Originally Posted by infernalis View Post
Watkins Glen is right up the street from me. Syracuse is a 2 hour drive.
Nice! I went there once years ago, I remember the waterfalls. It's on my to-do list when my budget allows and I can get up their again during herping season. :-D One of my hobbies is working on a website (NY Wildlife) I started to try an document wildlife (I tend to focus on herps or birds, unless I can get a camera trap up) locally. It's always a work in progress, and I'm nowhere near an expert in web design, but it's fun.

I meet so many kids that can tell you all about polar bears and tigers, but have no idea what's in their own backyard. I run a tent at festivals (under the website name) and live animals are a big draw. I've got native turtles, but recently started bringing my corns, even thought hey aren't native, the reactions people have to snakes seem so much stronger and more emotional (whether positive or negative). One of my biggest pet peeves is how quick people are to kill a harmless snake for no reason, (often water or garter snakes!) whether due to ignorance or trying to be being macho/stupid. So I'm working on some fun things to get people informed and to care, at least in my very small corner of the world. ;-)