My new friend at the Bug Zoo, Victoria, BC

If you like finding the unexpected when you travel then you will be thrilled to find the Bug Zoo in downtown Victoria, BC. After your high tea at the historic Empress Hotel, walk around the corner (no, seriously, just around the corner) and enter the tiny Bug Zoo. You can’t miss the signs. The front door is located on Courtney (631 Courtney Street) but you can get to it through a maze of shops starting on Douglas.

It doesn’t seem like much when you first arrive. We thought it was just another shop. After you pay the fee, you enter the back room filled with glass containers housing everything from scorpions to tarantulas. They have guided tours one after the other so you can usually walk in and listen and pick up what you missed on the next go-round. And the best part is that they let you hold them! Yes, that’s me with a tarantula. I also held a scorpion, a millipede, and a few other creatures that I can’t remember. It was fascinating to handle something considered so frightening and for it to sit still in my hands while I looked at it from all angles. The guides are full of interesting tidbits about each of the bugs – you will find yourself leaving with a little more knowledge of the creepy-crawlies than you ever cared to know.

I’ve been to Victoria many times but usually stuck to the shops on and around Government. First to Murchies for tea, then next door to Munro’s Books to flip through Canadian lit. I can be such a creature of habit when I travel to a familiar city so finding the Bug Zoo added a new love for this capital BC town. How great that you can have high tea and then a couple of hours later you’re petting a tarantula. The unexpected in Victoria, BC, Canada.

Petting the Scoripon at the Bug Zoo

Menil Collection – Dominique de Menil’s collection of modern art. You’ll see all the big names from Magritte to Rauschenberg.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston – 6th largest museum in the US.  Don’t miss the Turrel tunnel and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Galleries on the 2nd floor of the Beck Building.  Catch  a Friday afternoon lecture if you have time.
Contemporary Arts Museum – across the street from MFAH. Changing exhibitions. Always interesting.
Houston Center for Photography – around the corner from the Menil and worth a stop. Changing exhibitions.
Lawndale – contemporary art space just down the street from MFAH. Changing exhibitions.
Diverse Works – on the edge of downtown with its own edge. Great space and works. Always surprising.
Fotofest 2010 – biennial photography exhibition. Large exhibition space that gives you a chance to see a range of photography in one place.
Aurora Picture Show – micro-cinema in an old church in Houston’s historic Heights neighborhood.
Rice University Art Gallery – one room but sometimes that’s all you need.
Blaffer Gallery, the Museum at the University of Houston – great space with changing exhibitions. One of my favorite spaces in Houston.
Rothko Chapel – across the street from the Menil. Houses 14 black paintings by Mark Rothko. I promise you will see something new each time you go.

This is just the short list. As you visit each museum or gallery, ask the person behind the desk their favorite place in town to see art. I find that most of them are very well-informed about the arts scene.

All of the museums and galleries are within a short distance of each other. If you are driving, all them have ample parking. If you don’t have a car, these places are close enough to walk, take a short ride on the light rail, or take bus 65 or 34 from MFAH.

I hope you get a chance to experience this rich and diverse arts scene in a very unexpected place.

Stuck in Customs - amazing images

National Geographic – a standard go-to

Trek Earth – anyone can post and good thing because you never know what you’ll find

What was your favorite image? What place would you most like to photograph?

Denali was the “wild delight” for me after a particularly devastating time in my life.  We arrived in early September at the end of the tourist season. As we took the train from Fairbanks to Denali, Alaska gave me the sense of truly getting away from it all. There was nothing but trees and more trees and they were all the rich golden hues of fall. I was mesmerized, pointing and sighing as if trying to look at every individual tree along the way. Arriving in Denai to the remaining buzz of tourists, that isolation subsided and the fantasy of how I would meet Denali was met with the reality. But then I went into the park on one of the green park buses. They’re used to keep the amount of traffic to a minimum in order to maintain the pristine nature of the park. We got off at the Savage River stop and walked down river away from the parking area. The world was over there, away from me and I couldn’t imagine that Earth was any bigger that this spot. The park is 6 milliom square miles. Wow. I wanted to take off on foot and explore each one. I felt physically bound to the land and it fully lifted my “sorrows.”

As I watched the Burns’ documentary this week, I was moved by the passion of the people to preserve these spaces for future generations. And I understood why they were compelled to protect these lands. As part of our morning routine, my fella and I used to heat our water in a pot on the stove for tea and instant coffee. It would take forever to heat up and I had the idea of buying an electric kettle. Truly instant coffee and tea. But this past weekend, as we sat by the campfire at Olympic National Park, waiting for the water to boil for tea, we talked briefly of throwing out the electric tea kettle back home. There was something meaningful in waiting for the water boil over a campfire we’d built. Something in the slow process that forced us to connect to the nature surrounding us. It’s why we go to these parks. It’s why they were preserved – to remind us of that connection to nature and how it can invigorate us and help us preserve ourselves.

Saturday: camping near Lake Crescent¹, bien sûr!

Sunday: packing in, leave no trace

Monday: work, but will be dreaming of the coast once again

¹bonus: current view of Lake Crescent | WEBCAM