Lotus

In less than 2 hours of walking through the Aquatic Gardens (free) in NE Washington DC I had nice photos of 7 lotus blooms, 5 dragonflies, 9 butterflies, 1 turtle, some bees and assorted insects.  I shot with my favorite travel camera - the Canon SX50 HS (24 - 1200 mm) with excellent image stabilization and macro capability.  My wife and I had the place to ourselves until 3 busloads of tourists poured into the gardens, each with 10 pounds of tripod, big lens and camera gear.  The Canon SX50 HS weighs 1.3 pounds with battery and card.  And the main thing - everyone was enjoying themselves, light or heavily laden.