North Carolina Zoo

So we went to the NC Zoo today, which, despite being 85 miles away, is really a great place to hang out and shoot photos. Here’s what we got:

Some reptiles:

  A seal. Yeah, his eyes looked like that.

An otter, chowing down on a fish.

  This is how I felt after walking about 5 miles today.

This guy’s obviously behind a chain link fence, but I still kinda like the photo. Since I don’t expect to see any bald eagles in the wild in the near future, this will have to suffice.

A large, albeit not very exotic, creature.

The bowling pins are a nice touch.

  I got a few shots of a humming bird:

More birds:

OK, these aren’t  actually zoo animals. But I’ve got three cardinals in one shot—two males and a female. They’re skittish birds!

These guys aren’t very exotic either.

Somewhat more exotic.

  No explanation necessary.

We really enjoyed seeing the gorillas. It was difficult shooting through dirty glass, but I got some OK shots:

I really like this one, actually.

The chimpanzees were definitely our favorites though. They put on a show for us today:

Again, it was difficult to shoot through the glass (because of both dirt and glare). But this older chimp was up-close, so I did my best.

This one just looked better in black & white.

And, for my favorite shot of the day . . .

Yep, this one is definitely my favorite. Great expression on this chimp.

Recent Photos – Duke Gardens, etc.

Here are some recent photos, most of which were taken at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

Ooooh, foresty.

  As you can see, the roses were in bloom.

Cider was in a good mood, as always.

  As was Bella.

It’s baby duck season, apparently.

More flowers.

This looks like something you’d see while scuba diving, but it’s actually a tree.

A statue.

Star Commons, Duke Law School.

Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke Law graduation). Click to enlarge.

Proof that Nixon went to Duke.

Duke Chapel Climb

In addition to winning national basketball championships and admitting rich undergrads, Duke has a tradition of letting graduating graduate and professional students climb the Duke Chapel tower. As a graduate and professional student who is graduating, I thought I should take advantage of this apparently once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (the tower is not open to the general public).

I had to wait in line for quite some time. They only let about 20 students in at a time, and each group took about 20-25 minutes to climb up, take photos, and climb down. Here are a few shots I took while waiting:

They call this a “climb” for a reason—you access the top of the tower by means of a narrow, steep, poorly lit spiral stairway. Not a good place for those who tend to get claustrophobic. Here’s a shot of the stairway (taken during my descent):

Imagine about 10 minutes of this. As you can see, I was appropriately decked out in flip-flops and baggy jeans.

Because they were trying to shuttle people in and out as quickly as possible, I only had about 5 minutes to snap photos from the top of the tower. I must admit that I went for quantity rather than quality—I just took as many photos as possible before being ushered back down the stairs. Fortunately, I walked away with a few photos that (with some editing) were halfway presentable. Here’s a handful:

Looking north, toward the Perkins/Bostock libraries and the medical buildings.

The roof of the divinity school and part of Perkins.

Divinity school, Perkins, etc.

Looking east, toward the entrance to the university (with downtown Durham off in the distance).

  As you can see, there was quite a line.

Here’s a nice vertical panoramic for ya.

And another panoramic (click to enlarge).

Facing south.

Some girl with the Duke statue.

The backside (i.e., the chapel itself).