What famous ancient flower blooms in Washington DC? No, it’s not cherry blossoms. Instead, gigantic lotus flowers blossom at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, a National Park Service site. Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens’ natural landscape represents what the area looked like when our forefathers founded DC. Nature abounds in this hidden gem, and you’ll almost forget that you’re in a city of over 700,000.
In celebration of Parks & Recreation Month, this "From the Vault" episode of Big Blend Radio features freelance travel writer and photographer Julie Dee Suman who gives an overview on what to experience at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. You can read her article “Discover Washington DC's Historic Lily and Lotus Flowers” here: https://nationalparktraveling.com/listing/discover-washington-dcs-historic-lily-and-lotus-flowers/
log talk radio Hello and welcome to vacation station hosted by Lisa and Nancy editors of big blend magazine.com log talk radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio log talk radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio radio Hey everybody welcome to big blend radio second Friday food wine and travel show with the international food wine organizations themselves visit bureaus and organizations about their area so we love the second week a very cool time here on big blend radio with if one I encourage you to learn about if one of you if you don't know about them go to i f w t w a dog or a really cool website connecting organization and website that connects travel writers photographers authors with destination and for those of us who love travel we get to follow the stories on social media Twitter and Instagram Facebook and really find out about all these amazing destinations so today we're airing live from silver spring Maryland and this is pretty cool we haven't done a live if to us so for a while actually we've been doing a lot of zoom recordings and so it's nice and refreshing to do something live from silver spring Maryland and what's so funny is our guest today is just a Robert corner from us in Maryland. So we're going to be chatting with freelance travel writer and photographers Julie D zoom in and her story today and you know we love national parks right well it's about Kenilworth aquatic gardens in Washington DC so it's not far for I think it's like 12 miles from us though Nancy we may have to hit this because yeah we might story go to nationalparktraveling.com reader's story this type in Kenilworth which is K-E-N-I-L not Kenil like for your dog so you know we always have dogs on the show but I'm not calling people dogs but you know we pet said as we travel you may hear a dog work but it's K-E-N-I-L Kenilworth aquatic gardens but if you type that on nationalparktraveling.com you'll see her story and amazing photos and follow Julie go to see by Julie D so it's S-P-E-J-U-L-I-E so see by Julie D-S-D-E. So welcome Julie how are you I'm great thank you Lisa Nancy I'm excited to speak with you tonight and talk about Kenilworth aquatic gardens. Hey listen I think Nancy you'll second this right don't you think this is like will this garden like low to flower weather here in Maryland Nancy yeah yeah I think it all it just all kind of gel together today yeah kind of tropical this is different we've never like we've been in Maryland we were in Tawny town outside Gettysburg but this is a little different and there's woods and trees and all kinds of cool birds and flat where we are it's just beautiful beautiful gardens but it's kind of does feel tropical. Well I think the Chesapeake Bay sort of helps modulate some of the the temperatures around here and we do have some lovely green spaces if you know where to find them in the Washington DC area. We were actually looking on the map today and looking at some of them going okay because we always you know in between our you know pet sitting life and production time which is our pet sitting time we go to all the parks and by the time people see us in our next destination we look like we've been in the aquatic garden in the pond. In fact I have to tell you a friend of ours who's been on the show for many years oh I'm going to send him this podcast he's going to love this he was rescued by a helicopter out of Kenilworth the aquatic gardens. That's where it's heard about it he was on the show yeah Ellen spirits for the National Parks Council Association. He's one of the guys always induced about Gettysburg too but yeah he's apparently one of the few people rescued by a helicopter out of there. I don't know I hope he was okay. Yes yes he's doing volunteer work. Ellen Fears is awesome he does a lot of with NPCA the National Parks Conservation Association kind of inspired us to go on this tour of documenting parks and public lands he really goes into like the government affairs and so helps get parks set up and also parks for women by the way and there's women's history in this park which is cool which we want to talk about but women's you know parks also that black history and things like that so he's really he's into the cultural affairs of parks because of the National Park Service they have over 400 parks and I think it's like two thirds or three quarters of them are actually historic sites that's pretty cool. Yeah and Kenilworth seems to have a lot of history on top of all these beautiful flowers. Yeah it has a really interesting back story I mean it starts back as late as the 1880s when a gentleman named Walter Shaw moved from Maine he bought 30 acres off the near the Anacostia River in DC which part of that land was sort of wetlands and it was kind of considered not really good for anything but he was a lover of nature and plants and he brought with him 12 lilies white lilies from Maine and planted them in ponds near his property and that was the beginnings of the garden and then his daughter took a real interest in this and helped her dad turn the Kenilworth into actually a business of selling lotus flowers and water lilies so it really actually started off as a family property and business and then turned into a land of preservation. Wow so they really cultivated but these were lilies from lotus flowers right from Asia right? Yeah you know correct so what the daughter Helen Shaw she became known actually as like a world diplomat for a aquatic gardening so she had a passion for expanding the offerings of the plants in the garden she would travel around the world and bring back lotus flowers and seeds and she even helped to like propagate them and had made her own hybrid flowers that thrived there so she was really a well-known horticulturist and helped bring in plants from all over the world that you can see different species at Kenilworth. See this is really cool history and at the same time so we have native ones there too. Yeah so that's something I never knew until I went there that there is a yellow water lilies is an American lotus and it's actually something that is you know from here so they have a few ponds with those lotus flowers in them but you know going back to Helen I think you know you know talking about women from the top of the top of the show she I think was a trailblazer in the fact that you know she took over the business in 1921 from her father when he passed away but she had been managing it before that and you know she she made it a thriving business she became world-known for promoting aquatic gardens she was the first woman in DC to actually get a driver's license to drive a truck oh wow yeah so you know she was an importer she was a grower and this was all like in the early you know 1900s and and that's a real 12 years are then yeah I mean most plants are actually named after men or the men are naming it you know the plants after what they want you know yeah so it's kind of there's but we are finding that a lot of parks women they were like he's got to look at Marjory Stone Douglas in Everglades National Park really fought for that park Carolyn Dorman Satri National Forest which is the only national forest in Louisiana is because of her and apparently she was out spoken and she was a teacher and was outspoken about saving trees and got kicked out of the education system and now we have this forest because of her so you look at Helen Shaw here she is as an entrepreneur who would have thought an entrepreneur in the plant business you know what I mean yeah well and it was a thriving business and then in the like late late 2030s the the government wanted to dredge the Anacostia River because it had gotten you know called and bogged down over the years and they wanted to annex her property and she lobbied Congress with her brother and fought to have that land protected it was about an eight-year battle and she was successful and that's how the Kenil Worth Aquatic Gardens came to life her efforts to preserve the land nice that that's really cool and because yeah you know you when I always heard about it from Alan being on the show and you know he's like when you go to DC you need to go there it's one of these hidden gems because you think about DC and we're a little nervous to go in like you know what are we gonna do like yeah so you know I have to say like probably so many of our friends have been part of big wind radio for gazillions of years are all around here and they're all gonna yell at us because we're here and we're like working instead of out there seeing everyone and doing stuff but they were all like we'll take you but the first thing people think is the National Mall you know even in your day everyone thinks cherry blossoms immediately right but Kenil Worth Aquatic Gardens you don't really hear about that as much as you think of the mall is it kind of connected is it close to it for travelers well it's close to DC but it's actually there's an interstate called 295 that runs you know into DC and the gardens are just one exit you take an exit off of 295 you take a few turns it's actually in the back of the neighborhood you look like you're going through a neighborhood and there's a parking lot free parking so it's actually very easy to get to there are walking paths that connect it to DC but it's on the other side of the Anacostia River than the mall and things like that so you would probably need to drive really if you wanted to go down to the mall but you're really close by like it's common you need nearby to go to like the Navy Yard which is an upcoming neighborhood go down to Old Alexandria they're all very close you know driving distance to Kenil Worth well and then I was reading like Baltimore which is really kind of the next it's all connected right has the whole heritage area - like that's a lot you know particularly on the Easter shore but there are spots around the Baltimore area with history related to the Underground Railroad and Frederick Douglass and you know Civil War history and you know there's a lot of a lot to see here from a historic standpoint as well as you know at the National Park standpoint I love this because it ties history and nature together and I think it's really the beauties of our our National Park system and yeah one thing you talked about in your article and everyone you got to go see our beautiful photos and you know there's picnic where I was like you can have a picnic looking at these flowers right now right it's free they encourage you to come and you know enjoy the park and use it it's really a community resource you know what the last time I was there there was a community poetry group that was meeting and you know you could kind of listen to that and you know there were families there with their children having a picnic there's these you know lovely red Otter at a rod on tears they're sort of placed around some of the ponds you can just you know hang out and enjoy being in nature ah now okay so now I have to I have to say it was a tidal marsh now there is a tidal marsh there though right there are the these ponds are not necessarily affected by the tides but there is a marsh on the back of the property Kenilworth Marsh which is connected linked to the Anacostia River so it can it does have some you know changes in terms of title but um there have been sometimes I was told when I was down there the last time talking to some of the volunteers that when there's a lot of rain sometimes the the Anacostia will flood and overflow into the Kenilworth and there are some fish and the ponds that have come from the Anacostia so occasionally they get some unwanted visitors in the in the in the lotus and ah wow I had I thought because I had to go back on Alan Spears bio on NPCA.org everyone and I just make sure I was right about because that's what I know he always talked about Kenilworth and I'm like what do you mean in the quite a garden in the middle of DC you know I always like felt that and then you know you know your article I'm like oh my gosh that's what they're talking about and it says Alan is the only staff person to ever be rescued from a tidal marsh by a park police helicopter so there you go so I'm gonna get it correct because I don't want him to get mad at me he's he's he is one of the most special people on the planet so just saying for what he's done for parks like Stonewall and you know just so many Harriet Tubman you know and this is kind of interesting that I'm seeing that Maryland that the park system is like Harriet Tubman National Monument is taken over part of there's a blackwater wildlife refuge that we've been to in Maryland yes it's out on the eastern shore blackwater wildlife yeah it's also fabulous if you are a bird lover it is any time of the year it's a great time to go there the bald eagles will nest there in the winter time and then and you'll see them in the summertime but you know blackwater is is fabulous but you'll also see birds at Kennelworth if you're into that so towards the back of the property we were talking about the marsh there's a boardwalk that you know goes out into the mud flats and then towards the marsh and has viewing stations where you can sit and watch you know there's great blue herons and white egrets we saw the last time I was there we saw a bald eagle flying over and off-brae so you know there's also you know surprisingly amount on a large number of wildlife there's turtles and cool other things like that and you know you'll see a lot of people a lot of professionals with professional photographers or amort or or hobbyist as well with you know these big lenses waiting to take pictures of the of the bird so it's another I think unknown feature of the gardens is that there is a large species of waterfowl and birds that are actually on the property as well hmm that's I was reading your article about them you're you're naming off some it's really the species a number of species are yep pretty it's what in the 200s I think it's two hundred forty yes yes yes and that's I mean and then you've got all these lilies around and that's really in the summer time right that the lilies are there but it changes every season right there's things to do there every year the the lilies and lotus are really peaking in July so you know we're talking about the lotus weather the peak is pretty much honest now and there is a lotus and Lily water lily festival that happens throughout the month of July in the in the park but I'm the lilies and lotus start to bloom probably in May and will go through into August but in the springtime there's magnolias and cherry blossoms the fall you have you know the fall colors and then in the winter there's also migratory birds that come so there are is you know changing wildlife throughout the year today so there's always seems like there's always something to see and do there I want to go Nancy we're gonna I know something I know we're gonna have we're gonna I you really ought to we're gonna have to do this I'm telling you this right here you go though now it's best to go in the morning because the both the water lilies and the lotus are more open in the morning as the afternoon heat comes on they will close their bloom it's so beautiful but to see them in there you know their oh yeah display it's better to go in the morning and it's good yeah you're a little swampy here I didn't expect swampyness I mean when we first came to Maryland we were in Easton Maryland oh yeah we went over that huge bridge that yep and edited a few times and I'm yeah but I don't love the relationship with that bridge yeah people jump off of it not a good thing but there are 200 feet in the air it's a little scary my thing but but I did it because you know we wouldn't say that we had to pull in and that's where we had a black water but like Maryland your state is pretty like it's insanely beautiful it is just gorgeous and to me like we were here in the fall and now we're here in the summer and just to see that diversity like these wetlands and then what you're talking about you know with these gardens I mean it's just it is a beautiful beautiful state you must love being here I mean you I'm not originally from Maryland but I've lived here for over 20 years and obviously I'm biased because I live here but I do think the mid-Atlantic region you know you really get the best of both worlds you get the the four seasons it's not crazy crazy hot here and we do have you know in the western Maryland you have some mountains you know where you guys are at in Silver Spring you've got you know we're obviously talking about Kenilworth but you've got a lot of exciting things to do in DC and Aplus Baltimore and the eastern shore is just you know this it's another world over there it's you know with black water and the open green space it's just a it's a very laid back kind of place to be it's it's to be it is a beautiful state I will agree with you yes it's interesting because coming from I mean we're both you know born and raised in California for a bit and what your idea of what the eastern part of the states is like it's so not what it really is when you get there yes yeah I mean I know if this is not what I expected to see in this part of the country yeah but you know I think Kenilworth your story kind of goes with kind of our experience of seeing these historic homes in this history and it kind of goes with the East like even Pennsylvania like the gardens we've been through some of the gardens that are just like holy cow like but it was people with this vision of plants and I'm going how do you do this and then the snow comes and you know yeah that's what I'm like that's kind of crazy you're talking about these tropical water lilies and little blossoms and then I know you get snow like yeah well some of the species at Kenilworth are hardy enough to winter over they're okay in the water but there are some there are greenhouses on the property and they actually were they date back to the when you know Helen and her father had the business so some of the tropical water lilies that are more sensitive to the cold weather they move them inside to winter and then they bring them back out in like me you know in the spring or the Maytime so some of them do need protection but there are you know versions that are hardy enough to to survive the you know the the the winter because it is cold enough for the ponds to freeze in the winter but they make it through I wonder if Magnolia is related to water lilies in a way they kind of have I don't know it's an interesting thought you know that means you look at those leaves you know and then even there's the oh why can't I remember there's like they're not oh I can't believe I can't remember this when you go in a swampy area there's a little white plants with a little thingies it's not like your it's it's not a ah it's not an anetherium but it's like that and it's white with white petals around it lilies kella lilies no no oh I can't stand that I can't I mean this is like the most common plant but it's there with all the water lilies and you know it's kind of look like I don't know there's like a connection in a way to me you know those leaves those those petals I should say there's just that and even though the leaves you know the Magnolia like that's the other thing the Magnolia here is saying you know that's that's yeah like wow but that's so different kind of like a lily fat leaf in it yeah well the lily pads there are are huge especially and I think I haven't really been there in the September or the fall but there they I think it's called a Victoria Lotus lily but the lily pads get very very large you know feet wide and I think that's something also to see at kennel worth as well and a different part of the year who would have thought we would have a national park over aquatic plants I think it's pretty darn cool it is really in my knowledge it's the only one that exists yeah I mean there's there's a aquatic plants like in Everglades and things like that but Everglades is like this and saying we biodiverse system you know with alligators and you know pythons which aren't like over there but yeah cool but we used to see lilies in Africa and Kenya and you just you know that they come more from that side of the world than this side well then you get here and there's I don't know it's just funny it's cool it's cool but now that I wanted to touch on community you talked about this in your article which I think is cool because that's why we actually do our tour is to connect communities in their parks and this is kind of like an urban park in a way and it seems like people could go there have lunch even in their days you know it breaks work breaker or but have you but and family but it seems like people are taking care of the park to help the park service there are so you and you're just that just you know you're right I had a friend that was there with me who who would do just that she would come here on her lunch break and you know when she worked in DC just to get out so it is definitely you know a resource get away from the politics go to the flowers yeah exactly but um but you're right there you know they do have you know national park rangers that are there and they have rangers that do and come and do maintenance but there is a group called the Friends of Kennelworth Aquatic Gardens who do a lot of work to help promote and take care of the gardens every I think third week of the year in the summer they have volunteered the common help to do some cleanup the last time I was there the volunteers were in hip waders in the water and they were you know with Rakes trying to pull out some of the more invasive weeds and stuff so there's definitely a huge support of volunteers that help to maintain that park in addition the the Friends of Kennelworth Aquatic Gardens they host events like yoga in the park and music festivals and they you know they coordinate events there so that there I think a big part of the community there and and speaking to the rangers there they also encourage people to come and you know have events there or you know activities they just you know they asked you to call the park service in advance to arrange that but it's really our resource for for anybody to come and utilize that's cool man I love that volunteer I think that's something we've talked about a lot on the show recently is you know our way of travel is changing and we're all looking to what can we do when we go to a place that we're actually giving back you know we're not and because you get such an authentic experience if you can volunteer and you can get in there and get dirty a little bit you're gonna really know those lilies you know yeah and you're helping a park system and you become what you know there's you used to be like travel like a local Nancy and I definitely do we're giving back in these communities as pet centers right right we're not doing it for money this is just a thing is hey we're helping people travel have peace of mind we get to have better internet to do our radio shows in you know have wonderful guests like you go on and you know the pets are happy but when you say you're giving back and you get to know a community in town you get to know like how the garbage works and how things work and it used to be travel like a local and it was like a local side bar I think we've really gone beyond that now and volunteering and just really being ingrained in the community is really a cool thing so I hope they take volunteers like you know if we wanted to go and volunteer when it seems that they have like a monthly is it a once a month they do a cleanup once a month but I if you go to their website it's Kenilworth or the sorry it's the friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens I might have I do have the link in the article to their website it's Ken thank you garden.org they do have a calendar of their events I think you can look for other ways to volunteer so you know if you think you're gonna go you know that'll be a place to check out and see if there's a way you can help out while you're visiting that's awesome you got the dog bark yeah they gave you this thumbs up to go and volunteer everybody but you know this is so cool because you also say there's an Acustia park next to it - so yes another part I love it when parts are left like next to each other because it increases the experience but it's also better for the wildlife right yeah so yeah so there's a little trail that leads from it's just a quarter mile that leads from the aquatic gardens to the the Anacostia River trail and that trail itself is about three and a half miles long and it runs along the Anacostia River and that is also a it's a fairly large community park that has you know playgrounds and ball fields and you know places where you can put in like a kayak or a paddleboard or something so you know you can whoo you know go on you know a bike ride it's really common with bike riders you'll see at the river trail head there's there are places where you can park your your bike and it's always full of you know bikes so people you know good on the trail and come into the aquatic gardens and spend some time I love this I love it and that's exactly you know we were talking about these urban parks and it's good for your health these are parks that are good for your health good for the community's health and happiness and good for wildlife and flowers flower power I love it I love it so everyone nps.gov/keaq is the website for the park service and again Julie's article is on National Park Traveling.com just type in Kenilworth and you'll find it or just type in Julie you'll find it - you know I wanted to touch base with you about being a writer because you know this is interesting about you going to like the gardens you focus on nature or you know because I was reading about you yeah we cuckled you. No follow Julie on her social media but you've been to what 45 countries five continents is it nature or what what is your main focus as a writer and a photographer? Yeah I am really drawn by nature and being outside I'm like you both I'm a huge lover of the National Parks my husband and I you know we have a dream some data you know have a camper van or something and just go and you know visit the National Park so I do tend to focus on nature wildlife and flowers I always had a long life love of flowers so that you know generally what I focus on but I do you know write about other activities like I actually just came back from you mentioned Africa I was I did a safari just earlier in the summer so I'm trying to you know get some of the articles that I've been a bit some ideas from my safari and stuff so I focus on yeah where did you go yeah I went to Kenya and Tanzania oh that's where we went Kenya yeah we loved it I really was impressed with Nairobi and we went you after the Massamara and to ambassalee National Park yeah it was fabulous oh my gosh that's amazing that is amazing so the wildlife did you enjoy that because it's pretty mind-blowing isn't it yeah I mean I could watch the wildlife all day long yeah whether that's you know elephants in you know Africa or Elkin Yellowstone National Park I could watch them all day wow your background is also in the pharmaceutical scientists I can't even pronounce all that so yeah and you know so I'm going okay so she knows about drugs and you were also the rest of delivery I see I can't a drug delivery what how you're putting in the run yeah yeah yeah so yeah so so you've got this science background does that go I mean when you look at a plant like if you look at a property are you going okay I know what you can do yeah well so I guess I'm more of a chemist than I am a botanist but I do love plants and so I've always been interested in you know understanding them and taking care of them yeah so I still work as a scientist and the writing and the travel writing and the photography is a passion and a hobby and something I hope to do you know full-time someday but yeah I think it's a challenge as well sometimes as I you know as a scientist I sometimes tend to write you know a little bit more too technical than what I should so but I've always enjoyed writing and trying to tell a story even if it was a scientific sort of angle and I think it's allowed me to transition to to travel writing I think there's something about writing no matter what you're doing that you have to add some creativity in it because it's been full of sugar right yeah it makes the medicine go down seriously so seriously and but I mean reading your article I mean to me you're giving us exactly like here you want to go here it's refreshing it's great to just get the information you want you sparked the interest and then it's like okay now what to do and add some history in there and it's yeah always yeah it's you know article writing is such a how many words and then it's like oh some people want way more but I think people's attention spans are they want shorter bits you know they're mm-hmm give me the vibe and then give me the good to get there yeah if we talk about Helen there were so much great things to talk about about her but I knew you know that would take away from the focus of the article so you know you had to do your best to condense it but you always want to tell more so but you're right I think being keeping things in a manner that people can easily digest and enjoy is the way about well you can always do a follow-up you know and and do more than one article rather than one great big book yeah we get articles turned in it look like books we're like oh yeah because you know people are busy and they can only read so much at one time and they can only just and think about yeah yeah I think that's where like I you know I started my travel writing with you know going to the it doesn't exist anymore but Great Escape Publishing used to do a you know a workshop on how to learn to write I participate with the Travel Writers Cafe which I've learned a lot of tips and you know best practices as a travel writer and that and also that's what if Tua does as well you know providing that sort of mentorship and education to help you not write a book right right well no the book is good I think once I think there's a certain personality that wants the book so it you know those people want to write a book with those people but when you're looking you know it's a very everybody's got their thing and you have to find your thing just like a musician finds their signature sound right yeah so it's kind of that in travel writing but I think organizations help because it opens you know your I mean how can I obviously have a problem we're big blend and we can't work we're like okay with the Helen Shaw story needs to go in our way back when magazine you know it's like we are it's like how can you not go to a park and not be interested in the woman that has really fought tooth and nail for and for the river and for what it's all about and to have this respite from the city you know how could you not get into that story but then you're like oh but look at the flowers so to me it's like this story is about community and family it's about history it's about womanhood and entrepreneurship it's about hey flower power and gardening so yep that's yeah it to me it's a it's a it's a really good addiction to be curious and get into all those stories and then oh yeah can I just put that in there too like you could go to that park and probably come out with 10 stories oh yeah okay well then I have to get cracking then yeah do it yeah yeah because I think that's a thing it's like when you open your eyes and I wonder if this you know were you always a traveler you've done 45 countries there's a lot I mean there's something that you yeah I love to travel it's an addiction yeah I mean that's why one of the reasons for the draw for being a travel writer because you know if you're you know you've got to work for it but if you get the opportunity to go on you know press trips or you know participate in events and cities you kind of get sort of a an inside knowledge and you get to talk about it and write about it so that was one of the you know Genesis for me wanting to be a travel writer is to help facilitate my love of travel mm-hmm well yeah because you're given opportunities not everybody gets right right but you're having to work for it where did it start for you though when was like when do you what's your earliest memory of going somewhere going holy cow I'm in from a writing standpoint to me oh no traveler right traveling whatever well I mean I've always had a love of travel like my my grand goes back to my grandparents they would travel the world and they bring back these these dolls of you know dressed in the the style of the the region they were in and they would be the school I chose and so I you know I think that deed was planted when I was really young I was fortunate to travel a lot of the U.S. with my parents and the summertime and we went to a lot of the national parks and you know so it was just really born from there and along with that went you know the photography of always you know enjoyed taking pictures taking a few court classes here and there but I'm the travel writing aspect really got started for me in 2019 so I'm fairly recent at work you know getting working to get my stories published and out there but it took also a great avenue to have my photography also incorporated your articles every thank you yeah no no no I think you're very diligent in what you do and you know Nancy and I were like ah this is so cool and and and we want to go I mean you got it's wanting to go and that's a cool thing and I think there's something well you're you're a writer too in in your science field you know and understand that and and you know it's like I think that even medical people you look every medical person I know has a quirky sense of humor they and you have to and scientists and biologists there's just this other quirky side because you can't be reading all that hardcore stuff and like looking it without having some quirkiness and some humor or some kind of I don't know you got to have storytelling I don't care how you know how much you know what I mean there's storytelling is storytelling even when it's like here's your thesis on like something really important you need to have some storytelling in there to get your open your mind yeah now photography for you do you think that helps open up observation nice when you photograph you know like a flower like it makes you stop and if you're not I mean I always may not see it as much yeah I'd like to focus on the details and try to show things that maybe people don't see you know so I think the pictures that I have for the article the other is some that have some you know some detail in there to look you know take a look closer and just not you know look out in the horizon but look and see what's around you so I think photography you know it allows me to express that and share that you know photography is great in that when you start embracing a camera and start taking photos you start to look not just down or straight ahead you start up and sometimes you get to go on your hands and knees yeah yeah I'm going to do that yeah see it next is always on me to get down get down no because yeah because there's different angles yep that it's so like you can take one subject and do it in 20 angles and every photo will be different the lighting will be different the color will be different the composition will be different and the meaning will be different and I mean so it's a study in not only yourself but the subject which and I find you know it it is addictive absolutely addictive so there's a show on addiction yeah birds I want to help nature you know animals you know that I want to see the osprey you know like I want to see an osprey pushed above all these lilies and you know if you see that in Louisiana a little bit and that's like wow you know but yeah very cool Julie I'm so glad you joined us on the show today and great thank you excited for everyone to see your article everyone again if you go to National Park Traveling dot com you can learn more and read read her story this type and kennel worth and that's K-E-N-I-L kennel worth and also when it comes to the International Food Wine Travel Writers Association again it's every second Tuesday every second Friday we air shows here with them on big blend radio so go to ifw P-W-A dot org keep up with us at big blend radio dot com but I do want to say there's an awesome conference coming up we're going to be doing a show on this the end of the month if it was hosting their annual conference in St. Petersburg Florida and I'm going to tell you if you like birding that's a really cool place to go so we got coastal you got wetlands you got all kinds of good stuff oh and that are you going cool yes I am awesome oh cool I'm following you on that I gotta get I need to follow you on on social media here because September 18 through 21 St. Petersburg Florida's a conference if you are a destination if you are in the industry if you're a winery for example you want to go if you're a child writer blogger photographer you got to go so check it out I F W T W a dot org and it's St. Petersburg have you been there before I have I don't think I've really spent a lot of time there we tend to go south down towards Sarasota but I'm looking forward to the conference as an opportunity to really get to explore the city yeah I mean because they have all these trips and panelists and then all the workshops and the networking and the marketplace I mean awesome that's gonna be so cool so I can't wait because we've covered a couple of the conferences just remote we not as being there we'll be on a farm in North Carolina during this so but we'll hear back from everyone because I think with the island when everyone went to Santa Fe and you know it's transforming for writers you know from and also the destinations and if everyone that goes yeah there's nothing like networking and now to be able to do it in person is off yeah that's what I was gonna say the networking is priceless yeah I agree I agree and and learning because this industry is changing I mean I don't even know if you can go to school for it and by the time you get out of school it's gonna be changed you know what I mean yeah yeah it's changing so fast for the building blocks and the basics but you got to keep up and keep educating yourself in your chosen field I don't care whatever fields it is get building blocks in school and then when once you're out you have to keep up yeah that's like science right Julie yeah exactly yeah science is always evolving you know one day you can drink coffee in the next day you can't but then don't worry because two days later you'll be able to drink coffee if you're moderate if you just do moderate then you're probably safe if you're drinking 20 cups of coffee no matter what's probably not gonna be good it's not good for anybody not good coffee company now no no no but Julie give everybody again your social media I've I've got it as see by Julie D so I have to send them tell everybody like just showcase that I can spell because I have the words in front of me yeah so that's that's my you know on Twitter Instagram and Facebook you can find me at see by Julie D awesome awesome okay so much for joining us thank you and if you go to kind of work I want to hear all about it oh well okay on social media and telling you and emailing you and saying we're here we're here but yeah hopefully and if not we won't get there I mean because we're here doing parks like that's our thing is non-stop parks we're gonna close with a song called Lotus Blossom I think this is wild that we're in Maryland talking to you and now we have a song called Lotus Blossom like is that wilder what like it's meant it was meant to be yeah when's the food happening here it is everyone lotus blossom from our friends Michael and spider keep up with them at Michael and spider.com you can get the music on bank camp Amazon it's all those great places but here it is little some lotus blossom take care everyone thanks Julie thank you guys [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]
