SCOUTING
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How To Visit All 7 Continents On The Island Of Manhattan

07/22/2013

Where did Scouting NY go on vacation? The American Museum of Natural History, of course! Of all New York’s museums, the AMNH is my absolute favorite – nothing fires both my brain and my heart more than staring at their wonderful dioramas (fun fact: the AMNH has one of the longest hallways in New York, stretching from Columbus Ave to Central Park West).

Looks like most readers figured out what was going on, though I’m pleased to see that at least a few of you were fooled until #12 (if by any chance you actually thought I was on an Alaskan mountain ledge with some goats, I have a bridge for sale…).

Everyone who guessed correctly was entered. The winner was SVEN, who went the distance and guessed at all 18, and actually got a pretty decent amount correct. Sven wins two passes to the AMNH complete with all the special exhibits and the planetarium show!

And now, for anyone who was wondering…

1) New Hampshire

2) Olympic National Forest – Washington

3) Southern Florida

4) Yosemite Valley, California

5) Colorado National Monument, Colorado

6) Lake Nipigan near Ontario, Canada

7) New York

8) Saguaro National Monument, Arizona

9) Stissing Mountain, New York

10) Inyo National Forest, California

11) Sargasso Sea, Atlantic Ocean

12) Grand Canyon, Arizona

13) Long Island, New York

14) Alaska

15) Gunflint Lake, Minnesota (this is my favorite diorama in the museum)

16) Alaska

17) Yellowstone, Wyoming

18) Carnegie Quarry, Utah

Thanks for playing!!

-SCOUT

Many more posts in the archives!

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Russell Maggio

07/25/2013

Those lovely dioramas were recently restored by a team led by the recently retired Steven Quinn of AMNH (he has a book on the very subject). The Gunflint Lake (the wolves) was particularly difficult – the snow was actually powdered marble, and quite difficult to repair. I was fortunate enough to watch many skilled artists restore all the dioramas, every hair, every blade of grass, everything had to be repaired.
The fur on some of the animals was so fragile, that when touched, some actually turned to dust.
My grandfather built some of the cases in the 1950s, and I now I proudly work there. cheers

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Eileen White

07/30/2013

Those wolves used to figure in my nightmares. I still have to steel myself to look at them. And that grizzly bear at the entrance to the North American mammals!

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Gord Mack

07/30/2013

Lake nipigon is actually the biggest lake entirely contained within Ontario – unlike the great lakes which form parts of the province’s border. Having grown up not far from that lake, i’ll have to hunt down the diorama on my next trip to the museum!

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