Foiled morning adventure(s)

Those who know me realize that I am, without a doubt, not-a-morning person. So when I make it up and get out of the house before noon (especially on weekends), it qualifies as a major accomplishment.

So when I woke up this morning and realized that today would be a perfect day to shoot some morning photos, I flipped a virtual coin to decide whether to go back to Olbrich (after being there last weekend for an art class) or go to Vilas Zoo for the first time. Preferring to opt for something new, I chose the zoo. New animal photos with my long lens would make me really happy, right?

So proud of myself, I ensured that I had two potential routes over to the zoo. After taking the most direct route and running into an eventual roadblock because of a race, I turned around and began my approach from my alternate route. Despite a couple of orange cones, it looked clear. So despite a couple of what appeared to be annoyed looks from pedestrians, I continued toward the Zoo, primarily because I was following another vehicle. Then, as I made my final approach to the zoo, I saw the racers running toward me. Surprisingly, there weren't any race officials out there telling me to move or get off the route of the annual Zoo Run Run. They really should put up signs along the route and actually block traffic...as much as I'm sure they didn't like me on the route, I ultimately was on a one-way road that didn't exactly allow me to turn around.

So now I've spend an hour-and-a-half navigating to and around someplace that was too populated to take good photos, and decided that I'd just head home and try to shoot some local shots at my neighborhood Badger Prairie Park. Yes, I had moments of indecision where I thought about heading over to Olbrich or maybe down to Blue Mounds State Park, but those thoughts disappeared when I realized I was both a bit hungry and thirsty. So I stop at the local park and start rigging up my gear when I realize that neither my gorilla-type tripod nor my monopod were in my car. Since I'm compulsive about locking my car, I didn't think they had been stolen. After all, why would someone steal a monopod and not a more expensive tripod. Anyway, that sealed it for me. The photo gods were not smiling on me this morning, and I came home. There, on the floor where I left it after the Ironman Triathlon a couple of weeks ago was my monopod, and my little flexible tripod was in my art bag.

I've eaten a brief snack, gotten a little bit of liquid in me to wet my whistle, and will grab a sandwich before venturing out again. This next adventure, of course, will be more successful, in that it will naturally be an afternoon adventure...