Modern Day Explorers…

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a modern day explorer? Basically it entails having an interest in exploration particularly with an emphasis in the sciences. The preeminent society focused on exploration is The Explorers Club headquartered in New York City. Many of its members have been responsible for famous firsts such as being first to reach the North and South Poles, first to land on the moon, first to summit Mount Everest, etc.

Guess what? Art recently became a member of the Explorers Club! He was recently sponsored by a close friend who is a fellow of the club, Dr. Bruce Rinker. He joins many esteemed past and current members such as Sir Edmund Hillary, Theodore Roosevelt, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Robert Ballard, John Glenn …to name a few.

The infamous Explorers Club 105th Annual Dinner event was recently held at the Waldorf Astoria on March 21st and Art, Rita and Brandon decided to attend and experience firsthand the organization they are now a part of. They flew to New York City on Friday, March 20th and landed late in the afternoon in time to meet up with their friend Bruce.

Together they all attended the open house at the Explorer’s Club headquarters on East 70th Street with another member and friend Dr. Melissa Grigione that evening. They met at just after 8PM at the headquarters building to explore the many rooms of international treasures and artifacts that members have bestowed upon the Club over the years in their travels. When they arrived the open house was in process but winding down. Bruce told the host that they were heading upstairs to the infamous “Trophy Room” to browse the worldly artifacts. She acknowledged and they headed up the staircase on what would become a mini-adventure!

Upon climbing many flights of stairs the group arrived at the precipice of “Trophy Room.” Melissa commented that it was like being in a scene from the movie “Night at the Museum” where a newly hired security guard at the Natural History Museum discovered that a curse caused the animals and exhibits to come to life and wreak havoc. They all laughed and proceeded to find their way to their destination.

Alas they entered the Trophy Room. There they gazed upon what seemed like a mini-museum of natural history with taxidermy and artifacts from all over the world. One hardly knew where to begin looking! The group spread out and explored…as explorers do. There were so many objects in the collection. There were items ranging from ancient African masks to Tibetan prayer wheels and flags to large mammoth tusks. There were antiquarian exploration journals that were housed in locked mahogany cabinets. Oh to have the time to sit upon the antique furniture in the room and read through those journals! What experiences lie in those journals?

Rita noticed a large conical item mounted on a wood frame in the corner of the room sitting on the window sill and commented on what it might be. One of the group guessed it might be some part of a dried plant specimen. Another guessed something else. The mystery was solved when Bruce read the plaque on the wood frame and began to chuckle….it was a whale’s penis! Brandon had to have his picture taken with it….boys will be boys, past and present it seems! To say that this room contained unusual and interesting objects was an understatement. There just wasn’t enough time to really get a look at everything closely as it was getting late. One of the group suggested it might be time to leave so they headed out of the room.

They noticed the hallways were strangely completely dark. All of the lights had been turned off in the building. They looked down the middle of the staircase and could not see or hear anyone or anything. Bruce shouted down the staircase to harken a response. No response. Could it be? Were they accidentally forgotten and locked in? Was Melissa’s joke of “Night at the Museum” becoming a reality? The group used the light from their cell phone displays to help them down the flights of stairs that were pitch dark. Descending each floor it was painfully obvious they were alone in the building…the Explorer’s Club headquarters! What was thought of as a really cool place now seemed just darned creepy.

The group reached the ground floor and foyer of the building….where realization set in. They were indeed locked in! Did they dare try to open the front door and risk setting the security alarm? What then? Would the police arrive and question them or even worse, arrest them? They turned the front door handle to see if it was actually locked and it was. This set off the security alarm and it sounded for what seemed an eternity! A few minutes later the phone rang. Bruce answered it and it was the security alarm company. He told them of the circumstances and they informed him that someone was on their way to investigate the situation. So they waited. And waited. And waited. No one showed up!

Could this really be happening? First getting locked in the Explorer’s Club headquarters with priceless artifacts and then no one responding to the tripped alarm? Bruce started searching the front desk for staff phone numbers to try to reach someone. He left a few voice messages hoping someone would respond. Then Bruce called the security company again. They assured someone was on their way. It was almost an hour later when one of the staff members came to their rescue. It was the same staff member who acknowledged their intent to visit the Trophy Room earlier and she apologized profusely! All was forgiven and their “Night at the Museum” adventure came to an end.

The following day Art, Rita, Brandon and Bruce prepared to attend the Explorer’s Club Annual Dinner at the Waldorf. It was a black tie event. They planned to meet in the lobby at 6PM to ensure enough time to experience the “exotic” cocktail hour that preceded the dinner. They all met in the lobby and made their way to the event together. Once there they stood in line at the bar for drinks.

Brandon noticed an unusually dressed gentleman standing nearby. He asked him about his attire and the gentleman responded that the native American outfit he was wearing was a tribute to the tribe that recently made him an honorary member of their tribe. Brandon asked his name and if he had been on any recent expeditions. He acknowledged himself as Gary Olsen and informed Brandon that he had recently accompanied the Russians on a mission in space. He was the third person to privately pay to go into outer space. The price? A mere $20,000,000! (We Googled this info after the event.)

Then a waitperson approached them with a strange looking appetizer. When asked what it was he replied, “it’s tarantula tempura (on a stick).” Unfortunately there was only one left so it was deferred to Bruce who happily took it and proceeded to munch on it! Too bad there was only one (yeah right!!)

Thinking they were off the hook, another waitperson showed up with another strange item to eat. This time it was “a bull’s eyeball.” Art and Rita each took one….reluctantly. They each looked at it hesitantly and the waitperson waited for them to eat it to retrieve the spoon it was served on. OK, now what? Rita politely offered hers to the space traveler who gladly accepted it (one down, that was a close one!) Art wasn’t so lucky so he had to eat his….it squished in his mouth and tasted as bad as it looked! “A” for effort Art!

The room was very crowded and upon receiving their drinks they all parted ways to make their way to the table in the center of the room with more “goodies” to feast on! What would they find? On the menu of appetizers were things like: crispy scorpion dancing on endive leaves, zophobas morio (super worms) ala deviled egg, cricket croistini with herbed cream cheese, duck tongue on a cracker (who knew ducks had tongues?), wapiti (elk) balls in brown sauce, deep fried bulls’ testicles, musca domestica (house fly) larvae, stuffed braised and roasted lagomorphs (rabbit), Mediterranean herb-roasted lamb (complete with skull), roasted ostrich, and other fine delectable’s!

Art asked Rita to hold his plate while he went to refill his drink. She thought it would be safe to eat the wild rice thingy in a pastry cup….how wrong she was! When Art returned he asked her where his house fly larvae cup went. Gulp! Her face went completely white when she realized she did not eat wild rice after all! Art, Brandon and Bruce proceeded to enjoy the “delectible’s” while Rita tried to recover from her house fly larvae miscue, oh my.

The lights began to flash on and off which signaled that everyone was to move into the main dining area for dinner and the event. Fortunately, dinner was “normal” compared to the cocktail hour. The menu consisted of herb-stuffed chicken breast, risotto and steamed veggies.

The keynote speaker for the dinner was Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard evolutionary biologist, researcher, theorist and naturalist. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for general non-fiction and has been hailed as Darwin’s natural heir. He has had a lifelong obsession with ants, discovering how they communicate through pheromones, he is most famous for the publication in 1975 of Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, a work of deep insight that advanced evolutionary thinking and proved a Darwinian manifesto, describing social behavior from the ants to humans. His speech focused on bio-diversity, the theme for the dinner.

Other speakers included:
Clive Cussler, Ph.D. –World famous adventure author and undersea explorer. His National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) has overseen the discovery of over 60 historically significant underwater wreck sites, donating all proceeds and artifacts to scientific and educational institutions.

Rev. David A. Dolan –Chair of the Southern California chapter of the Explorers Club, Rev. Dolan has combined exploration and adventure with philanthropic and humanitarian endeavors throughout the world and here at home in the U.S.A.

Scott W. Hamilton –Noted explorer and scientist, Scott Hamilton has been commissioned by NASA to test space technology in extreme conditions and has helped develop and test many low light undersea vision technologies now in use.

Peter E. Hillary –Son of the late Sir Edmund Hillary, Peter Hillary is, in his own right, a noted explorer, lecturer and author who has himself carried on the Hillary tradition of exploration, adventure and philanthropy.

Lee M. Talbot –Dr. Talbot has served as an environmental advisor to three U. S. presidents, as head of Environmental Sciences for the Smithsonian Institution and is world renowned for his work in the science of ecology.

Special Guest: William A. Anders (Major General, USAF Reserve, Ret.) was honored at the Explorers Club’s 2008 Lowell Thomas Awards this past October but was unable to attend. Anders was backup pilot for Gemini XI and Apollo 11, pilot for Apollo 8, the first lunar orbit mission. He has logged more than 6,000 hours flying time.

The dinner concluded at 12:30A but time seemed to fly by. It was an interesting evening and weekend to say the least! One the Aughey’s will not soon forget.