Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Category: travel

Switzerland 2004

Yes, that title is correct! These images are from a trip to Switzerland nearly ten years ago. I’m only just now posting them because they were all taken on 35mm film, and I just never got around to scanning the images. (And as a side note, the scans are from the 4×6 prints, so the quality might not be the best.) But since this blog is somewhat of a photo diary for me, I’d be remiss to leave out some of my favorite trips. My side-trip to Italy and a separate adventure to England are next up to get scanned.

Chris and I went to Lugano, Switzerland back when he used to travel a lot for work. He was scheduled to work at a conference for the week, so I mostly toured the country (and Italy!) on my own. We flew into Zurich and took an incredibly beautiful train ride into the southern/Italian part of Switzerland. We stayed at the super cute Hotel Lugano Dante, which was central to a lot of restaurants and shops. I spent a lot of time wandering the area by foot and sometimes by bus once I figured out the system. I knew how to ask for directions in Italian well enough that the answer was returned to me in Italian, which I couldn’t make heads or tails from, but yay that my Italian was passable!

When Chris was able to take some time off, we took a train ride into Luzern so that we could see the spectacular views from Mt. Pilatus and also to see the Chapel Bridge in town. We rode a funicular all the way to the top of the mountain only to find out that it was completely foggy that day with zero visibility! But after riding a cable car back down, we did get to see the bridge. And it was really fun to visit the German-speaking part of the country. Neither of us speak a word of German, but we enjoyed trying.

One of the highlights of my visit was an overnight trip to a tiny Swiss Alps town called Gimmelwald. Another conference significant other, Tammi, and I took a train to Interlaken and then a bus to a really amazing site called Trümmelbach Falls. It’s a series of waterfalls inside of a mountain that you get to by tunnels and paths along the falls. I’ll never forget how loud and beautiful they were! If you get the chance to go, it’s an amazing site to see and hear.

After seeing the falls, we made our way to Gimmelwald, which is only accessible by cable car. The population of the most adorable town in the world is just over a hundred people! We stayed at Mountain Hostel, my only hostel experience to-date, and it was absolutely amazing. Our sleeping arrangements were dorm-room style and fairly comfy, but I didn’t get even a minute of sleep. Instead, I stayed up all night and well into the morning talking with other travelers, laughing, trading stories and photos, and playing silly card games.

And then the next morning, before anyone else was awake, I grabbed my camera and set off to go hiking. I got to see the sunrise over the Alps, found some authentic Swiss cows, and ate a picnic breakfast in probably the most peaceful, majestic setting I’ll ever experience. Looking back on it, it’s one of my most favorite travel memories, but I also get a little spooked at thinking how dumb it probably was to go wandering around by myself in the mountains without telling anyone. Oops! Obviously it worked out, but I wouldn’t do that now. 🙂

Sigh! I can’t wait to go back someday. Oh, did you notice there aren’t any photos of Chris or me on this trip? Sadly, I think we only took one or two of each other and NONE together! There’s one horrible photo of me in the dorm room at Mountain Hostel after a night of no sleep, so please forgive me for not posting that one. And I can’t find the other one of me from the trip. It’s funny how many “selfies” we take now that we have digital cameras/phones, but for some reason we just didn’t do that as much on the film cameras. So for that reason, I guess we’ll just need to go back!

Up next (after I get the images scanned), my solo-trip across the Switzerland/Italy border to see Milan.

Update: I did find another picture of me! Here I am standing in front of a fountain in Lugano:

January 18, 2014
Faire Du Ski

Happy holidays everyone! I can’t even believe we’re nearing the end of 2013. Chris and I just returned from a week in Colorado where we visited with my family for Christmas, and even though I brought my snowboard with me, I decided to try skiing instead. It was so fun! I wedge-turned my way around Eldora Mountain Resort on the green trails where I actually first learned to snowboard. This was only my second time skiing – the first time was in 1993, so let’s just say that doesn’t count. I never fell once, and getting off the lift on skis is so. much. easier! While I don’t plan to abandon my board at all, I think I’ll spend a few weekends in 2014 practicing on skis.

December 30, 2013
Hiking to La Mina Falls in El Yunque

Our hike in El Yunque National Forest was one of my favorite days in Puerto Rico. Chris and I drove our little Fiesta to the park one morning with a plan to hike to the La Mina waterfall. When we arrived at the visitor center the skies opened up, so we quickly ducked inside to purchase ponchos for our visit. We wandered around some of the waterfalls that are right off of the main road, and also stopped to see the Yokahu Tower. Luckily it stopped raining not too long after we arrived.

What we didn’t realize was that once we started hiking, it would be so humid that we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from rain or no rain, and the plastic ponchos certainly weren’t breathable so we stuffed them into our pack and went on our merry way down the La Mina path. More than the ponchos, we were thankful to have good sturdy shoes because the trail is tricky in a few places. There are a lot of stairs and plenty of spots on the trail where the narrow path gets slippery, so best to leave your flip-flops for the beach and tackle this trail in trainers or other grippy shoes.

At the very bottom of the trail (less than a mile one-way), La Mina Falls provides a refreshing oasis after a sweaty hike. Okay spoiler alert, the water was actually pretty cold! But it felt good on a hot day. It took us about 30 minutes to get down the trail to the waterfall – the elevation change is pretty steep so it’s not a quick mile.

And again, the rocks here are slippery, so you’d do well to wear a pair of water shoes with some traction if you plan to climb into the water. We wore our swimsuits so that we could get right in, and then we pretty much just drip-dried on the hike back up. Don’t forget to take photos from the bridge!

September 15, 2013
Puerto Rico 2013

Happy almost-end-of-summer! (It’s not officially fall until September 22nd, right?) Chris and I just returned from a sort of unplanned trip to Puerto Rico last week. I say “sort of unplanned” because I am an obsessive travel planner and I usually have trips booked or at least outlined a year or so in advance. We originally thought we’d drive to Toronto for the long Labor Day weekend, but we decided a few weeks ago that we could use a longer vacation. Being close and on a direct flight path from Dulles International Airport, Puerto Rico fit the bill. Plus, we found an amazing deal on flights + hotel through Travelocity. So off we went!

We knew that we might run into some bad weather since it’s prime hurricane season, but we figured that staying at a huge resort hotel in the city would provide us with enough to do on a rainy day if needed. It turns out that a few of our booked activities did get cancelled due to a tropical wave that turned into a tropical storm, but we did have good weather most of the time and we found plenty of things to do.

The second full day, we took our little green rental Fiesta and drove to El Yunque rainforest for some hiking. The waterfalls were amazing. We hiked the trail to Cascada La Mina, and even got in the water beneath the falls. It was cold! And a little scary – I couldn’t see what I was stepping on.

That evening we headed into Old San Juan and took a ferry across the water to the Casa Bacardi rum factory. The tour was brief and we only saw a replica of the distillery process, but there were free drinks at the end!

Because our sail/snorkel trip was cancelled, we were able to spend a little more time exploring Old San Juan. What a cute city! The buildings are so colorful with ornate details. I took several new images for my collection of door photos.

We toured the two castles in the city, Castillo de San Cristóbal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro, and enjoyed learning about the history of each. We may also have played House Hunters, saying things like, “This is a great space! It has good light, and plenty of room for a king size bed. Oh, here’s where we could put our office…”

The last full day of our trip, we drove to Seven Seas Beach and spent the afternoon snorkeling right off the shore. It was definitely my speed – I like when I can just pop out of the water if when something freaks me out. Thankfully all of the fish were the friendly kind, although I did see my first spiny black sea urchin! I forgot to photograph or video it, you know, on account of being scared of it. I’m getting a little more brave each time I go snorkeling though, I promise. I’m not committing to it, but I may even try scuba diving soon.

Puerto Rico 2013 from Susan Marks on Vimeo.

September 10, 2013
Mischief Managed!

I solemnly swear I was up to no good this past weekend! My very dear friend, Casey, and I met up in Florida for a weekend of fun at the Universal Studios parks. We planned to visit both of the Universal parks over two days, but we specifically wanted to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Islands of Adventure park since we’re really big Harry Potter ~~nerds~~ fans. I’ll be honest, my expectations of the park were pretty high…and the re-creation of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade absolutely exceeded my hopes! On Day One, we headed straight to Hogwarts within Islands of Adventure, and we never had to wait more than 20-30 minutes for anything with the exception of a log ride in another area of the park. The weather and the crowds were actually not too bad – getting to the park at opening helped. We explored and inspected every little inch of the Harry Potter world, and were so delighted with all of it. Here are a few of my favorite point-and-shoot photos from the weekend:

I couldn’t get over how amazing the castle looks, both inside and out. The Forbidden Journey ride (favorite!) is tucked within the walls of Hogwarts, and while you’re waiting in line for the ride, you’re treated to a tour of the castle’s hallways and rooms.

We also braved the Dragon Challenge coaster, a pretty thrilling steel inverted roller coaster.

Butterbeer is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. Ever. It was so fun to have lunch at The Three Broomsticks, and to enjoy a butterbeer with our food just like in the books/movies. People keep asking me what it tastes like, but I almost don’t want to spoil it! It’s really fun to try it for the first time without knowing what to expect. And anyway, it’s sort of indescribable.

The little shops within Hogsmeade were (forgive the pun) magical. We really felt like we were in the story.

I really want to get on the Hogwarts Express and go to Hogwarts!

The castle at night is just breathtaking.

Day Two, we headed over to the Universal Studios park, where we had a nice, sunny morning that turned into a rainy afternoon. Thankfully we were able to ride all of the attractions, and our timing allowed us to miss all the rain showers.

Probably my favorite ride at Universal Studios side was the Rip Ride Rockit coaster. I absolutely LOVE thrill rides, especially huge roller coasters. The scarier the better. That lift is straight up! Really fun. We also had a great time becoming minions on the Despicable Me 3-D ride.

As a Simpsons fans, we loved exploring Springfield and having a Krusty Burger AT Krusty Burger!

But ~~probably~~ definitely the most impressive area out of both parks combined is the Hogwarts castle and the Forbidden Journey ride in the Harry Potter world. If you’re an HP fan, I highly highly highly recommend visiting! And having a butterbeer or two. (Or three.)

July 2, 2013