Marty’s photo of the day #4336: Greetings from Paul Smith’s College in Paul Smiths, New York! (Yes, the college uses an apostrophe and the town doesn’t.) I performed Around the World in 90 Minutes at the college in 2008, which was my first full year of performing the show, so it was fun to come back after all these years. In a rarity for colleges, Paul Smith’s still has the same Director of Student Activities, and I was shocked that she still remembered parts of my show after all these years.
Paul Smith’s College is such a unique institution. It’s located in northern Upstate New York, just 30 minutes from Lake Placid (where the 1980 Olympics were held). It features one of the largest campuses in the world—14,000 acres—yet has only 500 registered students. It’s considered an “environmental college,” and it’s the kind of college I would have loved to attend if I were that age again.
I enjoyed performing today, and the audience was just what I would have expected from such a college—lots of smiles in the audience.
I shot today’s photo from the side window of the theater I performed in. Yes, Paul Smith’s College sits at the edge of St. Regis Lake. The temperature outside was 80, so the ice on the lake was melting fast. Moments before I shot this photo, two bald eagles were out on the ice. Actually, they were still on the ice, but they moved so far out that they became mere dots.
Later, as I was leaving the campus, students were doing exactly what you would expect students to be doing—jumping off the dock for “polar bear plunges.”
Tomorrow (Friday), I drive to New Jersey, and my next show is Saturday at the Trailside Nature & Science Center in Mountainside, NJ.
I have Sunday off, so for the fun of it I’m staying in Freehold, home of Bruce Springsteen. If I find Bruce’s childhood home, I’ll post a picture.