Author Archives: setiawanphoto

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About setiawanphoto

Photographer. Traveler. Foodie.

Mount Rainier

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A couple of days after visiting Crater Lake, I went on a road trip with my family north from Oregon to Washington State. We spent several days sightseeing with Seattle as our base. On one of the days, we went on a day trip to Mount Rainier National Park which is located only around 60 miles away from Seattle. Mount Rainier is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States with summit elevation around 14,400 feet. It is also considered as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, given that it’s still active and its location that is close to largely populated areas. On a clear day, if you’re in Seattle-Tacoma metro area, Mount Rainier would dominate the southeastern horizon view from the city.

We spent our time in the park mostly driving around the loop road to enjoy the mountain scenery. Given that we had a large group of people (around 20 people in four cars) and varying age and level of fitness, we didn’t do any physical activity like hiking or long walks. But since most of the family members came from Indonesia, it was still a treat for them to be able to get high enough in altitude and even during the summer month they could enjoy the fresh mountain air and saw the snow-covered peaks.

The photo below was taken during the drive in the park. You could see the prominent peak of Mount Rainier in the distance.

Mount Rainier

Crater Lake

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A few years ago I went to Eugene, Oregon, to attend a wedding. While we were there, we had an extra day when we could do some sightseeing or a day trip. I went with some of my relatives to Crater Lake National Park, which was around three hours southeast of Eugene. Crater Lake National Park is a unique park where the main feature is its namesake, Crater Lake, a caldera lake that was formed around 7,700 years ago when a volcano called Mount Mazama erupted and collapsed. There is no water source flowing into the lake; it gets the water from rainfall or snowfall. As such, the water is among the purest in the world, giving it its clear blue color when combined with its depth. The lake at average depth around 1,150 ft is the deepest lake in the United States (ninth deepest in the world).

During the road trip to Crater Lake, one thing that was nice about the drive was that for a long stretch, it went through the Umpqua National Forest, so it was quite a scenic drive with pine trees around and at times we would cross rivers and streams. It was pretty interesting that as we got closer to the lake, the drive was like going up on the mountain (well, because it was actually going up the mountain), until we reach closer to the rim of the caldera. We could walk on the rim and enjoy the panoramic view of the lake (it is 5 by 6 miles in area). There is also a road that you can drive around and get the glimpse of the lake from various angles.

The photo below was taken at one of the overlooks during our drive around the lake. I didn’t have a camera with wide enough angle that could capture the panoramic view of the lake, but this particular photo shows the deep blue color of the lake surface.

Blue water of the Crater Lake

Acadia

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The Northeast region of the United States has many historical sites especially related to the American revolution. However, when it comes to national parks, only one of the 58 US national parks is located in the region: Acadia National Park in Maine. I wrote a little bit about Acadia as part of my series of postings on my New England trip a few weeks ago, so this posting is also about Acadia, but a different aspect of visiting the park that might be interesting to potential visitors.

If you ask any locals or frequent visitors to Acadia for a favorite place to visit inside the Acadia National Park, one likely answer is the Jordan Pond. It’s a nice pond in the middle of the park that is located near the Bubbles, two mountains that are among the well-known landmarks inside the park. The scenery is wonderful, but what makes a visit to Jordan Pond memorable is a stop for a lunch or dinner at the Jordan Pond House Restaurant situated near the Jordan Pond. The restaurant has wonderful view of the Jordan Pond and the Bubbles, and it’s also famous for its popovers. These popovers are served fresh from the oven with a meal there, part of dining tradition dated back to 1870s. I followed the suggestion and stopped by at the restaurant for lunch. The popovers are indeed worth the visit (and the wait for table during the busy season).

The photo below was taken from the lawn just outside the Jordan Pond House Restaurant. You can see the Jordan Pond and the Bubbles in the distance. During the summer, the restaurant also has outdoor seatings at the lawn area.

Jordan Pond

Shenandoah

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Shenandoah National Park is the nearest of the 58 US national parks from my home, around 60 miles away. As such, it’s a great place to go for weekend outdoor activities when the weather is nice. The main route through the park is the Skyline Drive, which stretches around 100 miles from the north entrance to the south entrance of the park. There are a couple of highways that cut across the park, so you can also enter or exit the park at those points instead of coming or going all the way to the end.

Most people visiting the park stay only on the Skyline Drive. It has many nice lookouts where you can stop and enjoy the scenery. But if you’re physically able and have the time, I think you can enjoy the park even more by hiking through some of the 500 miles of trails within the park. Some of these trails take you to places with scenic views of the Shenandoah Valley, while others take you to waterfalls and streams. About 100 miles of the legendary Appalachian Trail goes through Shenandoah, so you might meet hikers in the middle of doing that epic journey. During the hike, you might also encounter the wildlife, from deer to wild turkey, rabbit, or even black bear. So for nature photographers who live in DC area, this is one of the popular photography destinations nearby.

The photo below was taken from a lookout on Skyline Drive in the morning, not long after the sunrise. You could see some of the clouds and fogs still covering the lower altitude area in the valley.

Morning at Shenandoah

National Parks

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If you’re going to places in the United States to take photographs of nature or historically significant places, you’re likely to visit a property managed by the National Park Service. The National Park Service manages close to 400 sites throughout all United States states and territories, including national parks, monuments, historical sites, and some other properties. There are 58 of them that are specifically designated as national parks, and these include some of the most amazing natural places to visit on earth like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite. I had been to some of those national parks during my travels in the continental United States, so for the next few days I will write postings about each of these national parks that I had visited and highlight a favorite photograph I took at each of these parks. If you’re interested in learning about these national parks through images, you can check out Terra Galleria, the online gallery of a photographer named QT Luong who had gone to all 58 of the parks to take amazing photographs in each of them. This gallery is definitely inspirational; I would love to visit more of these national parks if I have a chance.

The National Park Service-managed property that I’ve visited the most is a special kind of ‘National Park.’ Wolf Trap National Park in Vienna, VA, is a national park specifically dedicated to presenting performing arts. The main venue within the park is the Filene Center, an amphitheater where various kinds of performing arts (music concerts from various genres, musicals, classical music, dance, opera, comedy act) are shown every night during the summer months (May to September). During the winter months, there are also performances shown almost every night at a smaller venue called the Barns at Wolf Trap. What I like about Wolf Trap is that they have a diverse selection of performances to choose from, and you can usually get tickets at the last minute for very reasonable price to watch these performances. Though you can get assigned seats inside the amphitheater, I usually prefer getting the cheaper lawn seats at the back of the amphitheater where guests are allowed to set up picnic and have food and drink (Wolf Trap is the only National Park Services property where visitors area allowed to bring alcohol to the premise). It makes for a fun outing with friends during the nice summer nights.

The photo below was taken at one of the performances I attended at Wolf Trap. In this performance, the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was played on large high definition screens, accompanied by soundtrack performed live by an orchestra and a choir.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at Wolf Trap