Sometimes the coolest adventures can be in your own backyard.

A local resident, Gary Becker, a man of many hats of which one is being an Oscar winning animator, happened to tell me in passing, "Fran, if you like adventure, check out the stone chambers."

"Stone Chambers? Sounds like the name of a Christian Rock group."

"Actually, they have their own kind of other earthly tones. These chambers were built for a reason, but nothing is known about their history. They have a couple of different architectural styles... some are flat fronted, some have corridors, and some are underground. They are quite cool to see, and there is a map showing the location of all the chambers."

"Where exactly are they?"

"That's the great thing... we have the largest concentration of these chambers in the entire North America... over 200 of them right here in Putnam Valley... (That's the east bank of the Hudson, just north of Westchester for you non New York City folks).

"But what are they?"

"That's the mystery and adventure, according to this book, Celtic Mysteries (World to another dimension in America Northeast by Philip Imbrono) the chambers have perplexed researchers of the paranormal and archeologists for decades."

"So the experts don't know what they are about?"

"Well there is controversary as to their purpose. The town folk and historians have a number of different explanations as to why they exist. The one thing however they are all in agreement with is they need to be preserved. They are history. If you want I can put you in touch with a friend of mine, Donna Savino. She's not only a friend to the author of that book, but she is a local historian herself who can tell you more about it. She's a "chamber hunter".

"Chamber hunter... she does it for a living?"

"Sort of. From what I understand from Donna it becomes quite addicting once you find one and then you start to hunt out others. I can set up a meeting if you like."

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I have been looking at houses all summer trying to decide where I was going to move. I was at my kitchen table looking at my Penny Saver and circling likely prospects. I happened to have a copy of Time Out New York Kids next to me – I glanced at the cover. On it was a picture of a giant sand castle – now that's the kind of house I want to live in! Grand and with a magnificent water view.

I read the cover, "50 things to do that don't cost a dime". One of the items was how to build a sand castle. With one last summer weekend left, I decided I needed to know how to build one—now. Hell if I couldn't find a life size one at the moment, this may just be the way to visualize and get that perfect ocean front property for next to nothing.
(Yes, my mind makes these great leaps at times.)

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The great thing about being a world record holder is you get to meet other world record holders and extraordinary people. For me, that translates into an array of interesting adventures, and of course ways for me to challenge myself to push beyond my limits and break any fear barriers.

My latest fear barrier was broken when I got wind that Astroland Park in Coney Island had been sold and was going to be closing its doors for the last time on Labor Day. The world famous Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel would still remain open, but a company by the name of Thor Equities had bought up the rest of Astroland and word has it, is going to convert the area into a Las Vegas style entertainment complex.

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