Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Tag: USA

“Dear Travel Diary…”

All of the trips I’ve taken for the past fifteen years, whether for fun or for work, have been documented in a travel journal with the form of guided prompts like, “What I (We) enjoyed most,” and “Most memorable event.” I purchased this spiral-bound Journals Unlimited travel journal in Duck, North Carolina on my first vacation with Chris back in 1999. I’ve been using the book for every single trip ever since, and filling it out it has become a huge tradition with Chris and me, and also with friends when we travel together.

I think I misunderstood the layout of the book when I first bought it – I’m pretty sure each page was meant to cover one whole trip, but from Day 1 I used a single page to represent each day of a trip and have continued that format for the past 15 years (except for short weekend getaways). For that reason, I’m actually on my second copy of the spiral-bound journal and it’s nearly full.

While traveling, I wrap up the day by turning to a fresh new page in the book and answering each of the guided questions about the day’s events. When I’m traveling with someone else, I read the questions out loud and we answer them together. Now that I type it out, it sounds cheesy and maybe even painfully dorky, but somehow it ends up being a really fun way to recount the funniest, craziest, and most memorable moments of the day.

You might wonder why I write in a journal when I also write blog posts, but there are things in the journal that don’t make it into the blog posts and vice versa. The books are filled with odd inside jokes, hilarious quotes heard throughout the trips, along with accounts of travel shenanigans and unforgettable memories. I’ve always loved documenting in various formats and I want to remember as much of my travels as possible, so for me there’s room for both in addition to my photos and more recently my videos.

The hardcover journal with its giant spiral is heavy and awkward to pack and I wish the company made a more travel friendly design, but I still love the format and I’ve brought it with me on almost 60 trips. The last couple of times I’ve printed out the questions on a few sheets of paper and brought that instead to save space, but the tradition continues and I can’t wait to add 60 more trips!

What about you? Do you write in a travel journal or keep record of your trips in another way (scrapbook, blog, photo book, etc.)?

August 20, 2014
Tourist at Home: The Lion King at the Kennedy Center

This past weekend, Chris and I were happy to take advantage of our proximity to D.C. to see The Lion King playing at the Kennedy Center. We were also thrilled for the perfect opportunity to try out the new Silver Line on the Metro! We hopped on at the Wiehle-Reston station, which is much closer to our home than the stop we usually use in Vienna. Taking the Metro saves us the huge hassle of trying to find parking anywhere in the city, especially since the weather threatened to be rainy. We almost never drive into D.C. solely for the parking reason, so we can’t wait for the Silver Line to extend all the way out to Loudoun County in a few years. Hooray for accessible public transportation!

We’ve been to The Kennedy Center a couple of times now, and I can officially say I love this venue for musicals. It’s easy to get to with good parking if you do drive, and it’s a beautiful building with comfortable theaters. We used their complimentary shuttle to and from the Foggy Bottom Metro stop. The shuttle runs every 15 minutes before the show, and then afterward we all queued up for the return shuttle which seemed to pick people up in groups every 10-15 minutes. Thankfully it never rained, so we were fine to wait for the ride back. The last time we were at the Center, we saw Legally Blonde and we parked in the underground garage. Easy breezy.

As for the show, it was absolutely wonderful. If you have the opportunity to see it in the next few days while it’s in D.C. or on one of their upcoming tour stops, I highly recommend it! I was blown away by the whole production, and felt mesmerized by the voices, costumes, and puppetry. Tshidi Manye simply crushed it in the role of Rafiki. I didn’t know anything about the show before we went and I barely remembered the animated movie, so I had no idea how it would translate onto the stage. The answer: flawlessly. If you want to experience magic, wonder, and thousands of goosebumps like I did, go see The Lion King!

The Kennedy Center has a strict policy on no photography or video inside the theater so I don’t have any photos to share, but I did take a very quick no-flash iPhone photo before the show started just to show where we were sitting. (I was guessing that the rule is to prevent anyone from distracting from the performance and/or violating copyright rules, so I think this photo is okay?!) This is one of my very favorite spots to sit – first row in Tier One, so that no one sits in front of us. Of course, I wouldn’t say no to a pair of front-row tickets in the Orchestra section, but these are a little more affordable and easier to find. I waited a little too long to buy the tickets so I did end up having to buy them from eBay, but it worked out great. Hakuna matata‬!

August 13, 2014
Getting Wild at the Keenesburg Animal Sanctuary

Like a lot of my fellow animal lovers, I’m really picky about experiences involving wild animals in captivity, and I always try to do some research before visiting a zoo or sanctuary to get a feel for how the animals are treated. When my mom suggested a trip to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, (30 miles northeast of Denver) I instantly hopped onto their website to learn about their program. The sanctuary’s main focus is to rescue and care for exotic and endangered species who have been subjected to illegal trade and abusive, cruel conditions. The animals are brought to the sanctuary where they spend a period of time in secluded areas (see tiger photos below) to get adjusted and rehabilitated. Their permanent homes are open spaces similar to their native environments and they receive veterinary care as needed. The rescue stories are absolutely gut-wrenching and heartbreaking, but a visit to the sanctuary uplifted my spirits to see the beautiful animals in a wonderful second-chance situation.

Strolling along the walkway above the open habitats is a great way to spend an hour or two on a nice day. The self-guided tour is approximately two miles of easy walking if you traverse the raised walkway end-to-end. You can do the whole tour in an hour, but if you want to read all of the rescue story signage and pause to watch and photograph the animals, I would plan for almost two hours. If you can, try to go in the morning (or maybe in the evening?) when it is cooler. All of the animals were out when we visited at 9am, but as we were leaving the animals were starting to retreat to their caves and hiding spots because the sun was getting warm. We saw African lions, black bears, a grizzly bear, leopards, mountain lions, tigers, and wolves. Several of them were enjoying a lazy, restful morning (i.e., the easiest to photograph with an iPhone), but some of the animals were eating, running, and playing.

If you plan to take photos, bring a normal lens and a telephoto lens! Because the animals are in open spaces, they are sometimes quite close to the walkway and other times they are off in the distance. I only brought my iPhone with and it sometimes just didn’t get the job done. I didn’t even photograph my favorite part of the sanctuary – the Bolivian lion house. Watching the huge, full-grown lions play like kittens, I was simply too mesmerized to take photos! I’d love to go back another time with my SLR and lenses to grab some better shots of these majestic animals.

August 11, 2014
Photo Friday – Tina

Driving or riding in the car is no easy task for a photographer. I’m constantly wanting to pull over and take photos of random things, and if I stopped every single time I wanted to take a picture I’d probably never get anywhere. So over the years, I’ve tried to become more selective about my stops and my requests to pull over. Thankfully, I’m also able to put my photographer brain on the back-burner while I safely navigate my vehicle. Animals get me nearly every time though.

When my family and I were riding around one afternoon in Colorado, I squealed in the backseat at the sight of this adorable llama posing alongside a fence. My dad dutifully pulled the car over for me so I could take a quick snapshot with my point-and-shoot. Llamas on farmland in front of foothills just aren’t something I see on a daily basis at home!

“Tina, eat! Eat the food.”

August 8, 2014
Discovering Fort Collins at the Museum of Discovery

One of my go-to favorite activities for a rainy day while traveling is exploring history and culture indoors at local museums. On my recent visit to Colorado, the weather decided to be oddly hot and humid one minute and gloomy and rainy the next, so my mom, sister, and I headed over to the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery one afternoon to engage our minds and have some knowledge dropped on us. We didn’t realize how much of the museum would be dedicated to the rich and fascinating history of Colorado and even more specifically Fort Collins.

The museum has a little bit of everything related to local history and science. My favorite exhibit, Wildlands and Wildlife, catalogs the flora and fauna native to Colorado. Giant fossils gave us insight into the dinosaurs that were indigenous to the area. There is even a live bee hive in which you can observe hundreds of honeybees at work. You can also peek in on various reptiles and even (shudder) tarantulas and scorpions in terrariums if you’re into that kind of thing. I didn’t even know Colorado was home to any tarantulas, so that was my least favorite thing I learned at the museum.

Also of note (pun intended), the Music and Sound Lab gives everyone a hands-on opportunity to learn about the history of the Fort Collins music scene and the physics of sound. The slight germaphobe that I am, I admit to being a little disturbed when I saw dozens of kids (and adults!) playing a trumpet one after the other, but later I discovered that the museum offers fresh/clean mouthpieces for each person to use. Nice! That said, I don’t recommend visiting this museum with the expectation of a quiet, peaceful experience. The Museum of Discovery is entirely interactive and nearly every exhibit allows visitors to participate via sight, sound, touch, and even smell, which makes it an awesome place for families with kids. But adults will find the museum interesting as well – we enjoyed exploring the various displays and our visit took a little over an hour. Oh, and I didn’t see any rules specific to photography, but no one seemed to have an issue with me taking a few iPhone photos.

August 6, 2014