Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Tag: road trips

Top 10 Reasons We’re Traveling To Iceland
For some reason when Chris and I mention that we are going to Iceland, we often get the reaction, “Really?! Why Iceland? What’s there?” And my answer is an excited, “Evvveryyything!” Usually accompanied by a bit of jumping up and down.

Here are the top 10 reasons why we’re going to Iceland (please forgive the excessive use of exclamation points – I went back through and removed a few):
1. Iceland is a photographer’s playground and paradise. The stunning views and varied landscapes I’ve previewed online and in books/magazines are beckoning me to bring my wide-angle lenses and go to town. Or to outside-of-town, as we will.
2. It’s one of the adventure capitals of the world. Snowmobiling, scuba diving, mountain biking, and hiking with some of the most amazing scenery in the world. So this is right up our alley!
3. It’s only a six hour flight from DC. Did you know that Iceland is the closest European country to the U.S.? I have plenty of must-see places in far reaching corners of the world, but I’m always happy to have a short, direct flight to somewhere new.
4. The Ring Road consistently shows up on lists of the best road trips in the entire world. We are super excited to make this 800+ mile trek around the country with tons of adventures planned along the way. And I love the fact that we can pull over any time we want to explore and take photos.
5. So many epic movies and television shows are filmed there, we just had to see it in person. Some of the on-location films and shows include Batman Begins, Die Another Day, Prometheus, Game of Thrones, and my new favorite, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I was so excited when that movie came out because I had already spent so much time planning and booking this trip, and seeing it made me even more excited to go.
6. Glaciers! Iceland has Europe’s largest glacier, and I’m just fascinated with them. We’re going to hike on one and snowmobile on another to get the full glacier experience.
7. Geysers! The original geyser for which all other geysers are named is just outside of Reykjavik and can be seen as part of the famous Golden Circle route.
8. Volcanoes! Thrihnukagigur is currently the world’s only volcano in which you can enter the magma chamber. The volcano has been asleep for 4,000 years, so we’re going to give it a whirl with fingers crossed that it stays dormant for another season, or at least while tour groups are inside.
9. Wildlife such as whales, puffins, lots of other bird species, reindeer, and Icelandic horses. We’ve already had an absolutely amazing whale-watching experience, and we probably won’t get to see a puffin since their nesting season was earlier in the year, but we will definitely see Icelandic horses since we’re going horseback riding.
10. We seem to have a thing for islands, so we figured we might as well see this one!
And a bonus item: the Northern Lights. Unfortunately we won’t be there during the best time of year to see the Aurora Borealis because we wanted to drive the Ring Road with as few weather-related issues as possible (so that means not in the snowy/icy winter), but Iceland is one of the best places to view this beautiful phenomenon.

P. S. I recently saw someone mention on a certain social media site (rhymes with “Shmacebook”) that they wish people would stop posting Top 10 lists. I love making lists! And ten items seems like such a nice, natural number. So I hope you, dear readers, don’t mind yet another Top 10 list out there.
August 18, 2014
Go North, Young Woman!

My parents have kept track of the states that they have visited in the U.S. and they only need to visit a few more in order to complete the whole set. I was curious to see how many I’ve been to as well, so I sat down and listed them out. (Side note: I can recite the fifty states in alphabetical order. It’s not a very exciting party trick, but I can do it.) And then being the visual person I am, I decided to create a graphic. The states I’ve been to are shaded in green:

Based on that image, I realized I am sorely lacking in the northern-most part of our country! (Hence the title of this post, a play on this quote if you weren’t sure.) I do like the fact that it looks like the country is a container that I’ve purposely filled over half way with liquid from bottom-to-top. Several of the states I’ve visited multiple times, and I’ve even lived in five (yellow stars). My parents took me on many a road trip in my youth, from the time I was an easy-going infant (so I’m told) up through my sullen teen years and even my twenties. Yes, I was a super moody teenager with a bad attitude that probably made me an unpleasant travel companion at times. I have since apologized to my poor parents! But now looking back, I’m so appreciative of the times that they ~~dragged~~ drove me around even when I wasn’t visibly thankful because I had the opportunity to see so much of this beautiful country. Some of our travel routes included stretches like Denver, Colorado to St. Louis, Missouri (Kansas is a loooooong state) and Plano, Texas all the way to Orlando, Florida.

My favorite road tripping memories are of seeing the vastness of the Grand Canyon, magically standing in four states at the same time at Four Corners, and riding practically every ride at Disneyland and Disney World. I’ve been inside the St. Louis arch and can tell you that it does NOT tip you upside down on your head on the way back down even though that’s how it looks to a four year-old. I can’t even begin to count how many different capitol buildings’ steps I’ve climbed. I love that my dad always stopped to take photos of us standing next to each state’s Welcome sign (and all the other signs, too), and that my mom usually had a patient answer to the question, “Are we there yet?” We visited major landmarks, historical sites, museums, nature centers, zoos, state parks, aquariums, big cities and tiny towns. We drove as far north as Toronto, Canada and as far south as Tijuana, Mexico.

I’ve continued to visit many of the states and have seen some of them for the first time as an adult. I’m pretty sure I never traveled to NYC until 2005, for example. And I landed in Iowa a few years ago to photograph my friend Kim’s wedding! So in order to finish what they started and to cross it off the bucket list, I need to visit about seventeen more states, and there are a few that I’ll revisit since I haven’t covered nearly enough of what there is to see. I’m mad at my twelve year-old self for opting out of the South Dakota trip with my family (I stayed at a friend’s house instead), but at least now I can take my camera and photograph Mount Rushmore properly. Chris and I have talked about making the trek to all of the MLB stadiums, which would help cross off Massachusetts, Minnesota (I’ve been to the airport in Rochester, MN and drove through to Iowa, but I don’t think that counts), and Wisconsin. I’ve always wanted to visit and photograph Maine, we plan to ski in Vermont sometime soon, and we’ve talked about doing a wilderness adventure-type trip to Montana. But we need to come up with a plan for the rest of the states because I’m not sure I know much about them!

Does anyone have good ideas for what else we should go see in the remaining states? What states are on your must-visit list? Let me know!

Also, speaking of maps – check out my brand-new interactive Travel Map! I started linking travel blog posts to the map (red dots) as well as plotting out what’s in the planning queue (yellow dots) and what is officially booked and coming soon (green dots)! Oh and the blue dots are hanging out in a few of my top wish list places. Antarctica, I’m coming for you eventually!

May 2, 2014
Deep Thoughts on Snowboarding vs. Skiing

Hope everyone is still staying all warm and cozy through this long winter! Chris and I just returned from a quick trip to Seven Springs in Pennsylvania where we broke in our new skis and enjoyed playing on the snow. We decided to go during the week rather than on a weekend so that we could practice skiing with fewer people on the trails. Hardly anyone was at the resort, and we really did have the place pretty much to ourselves so we felt like that was a good call! The drive up was so beautiful, and the mountain was also really lovely. We stayed at a cute condo with ski-in/ski-out access, and were able to get in lots of practice.

So now that I’ve skied a few times after spending the last two seasons learning how to snowboard, I think I can say with confidence that skiing is much (much much) easier to learn. I have fallen maybe 4-5 times total so far while learning on skis, whereas with snowboarding I fell at least 4-5 times per run in the learning stages. Ow. And that’s not counting falling when getting off the lift, which was at least half of the time. Oh, the bruises and aches I collected while learning! It took me at least five separate trips to various resorts to get the hang of snowboarding (meaning, linking smooth turns all the way down without falling), but with skiing I was able to successfully make it down the green runs on my first try. I’m not really counting the first time I ever skied when I was sixteen, although I was able to ski down the greens back then, too.

I’ve read that snowboarding is harder to learn but easy to master, and that skiing is easy to learn but hard to master. I wouldn’t say I mastered snowboarding, but I did become proficient enough and I can agree with that statement – skiing is waaay easier to learn. But I can see how it’s going to take some more time to improve my skiing techniques, and I imagine the patience comes into play during the intermediate level. So if you’re new to snow sports and trying to decide what to try, maybe that will help. If you enjoy a challenge and have the patience to stick with it, try snowboarding! If you’d rather have an easier time with just getting down the mountain on your first day, maybe skiing is a good option. Or you can always choose to try both so you’ll know for sure which one you like better. I’m planning to put more time into skiing next season to work on technique.

Here are just a couple of photos from Seven Springs. I meant to take more, but the one thing that is harder on skis is taking photos! It’s hard to hold both poles and a camera. 🙂

February 27, 2014
Snowshoe 2014

I can’t even believe it’s February already! Chris and I went on out first trip of 2014 over the weekend – just a long weekend in Snowshoe, WV. We had great weather and conditions! And we love Snowshoe – the Village area is so fun with lots of good restaurants and shops. The first time we went in 2012, we stayed right in the heart of the Village. There was even a Starbucks on the first floor of our building, and we were steps away from everything. It was really (really really) noisy at night though, so the past two times we stayed at the far end of the resort where it’s definitely quieter at night. It’s still a ski-in-ski-out condo steps away from the lifts, but we did have to take a shuttle bus to get to most of the bars/restaurants.

The Village is super cute all lit up at night.

And yes, we skied again! Chris and I both wanted to give it a few times before deciding if we’ll take the plunge and buy our own ski equipment. We’re really enjoying it, so we’ll probably go ahead and do just that – rental boots are kind of icky if you think about it.

Check out my fancy moves! (Really, I was probably going at a snail’s pace here, so not that fancy at all.)

Annnnnnnd here’s the shot we always take. Someday we’ll have quite the collection of ski lift selfies!

February 4, 2014
Alaska (Part 2 of 2)

The second half of our trip to Alaska included stops to Juneau, Skagway, a view of Hubbard Glacier from the ship, and then Seward was the last port of call. In Juneau we did some real zip-lining where you don’t just sit in a seat and go down a line like the ZipRider; you wear a harness, gloves and helmet, and connect by climbing gear to a series of zip-lines on a canopy-top course. Here Chris is learning how to break, using his right hand to apply pressure to the line and slow your speed. We practiced one time on a tiny zip line close to the ground.

In between some of the zip-lines hung these long suspension bridges that were delightfully high and swingy. I admit it felt nice to make it across safely onto the platform.

Let’s see that zip-line action in motion (short video clip):

This is what each of the platforms looked like between the zip-lines. Just a few beams of wood high atop a skinny tree, that swayed around while people were standing on it. Kind of freaky, but so cool! At the end, we rappelled down off the last platform. SO FUN.

After zip-lining, we took a helicopter ride to land on Mendenhall Glacier and went dog-sledding! The helicopter ride was amazing, with views of the glacier from above. Pardon my hair – it’s very windy standing next to a helicopter. Those yellow things are life vests from the helicopter ride.

The dogs were all so sweet, and they LOVED pulling the sled. They got super excited when they were harnessed up and while they were pulling us, and seemed disappointed when we stopped the sled.

After sledding, we spent some time with the puppies at the camp. They were in the middle of a nap, and this one was so warm and snuggly.

At our next stop in Skagway, we were pretty adventured-out, so we just walked around and explored the town. We also took a short but beautiful hike to Yakutania Point.

Our last two days on the ship were at sea, and we spent most of that time relaxing on our balcony just watching the beautiful scenery and taking photos. Chris took this cool lighthouse photo, which was totally in the middle of nowhere (not close to any towns):

And on the last day we sailed right up close to Hubbard Glacier (brrr!). My favorite part was seeing all the ice chunks in the water on the way there. We got up pretty close to the glacier. The colors and textures were amazing! Those brown lines in the ice are markers of volcanic events. Cool, right?!

Off the ship in Seward, we took a really scenic drive to Anchorage. We stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center so that we could see some moose and bears.

This one was either sleepy or doing bear yoga. (We were just about three feet from the bears so our 400mm was almost too long!)

There were other animals, but we were mainly there for the moose and bears since those were the ones we hadn’t seen in the wild on our trip. Oh and it was a good opportunity to get a better picture of an eagle:

So that’s our trip! (We took more images of course, but that would make for a very very long blog post.) We’re already itching to plan the next adventure, and we have some ideas in mind! I’ll post more details on that when we firm up some things. But for now it’s back to work! I have engagement and portrait sessions throughout July and August, so stay tuned for more photos. 🙂

July 1, 2011