Greetings, outdoorspeople! And happy holidays!
- Weekend forecast: Saturday; high 48, sunny and cold/ Sunday; high 52, partly cloudy
- Recommended adventure: Become a library cardholder. Then, go exploring. Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center has partnered with the Chattanooga Public Library to provide a free pass for one family living under the same roof to visit the 317-acre nature preserve. The pass is first-come, first-served and can be checked out by any current library cardholder at the library’s curbside pickup stand. The pass must be returned within a week of borrowing. Learn more about Reflection Riding here.
- Most interesting thing we recently learned: There are about 8.7 million known species on Earth, and now, thanks to a team of researchers with Conservation International, there are 20 new ones. Following a trip to the Zongo Valley region of the Andes, scientists catalogued previously undiscovered species of frog, snake, butterfly and more. Read Gizmodo’s story (and see photos of the animals!) here.
– Sunny Montgomery, smontgomery@timesfreepress.com