It’s nice to get away and that is exactly how I spent the last weekend at one of the PATC cabins up near Harrisonburg. My good friend and fellow photographer Brendan Bush and his wife Nicole turned us onto these awesome cabins built and maintained by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. We stayed in Conley which has a spectacular view and a pretty wide open layout. They are primitive cabins so no heat or running water. Conley had a wood heating stove and a wood cooking stove, and a spring was right down the hill. Best of all, the privy had a spectacular view!

You have to pack in about a half mile from your car. We were kind of fortunate that Brendan had a 4WD as the road from the bottom to the parking area was a sheet of ice and no way would anything but 4WD make it up the hill. That was even sketchy. Had we had to park at the nearest dry spot, it would have been about a 1.5 mile pack in to the cabin. But, either way, once you get there the haul is worth it.

 

 Sunrise from the front porch….

 

 

 

Jack heading up the hill at sunset…..

 

 

 

 

a swing with a view……

 

 

 

 

gettin’ our grill on at the covered grilling area….did I say primitive???…

 

 

 

 

fully stocked kitchen, all manual…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lots of space for the pooches…..

 

 

 

 

A little hard to sleep late…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 plenty of excercise equipment…..

 

 

 

and best of all….the view

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just got back from a quick trip down to Florida this weekend and I tried out a new pocket camera while I was down there. I bought the Olympus Stylus 850SW to mostly take on paddling trips so I wouldn’t have to worry about a wet bag. The camera is supposedly waterproof to 10 feet, but I haven’t tested that yet. I was at a party Saturday night while there and someone there told me they had one and it took on water within three months.Maybe mine will last a little longer than that!

Aside from any water bonus, this is really the worst pocket camera I have ever had. I read a review AFTER I had bought it and I would have to agree with about everything they said. Throw in the fact that it requires a special memory card from Olympus and I wonder how they ever sell them. Must be the waterproof feature which is what attracted me. If you have just the right lighting conditions, the camera will produce an acceptable photo. Flash??? Forget it, the worst I’ve ever seen despite the review saying that indoor flash was its only strong point. I had to use exposure comensation on almost every lighting condition and focus is hit and miss for sure. Battery life? Pathetic.

Here were a few that I thought made the grade. Otherwise, Olympus Stylus 850 SW gets a BIG FAT “F”.

Incidentally, I can say that I give the Casio cameras a good grade. I’ve had two, both of which bit the dust by accident, and they had pretty stellar performance. The battery charge on one lasted  an entire three week trip to Asia and that was even after using it as a flashlight one night.  I also hear that the new little Nikons are pretty sweet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Went up to Camp a few weeks ago to open things up and get the place cleaned. It was a working vacation for me cause I had to get some weddings edited and finish a new marketing piece. No internet cause I’m too cheap to pay $ 70 a month for an air card so I had to book it to the little coffee shop in the village every morning to get my mail and upload some galleries. One morning I just couldn’t make it so when I got there they were closed! Went on a rather hilarious venture into Amsterdam (the city in NY…not the one in The Netherlands) and quickly learned that this is a city far behind in the times. No coffee shops, not even a Starbucks which is utterly amazing.

So I stopped at a little computer store whose owner told me that he had heard if you sit in the parking lot at the old Best Western you can sometimes get a signal. I went fishing there for some broadband and did indeed stumble upon a spot where I got enough for a five minute download/upload session and was outa there.

Of course the highlight of the trip was watching Jack explore Camp for the first time. Needless to say, he was in doggie heaven with the woods, the lake, and a field full of tall grass and lots of smells all within a few feet of the front door. In order to prepare him for the water, I had been taking him down to the river for a month before the trip, having him fetch sticks from the deep part. He caught on fast, so by the time he got to Camp he was an expert paddler with no fear. He could easily swim out about 25 yards with us and stay out there with no assistance. But most of all I think he enjoyed digging in the beach where he made ample progress turning over all of the sand so that it looked fresh and new.

By the time we left to come back to Roanoke, Jack was tuckered out and slept the entire 10 hour trip. He is a joy. The best $129 I ever spent.