Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Category: travel

Tourist at Home: Capital Bikeshare

A few weeks ago when Chris and I visited the Newseum in D.C., we also tried a couple of new-to-us restaurants. For lunch we had tasty tacos at Taqueria Nacional, which was great for fairly inexpensive Mexican fare, and for dinner we tried Smoke and Barrel in Adams Morgan. We loved their delicious BBQ and smoked meats, and they have a great beer and whiskey selection, too.

Thankfully we walked around the city quite a bit and burned a few of those delicious lunch and dinner calories. We also walked from the Metro to get to the restaurants. But after all that walking on top of the hours we spent wandering the Newseum, my feet were tired! When we exited Smoke and Barrel, I noticed a Capital Bikeshare station, and I knew there was another one close to our Metro stop as well, so I talked Chris into hopping on a couple of bikes for the remainder of our walk back. (Note: We each rode one bike in case that wasn’t clear.)

Here’s how it works: there are a few hundred Bikeshare stations around the D.C. area with several bikes available for rent. You can pick up a bike at any station, and return it to any station. They offer memberships, or pay-per-use options. We swiped our credit card at the self-service kiosk and paid for a single use. We unlocked two bikes, and rode them to the station nearest our destination where we returned the bikes. The bikes were clean, in great shape, and had comfortable, cushy seats. You can see in the photo below that these are sturdy, hefty bikes and aren’t going to win any kind of weight-weenie competition, so keep in mind that they might feel slow and heavy on a bit of an incline. My short legs and I were appreciative of the step-through design, and the adjustable-height seats.

It definitely gave my tired feet a much needed break! And I can see how the bikes would come in handy for a full day of sightseeing – you could easily plan your Bikeshare stations around the monuments, museums, and restaurants. There’s a map for that, and an app for that!

We paid the 24-hour price of $7 each. It seemed just a little pricey since we only needed the bikes for one short ride, but if I understand correctly, we could have used the bikes all day (for a 24-hour period) and each time we unlocked a bike, the first 30-minutes of that ride would be “free.” So if you plan to use them all day, the rate is very reasonable.

There are two potential (minor) drawbacks to keep in mind. First, if you return a bike to a station where all of the spots in the bike rack are full, you have to go to another station to return your bike or else pay for the time beyond your free 30 minutes. They do give you an extra 15 minutes in that situation, but if I was already where I wanted to be, I would be a little annoyed at having to ride to another station. Thankfully when we arrived at the station near our Metro stop, there were plenty of available slots.

Second, it’s important to protect your noggin, but there are no rental helmets (sharing a helmet with everyone else would be a little weird, right?) so you need to bring your own. This was a spur-of-the-moment decision for Chris and me so we didn’t happen to have helmets with us and I wouldn’t imagine tourists would have helmets with them either. It felt weird to ride without one, since we always don helmets when we ride closer to home. Capital Bikeshare does, however, recommend that you wear a helmet and they offer a 10% discount on helmets at several local stores to Capital Bikeshare members, so that’s a nice perk. D.C. is fairly bike friendly with designated bike lanes, but keep in mind that not everyone is familiar with the share-the-road rules, so best to be safe and helmet up if you can.

Bottom line: I’d use Capital Bikeshare again! It was super easy and convenient, and I think if we planned to use the bikes more often than just once in a 24-hour period, the cost would definitely be worth it.

June 23, 2014
Hawaii 2003

I recently spent some time with my scanner and digitized a few more of my favorite 35mm film prints from my first time traveling to Hawaii waaay back in 2003. It was such a fun trip, so I definitely wanted to give it some space here on the blog! Chris was working at a conference in Honolulu for a week in June that year, so I was able to tag along and enjoy my first visit to Oahu. I filled the week with restful days at the pool at the Sheraton Waikiki and did plenty of sight-seeing. We rented a car and drove around the whole island when Chris had time off. When he was working, I explored Pearl Harbor and the Byodo-In Temple. (For some reason I can’t find the handful of photos I took at the USS Arizona Memorial, but it’s definitely worth a visit.)

Here’s one of only a few photos of me from the whole trip – we were at the Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu. Doesn’t Chris look thrilled to be posing for a photo?

Hiking to the top of Diamond Head is one of the first things we did on the island. I highly recommend this hike if you’re up for a bit of exercise! It’s a short hike, but the 0.8 miles to the summit are steep and strenuous, with stairs, switchbacks, and tight crawlspaces. Good sturdy shoes are a must, and some people chose to bring flashlights although we didn’t. The little tunnel was short enough that you could illuminate it with a cell phone if needed. Your reward awaits at the top – stunning views fit for a postcard, so bring your camera!

The Byodo-In Temple is one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever visited. The grounds were immaculate and wonderful to photograph. Non-commercial photography is allowed without a permit, and the website even offers suggestions for the best time of day to photograph: “The best time to take photos of the temple and grounds is in the morning when the sun is still in the east.” The temple is a work of art, as is the Buddha statue inside. Before entering, I happily rang the bon-sho bell (or “sacred bell,” pictured below in the small structure), said to bring happiness, blessings, and a long life.

Sadly we didn’t spend much time in the water on this visit. I got completely spooked by a sign posted on Waikiki beach one day that warned swimmers not to enter the water due to the amount of jellyfish swarms! So of course in my head, that meant Hawaii = death by jellyfish. The sign was only posted one day, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I think I’ve made good strides towards getting over that fear, and I’d like to go back one day. (Of course, if the sign was posted again I certainly wouldn’t jump into the water, but I’d go in another day.) I hear the snorkeling is awesome! Plus I would love to see Maui.

Chris and I did explore other beaches, even if we didn’t swim.

This last photo is what happens when you hand a stranger your 35mm film SLR and ask him to take a photo of you on the beach. To be fair, properly exposing a sunset and people in the foreground is one of the toughest shots to get right, and I should have dialed in the settings for him. He actually made me super nervous because he approached us and offered to take the photo, but once the camera was in-hand, he kept backing up and backing up a little bit more. It turned out he just didn’t know how to use the zoom lens, but I thought for sure he was going to run off with my camera once he had some distance from us. Thank goodness for kind, honest people.

It was a gorgeous sunset though, and I still love this photo!

June 18, 2014
Tourist at Home: National Arboretum

This is actually a retroactive Tourist at Home post because I visited the National Arboretum with my friend Casey a few years ago and I just realized I never posted the photos! Bad blogger. I have some free time now to show some photos and tell you a little about our visit.

In July 2011 when Casey was visiting from out of town, she and I spent part of an afternoon seeing the Arboretum since neither of us had been before. I remember it being a very (very very) hot and humid day, but it was so fun to see something new. Plus admission is free and free is always great! Parking was super easy and it was just a short walk to the entrance. We both brought our cameras to get some photography practice in, and the Arboretum doesn’t disappoint with plenty of interesting subjects to shoot – a koi pond, fountains, lots of flowers and foliage, and of course the famous National Capitol Columns that were originally part of the East Portico of the Capitol building in the 1800s.

You could easily spend several hours here exploring if you enjoy botany and horticulture. We didn’t even venture into all of the various gardens and areas of the 446-acres just due to time (and the fact that I was almost literally melting). The Arboretum offers a tram tour, or you can pick up a map at the Visitor Center and work your way through the grounds on a self-guided tour. There’s also a designated picnic area if you want to enjoy an alfresco lunch – I’ll definitely go back sometime on a nice day to do just that. We opted to just wander around with our cameras and see what we could find to photograph. Here are a few of my favorite images from the day, including one of us before I did melt.

June 16, 2014
Photo Friday – Flight Risk

Oh, and speaking of our trip to Alaska, here’s a photo of me as a helicopter pilot! Just kidding, I’m not the pilot in this photo, only a passenger on our flight to Mendenhall Glacier. But I’d love to fly a helicopter someday, and flying a plane is on my bucket list. After this helicopter ride, I momentarily toyed with the idea of running off to Alaska to be a helicopter tours pilot. Or a zip-line guide. Or both!

I’m kind of bummed I wasn’t wearing aviator sunglasses (since it’s the one time you’re actually supposed to wear aviators, right?!), but as my only photo of me in a helicopter so far, I’m happy to have this silly selfie.

June 13, 2014
Celebrity Cruise Review

When Chris and I returned from our amazing Alaskan cruise, I blogged a ton of photos of course, but it occurred to me that I didn’t write much about the cruise itself and I figured that kind of information might be helpful to anyone looking to see Alaska via cruise ship. Plus it’s fun for me to reminisce about our amazing trip!

When we were researching all of the different cruise lines that sail to Alaska, we decided that Celebrity fit our needs. Our requirements for the cruise itself weren’t too extensive because our main priority was seeing and exploring Alaska, but we did want a quiet place to sleep, a few choices for decent food since several meals would be at-sea, and an itinerary with several ports that also included a close-up experience of Hubbard Glacier, North America’s largest tidewater glacier. At the time of my research, I found information on cruisecritic.com (an awesome resource for cruise reviews and info) that suggested the average age group aboard a Celebrity cruise is typically 30-50 or honeymooners through baby boomers, so we fit the demographic. Not that age was a huge factor for us, but we weren’t really looking for crazy nightlife or family activities. Really the cruise was just a floating hotel room for us, so we didn’t need a ton of amenities, although Celebrity had plenty to offer (see below).

Itinerary

We booked a one-way itinerary of the inside passage, the 7-Night Northbound Alaska Cruise, and set sail on the Celebrity Millennium from Vancouver. Our ports of call included, Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, and Skagway, and we also cruised to Hubbard Glacier. We disembarked in Seward, Alaska, where Chris and I rented a car and drove the incredibly scenic route to Anchorage for an overnight stay before our flight home. If you can do the one-way itinerary this way, I highly recommend it simply for the amount of scenery along the route and the opportunity to see some of the mainland state.

map courtesy of celebritycruises.com

The number of ports felt perfect, and the variety allowed us to experience a sample of small town life, wilderness, the capital city, stunning landscapes, and historical sites. We booked a few excursions through the cruise (ATV/zip-line combo, whale watching, and dog-sledding on a glacier via helicopter flight) and also a few on our own based on reviews and recommendations (kayaking and zip-lining). The activities booked through Celebrity were organized and well-planned, though maybe just a bit pricier than the independent operators, but everything we did was absolutely worth the price. More photos of those excursions are here and here, but if you have questions about any of these let me know!

As I mentioned, one of our requirements was that we’d get a chance to see Hubbard Glacier. Our itinerary promised a visit to the glacier and an in-bay rotation of the ship so that everyone would have an opportunity for a close-up view. We woke up early on Thursday morning to the sound of the muffled loudspeaker in the hallway announcing our entrance into the bay where Hubbard is located. (Note: Celebrity is great about not blasting announcements around the clock, but this one was important and we were glad to hear it.) Being located in the aft of the ship, we knew we’d get a chance to see Hubbard during the rotation or at least upon exiting, so we stayed in our cabin in lieu of running up to one of the decks with the crowds. On the way into the bay, we were treated to the beautiful sight of huge ice chunks in the water. Bring warm layers for this event! This was the one time we were cold and had to bundle up.

This was our view once the ship rotated and was making our way back out – in the first photo I included a bit of the balcony railing in view for perspective. Just breathtaking. We were close enough to hear the creaking of the ice as it calved and broke off into icebergs! It was an amazing experience not to be missed.

Overall

The Millennium originally set sail in 2000 and she did look just a little tired, but only if you examined closely and tried to find signs of wear. We found her to be clean, well-appointed and most importantly seaworthy. At the time of booking, I think the Millennium was the only ship that sailed the one-way Alaska itineraries, so that’s what we chose. (I wish I took more photos around the ship, but at the time I didn’t think about doing a review post!)

Oh, a note on cleanliness. We boarded the ship to an announcement that our cabin wouldn’t be ready for a couple of hours due to an outbreak of the NoroVirus on the previous cruise. I’m sorry, what?! We’re expected to be trapped on this floating city with a gross virus and nowhere to hide?! As a self-proclaimed germaphobe, I freaked out. As in, get me off of this ship now. But Chris talked me down off the proverbial ledge. And Celebrity took extra sanitization measures including Purell stations at just about every entrance and hallway, including staff manning the dining room entrances dispensing mandatory Purell doses. We were all provided with instructions on how to best avoid the virus – mainly we just needed to wash our hands properly and frequently, which we certainly did and we thankfully never got sick. I also travel with Clorox wipes, virus outbreak or not, so you can bet I did additional cleaning on the surfaces in our cabin. By about the third day, the daily newsletter with health tips and victim statistics hardly phased me. Aside from that, we were impressed enough with the ship overall. Read on for more detail.

Cabin/Room

Our cabin, stateroom 8172, included two twin beds pushed together, a fairly spacious seating area, teeny bathroom, small flat-screen TV, mini-fridge, and a gigantic veranda. As I understand it, the ship has been going through a renovation. I’m not entirely sure if any part of our cabin had been updated yet, but we didn’t find it to be horribly outdated. The decor was simple and tasteful enough, and everything was in decent shape at the time.

The one thing that made our cabin special was the aft location. If you can book an aft cabin, I highly recommend it IF you aren’t prone to motion sickness. You’ll get amazing 180-degree views of your route and tons of unobstructed photo ops, but you do feel just a bit of the up-and-down motion more than you would in a mid-ship cabin. I’m a very light sleeper and the waves kept me awake the first night (which made me a difficult traveling companion the next day – I’m so sorry, Chris!), but I discovered Dramamine which completely remedied the feeling for me. Our cabin also had the benefit of an oversized veranda, nearly doubling our living space. We rarely hung out on the open decks since we had so much space of our own.

Entertainment

We spent every chance we could get being off the ship in port, but on days at sea, we took advantage of the theatre and some of the activities. We attended a fascinating lecture on Alaska’s wildlife, saw a well-produced tribute to Broadway musicals medley, a basic magic show (that I thought was so great, but Chris thought was cheesy – I was also pretty tipsy, so maybe that helps), and a really decent stand-up comedian. One night we went to a goofy-but-fun karaoke event in one of the bars. They also offered hobby-based classes, whiskey tastings, ship tours, and other events, all detailed in the daily newsletter sent to our cabin.

Amenities

The two areas that really shine (literally) are the spa and the casino. It’s obvious where Celebrity puts the most care in design and aesthetics. No surprise there, as I expect that’s a huge source of revenue for the ship since the spa services are sold separately, and we all know how the casino works. I quickly lost my preset max ($20) in about sixty seconds at the blackjack table. We didn’t use any of the services so I can’t speak to the quality, but the spa itself was gorgeous with panoramic views and the spa menu looked quite extensive.

Dining

In general, the food ranged from okay to good, but nothing mind-blowing. There are plenty of opportunities to eat practically 24/7 on the ship, including buffets, specialty restaurants, the main dining room, room service, and snack stations throughout. (Although we aren’t really into stuffing ourselves unless the food is amazing.) We enjoyed a few of the dishes we had in the main dining room, but again, nothing super memorable as I’m writing this post. My understanding is that the best meals are served in the specialty restaurants, but dining in those restaurants comes at an additional price on top of the all-inclusive, and we decided to put our money towards experiences off the ship. Turned off by the potential for catching the virus, we also typically avoided the buffets. Everything looked clean and fresh though, and there seemed to be a decent variety of options. We also opted not to purchase the alcoholic drink package, but we frequented a few of the bars for expensive-but-tasty cocktails.

Service

We absolutely loved the quality of service. Our cabin attendants and servers in the dining room always blended the perfect combination of available when needed, and invisible when not needed. We didn’t really need anything special so I can’t say we put them to the test, but we never encountered a single member of the staff and crew who weren’t polite, professional, and hospitable.

Summary & Recommendations:

This was one of our favorite trips to-date, with Alaska as the shining star and the cruise as the subplot to the story. We aren’t really cruise people per se, but it’s definitely an easy, comfortable way to see a huge sample of everything that this beautiful state has to offer. I’ve only ever heard people say wonderful things about their cruise to Alaska, and we’re no different. If we have a chance to go back, we would definitely fly directly to some of our favorite places and/or explore new ones, but the cruise is what gave us the opportunity to see the overall big picture of Alaska. We’re glad we took the cruise approach. We’re definitely considering cruises for a few other trips where we’d like to see a sampling before deciding where to return for a more in-depth stay (e.g., some of the islands in Asia). I would highly recommend the Alaskan cruise to anyone who loves adventure, history, nature, scenery, and/or photography, and I’d absolutely sail the Millennium again. She just might be the one to take us around Southeast Asia.

Just one last tip, Chris and I flew to Vancouver one day before the cruise was scheduled to embark to account for any flight delays, weather-related issues, traffic, or other mishaps. Even if you calculate that you’ll have plenty of time to get to the dock from the airport, having a 24-hour buffer (approximately) is a huge nice-to-have in the case of something like lost luggage. We felt like it was better to be safe than sorry and we didn’t want to miss any part of the cruise. And as a bonus, flying into Vancouver early helped with jet lag. Let me know if you have any questions about the Celebrity Millennium or Alaska! I’d be happy to help.

June 9, 2014