May 10-19, 2013: Overview-East Bound and Down
0Back home again in Indiana! Wow, what a great trip that was. It was loads of fun as Pat and I explored many two lane roads throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont (just a hint), New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
Here’s the overview of our trip, and posts for each day will follow (and will be hyperlinked below as they are added).
- May 10-11, 2013: Not much to report, as these were “get from point A to B as quickly as possible” travel days. Slabbed from Indianapolis to Dubois, Pennsylvania on Day 1, and DuBois to Connecticut on Day 2.
- May 12, 2013: Spent the morning in Waterbury visiting a friend, then my cousin. In the afternoon, it was onto the PEZ Candy Museum in Orange, then to Mystic, Connecticut.
- May 13, 2013: Visited Mystic, Connecticut – downtown and Old Mystick Village. Meandered our way to New Haven. Spent the next two nights in downtown New Haven.
- May 14, 2013: Rode the Metro North to New York City. Spent the day mostly hoofing it around midtown Manhattan, but also went downtown to visit the 9/11 Memorial. Took the Metro North back to New Haven.
- May 15, 2013: Left New Haven, visited another friend in central Connecticut, then continued meandering northwest on some state roads, then on US 7 into Massachusetts. Took NY 23 to the Hudson River, then followed US 9 and NY 9J. Spent the night in Schenectady.
- May 16, 2013: Today’s destination was Lake George, New York, a favorite tourist destination of mine from my teen years. Before heading north, we took a detour back east to Bennington, Vermont to have breakfast at the Blue Benn Diner. Traversed northwest and spent the afternoon and evening in Lake George on a cute motel on the lake.
- May 17, 2013: Spent the morning in Lake George. There was not much open yet, since we were still in the off season (just a week away), so we checked out the site of the former amusement park Gaslight Village (now demolished) and figured out which motel my parents and I stayed in when I was a teen. Played a round of mini golf at Goony Golf, and then headed southwest / west on US 20, visiting an iconic tourist stop, the Tepee.
- May 18, 2013: Continuing west on US 20 through New York state, through the Finger Lakes area, visited the town that inspired Frank Capra’s vision of Bedford Falls in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, continued on US 20 into Pennsylvania along Lake Erie on PA 5 (Circle Lake Tour).
- May 19, 2013: Continued along PA 5 (Circle Lake Tour) by Lake Erie, visited a memorial to those lost in a bad train wreck in 1876, saw the longest covered bridge in the US, and the world’s two largest loaves of bread.
What a ride! Stay tuned.
Pat & Jennifer
May 15, 2013: Day 6 – East Bound and Down
0Above is today’s trip map created using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app.
Click the link above for a bigger map.
We left New Haven this morning and met up with another friend for coffee. We couldn’t resist stopping off at the Big Dipper in Prospect for some ice cream!
then we started northwest through Connecticut, meandering on a mix of state and US routes into Massachusetts on US 7. We picked up 23, which crossed into New York. In Craryville, we found the Chief Martindale Diner. Cool spot and great food; but the owner is very touchy about photos. I asked the waitress if it was Ok to take a few shots, she said no problem, but then came back out, saying the chef/owner didn’t want any photos being taken. Hmmm…
We continued on 23/23B until we reached Hudson, New York. Along the way, I’d post things to friends and family on Facebook and at this point, my cousin Leigh suggested that we visit Olana, which was the Persian style home of artist Frederic Edwin Church. Glad we stopped! Even though the building was closed, the site was open and had beautiful views of the Hudson.
We continued north along US 9/ SR 9J along the Hudson River as the sun set.
We booked a Priceline hotel, and ended up with the west side of Schenectady.
As we crossed into Albany, I saw a neat theatre called the Palace that I had to test out the HDR camera on!
We made our way to the hotel and got some sleep. Tomorrow, on to Lake George!
Pat & Jennifer
Today’s Photographs
Below is a slideshow of all of today’s photos. Click any photo to stop the slideshow and view the photos on my Flickr site.
May 14, 2013: Day 5 – East Bound and Down
0We woke up early today so we could catch an early train to New York. We walked the short distance from the hotel to Union Station and caught the 7:31 AM train, which would arrive at Grand Central at 9:07.
We really didn’t have any plans, just stroll around midtown really. I didn’t want to take the time to go into any of the boroughs, and while a slice of Lenny’s Pizza in Bensonhurst would have been awesome, I didn’t want to spend 50 minutes each way. Our farthest destination from midtown would be the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade center site. After leaving Grand Central, we walked east on 42nd Street to the United Nations Building. I’d never been there, and I thought I’d snap a few shots to use as filming locations for the Alfred Hitchcock suspense film, North by Northwest, starring Cary Grant.
We worked our way back west to 5th Avenue and walked north to FAO Schwarz. Another place I took my daughter to alot when she was a little girl, I was feeling nostalgic when I saw the clock face on the wall, that used to be a clock tower in the entry, and was featured in the 1988 films, “Big” and “Big Business.” I have screen shots from the movie and from a time I was there in 1991 in my Movie Filming Locations post. The clock face now sits above an escalator leading to the lower level of the store, and plays the signature song “Welcome to Our World of Toys” every 15 minutes.
A few moments of feeling verklempt over hearing the song, I recovered since I have a wonderful grandson now and get to enjoy this sort of thing all over again with him – and watch my daughter enjoy being a mom!
We picked up some sweet treats at the candy shop FAO Schweetz, and continued along our midtown romp. I wanted to take Pat by the Solow Building on 57th Street. I knew he would recognize it from one of our favorite movies, “Lost in America” where Albert Brooks’ character begs for his job back after quitting in a hilarious scene, reeling from the news that he was being transferred from LA to New York, rather than getting the promotion to Vice President that he was expecting.
We headed over to Broadway and walked down Broadway to Times Square. I wanted to go to a Disney Store to see if they might have a replica Piston Cup from the Disney/Pixar film “Cars” for Jameson, but none were to be found. Bummer. We did pick up a “Lots-’o-Huggin’” bear from Toy Story 3, though.
With as nice of a day as it was, mid 60′s and dry, lots of people were hanging out in the new (well, about 4 years old) pedestrian plazas in Times Square.
We walked west through Times Square and over toward 44th Street, giving our regards to George M. Cohan along the way.
I wanted to take Pat over toward 44th Street to see the Shubert Theatre and Sardi’s. Not technically a filming location, but nonetheless, I will be adding it to my blog for “The Producers,” the 2005 version of Mel Brooks musical, starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. A set was created that looked just like the area containing the Shubert Theatre, Shubert Alley, and Sardi’s.

We walked back toward Broadway & 7th, heading south to about 39th Street until I decided we ought to get down to the 9/11 Memorial. Pat was hoping to meet up with another Pat back in Connecticut, so we took the subway from Times Square to Chambers Street and made the walk of a couple blocks over to the World Trade Center site. We found the Memorial Preview site, where there were displays and information, and we picked up tickets/passes to the memorial.
We walked a couple of blocks over to the memorial, and visited the site. It was solemn and sad to be there, though it was a very nice and tasteful memorial to those everyday people whose ordinary workday turned anything but, as the horror unfolded around them. It shouldn’t ever become something we become desensitized to or forget, not just for the sake of those lost in the tragedy or their families and friends, but for all of us as Americans, whose world also changed forever on that day. Whether it’s extra IDs to open a checking account, to removing shoes, body scans, etc. to new government agencies and terminology, or PC arguments, our daily lives have been affected by the events of 9/11, and we should also mourn the loss of many of our fundamental freedoms. We should go on of course, and enjoy life, but sadly things have changed and not for the better. I hope that everyone who visits is solemn and respectful. They were for the most part, but there we’re a few people there getting their photo taken, smiling away, and I admit, it annoyed me.
Here is a very brief video I took at the 9/11 Memorial:
We headed back up to midtown so we could get going. I suggested to Pat that we cross from Times Square to Grand Central, but Pat was OK sticking around a little longer and walking. So we went over to the Cake Boss Cafe there to check out the hype. We’d tried to visit Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken two years ago, but the lines were too long (we had my then-two month old grandson with us). So now we’re at the Cake Boss Cafe, not “Carlo’s” so I wondered if the stuff was made by Carlo’s or is this a product of the television network. It seemed to have a full lined of baked goods. I bought a red velvet cupcake that wasn’t any more expensive than any other specialty cupcake place. It was good but not particularly great.
We started walking back to Grand Central and before boarding, we picked some Magnolia Cupcakes for my daughter, and a few for ourselves. Yummmm…
After leaving Grand Central on a New Haven bound Metro North train, I promptly fell asleep. Seriously. I’d been sleep deprived since a week before vacation, which continued right through the night before. I didn’t wake up until a few minutes before we arrived in Milford.
We went to the Milford station to meet up with someone Pat met last year, another Pat with the same name. I guess they Googled their name and found each other through Facebook. I was unable to meet the other Pat last year, since I was watching my grandson, so I was able to meet Pat and his fiancee Karen this year. We went to a place in Milford called SBC Brewery. Very good! We had a nice visit and Pat brought us back to the hotel.
Still tired from my extended bout of insomnia, it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep! We were going to meet a friend tomorrow morning for coffee, then start following the route I planned that we were going to take before we changed plans. We were still going to take part of it, but in upstate New York, we’d continue west for home rather than loop back to Connecticut.
Pat & Jennifer
Today’s Photographs
Below is a slideshow of all of today’s photos. Click any photo to stop the slideshow and view the photos on my Flickr site.
May 13, 2013: Day 4 – East Bound and Down
0Above is today’s trip map created using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app.
Click the link above for a bigger map.
We checked out of our hotel, which was across from the Mystic Aquarium and the shopping area called Olde Mystick Village, which has lots of nice little shops. One we enjoyed the past two years was a bakery and cheese shop called The Bleu Squid. They have very good cupcakes and for those who want to forego the cake, and get right to the good stuff, frosting shots! They didn’t have any this visit, as they ran out of cups, but here’s a photo from a previous visit:
We hadn’t eaten yet, so we decided to share a grilled cheese sandwich. They have alot of good varieties, not standard issue grilled cheese. We opted for the cheddar chicken grilled cheese, which was extra sharp Cheddar cheese with grilled chicken breast and sauteed apples on multi grain bread. VERY good! We followed it with a cupcake each for dessert, Pat going with vanilla and I selected salted caramel:
We continued to peruse the shops here, there is a nice variety for everyone, and many dining choices as well. The grounds are kept really nice, it has an old village feel to it, hence the name, Olde Mystick Village. There is also a tourist office at one end to assist with any area tourism questions or information travelers may have.
We went downtown to check out the shops, in case more were opened during the day. We had fun checking out Mystical Toys, a shop I used to take my daughter when she was little. Hard to believe I’m here shopping for my grandson now.
It was a gorgeous day – here’s a view looking up the Mystic River from Main Street:
After finishing up here, we decided to head to New Haven. To my delight, Pat suggested visiting New York City (as long as we would take the train!). When I lived in Connecticut, I hung out in New York most weekends, and since moving, have tried to visit as often as I could. I didn’t make it to New York last year, so I was thrilled to go. I had even thought about it a few days ago, but before the change in plans, we wouldn’t have had time. I certainly wouldn’t have suggested it to Pat.
So, since we would take the train and it was a weekday, I thought New Haven would be a good choice to take the train, since it has more parking than most of the other smaller stations along the line, which fill up quickly with commuters. I got a Priceline in downtown New Haven for a really good deal – $208 for two nights at the Omni Hotel New Haven. We checked in, then took a quick walk around a few blocks surrounding the hotel.
There was a Radio Shack open around the corner, and I was thinking about previous trips to new York where my phone’s battery would quickly deplete. I always carried an extra battery, but of course, the iPhone’s battery is not user-accessible. So I checked out some battery charging/power solutions, and decided to get the Enercell 3000mAh Portable Power Bank to help keep us connected with plenty of power for our iPhones.
We looked around at a few restaurants for dinner before choosing a place called the Shake Shack, just around the corner from the hotel. We ordered our food to go, and brought it back to the hotel.
After dinner, we headed to bed to rest up for our big day in the Big Apple.
Pat & Jennifer
Today’s Photographs
Below is a slideshow of all of today’s photos. Click any photo to stop the slideshow and view the photos on my Flickr site.
May 12, 2013: Day 3 – East Bound and Down
0Above is today’s trip map created using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app.
Click the link above for a bigger map.
After my daughter’s change of plans, I decided to make a few contact to see if anyone could meet early Sunday, enabling Pat and me to freely travel the area later in the week, less scheduled.
We started out from Danbury and headed back to Waterbury. At 9:00, I met my longtime friend Joann, and had loads of fun and laughs reminiscing:
And more laughs visiting with my cousin Diana:

And some good Margherita pizza at Bertucci’s:

Aftermeeting with Diana, we decided to visit the PEZ Candy Museum. We saw signs for this museum last year, but didn’t have a chance to stop. Pat and I now had the time, so we meandered toward Orange. What a cool place the PEZ museum is! You don’t have to like PEZ candy to appreciate the museum, but it helps! LOL
The dispensers are fun, and they have loads of them on display. Here are just a few below. To see more, see the slideshow at the bottom of the page for all of the photos from today or click over here directly to my Flickr set.
It’s not just a museum, they actually make the PEZ candy here too!

I commented to Pat that I bet the show “Unwrapped” would have visited here and sure enough, the show popped on a TV in the lobby. LOL
After the PEZ Museum, we decided to go toward Mystic, Connecticut. We again had some great fried clams for dinner at the Sea View Snack bar, along the Mystic River.
We went to downtown Mystic and walked around at sunset, catching a nice view over the Mystic River and the Drawbridge that carries US-1 traffic:
We walked along Main Street (US-1) through downtown Mystic. Still slightly offseason, not all shops were open, but the Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream Shop was open, so we each enjoyed a little.
We also ventured over to Mystic Pizza and not thinking the two of us would be able to handle a whole pizza, had a slice of pizza each and a sparkling, crisp Coca-Cola.
We walked back along Main Street, then back to the hotel to relax, have a drink and continue to plan the remainder of our wide-open week!
Until tomorrow…
Pat & Jennifer
Today’s Photographs
Below is a slideshow of all of today’s photos.
Click any photo to stop the slideshow and view the photos on my Flickr site.
May 10-11, 2013: Days 1 and 2 – East Bound and Down
0May 10, 2013
Above is today’s trip map created using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app.
Click the link above for a bigger map.
Days 1 and 2 were fairly uneventful, consisting of only slabbing on the Evil I, following the routes shown on the maps on this page. We did make a stop at Grandpa’s Cheesebarn, off I-71 in Ashland, Ohio. Always a worthy stop for samples!
Our first night’s destination was DuBois, Pennsylvania, where I had a reservation at a Holiday Inn.
May 11, 2013
Above is today’s trip map created using my Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app.
Click the link above for a bigger map.
The goal for the drive out was to get my daughter and grandson to her grandmother’s house by Saturday evening. We decided to drive two separate vehicles, so that my daughter would have her car with her in Connecticut and have the flexibility to get around when she needed to, while Pat and I traveled the area.
Unfortunately, last night in the hotel, my grandson wasn’t feeling too well. It was quite a bumpy night for the little guy and for us! Today, he was feeling really miserable, making for a pretty difficult ride most of the day. It’s a shame too, because contrasted with last year, he was content all day yesterday in his car seat during the long ride; he was quiet as can be, soaking in as much of the countryside as one could see via the Interstate (and I-80 is not one of the more scenic routes in Pennsylvania!). I think he’ll enjoy road tripping with us!
Despite his not feeling well, my grandson finally fell asleep close to 2 in the afternoon after I picked up another couple of types of medicines to calm his stomach down. He woke up in a good mood as we approached the Connecticut border and we had made pretty good time, so we decided to take him to visit my aunt and uncle, Bernadette and Joe, who own The Grotto restaurant in Waterbury, Connecticut. We enjoyed a nice visit and some good Italian food with them for a while, then my daughter went to her grandmother’s house and Pat and I headed back to Danbury to our hotel.

To my surprise, my daughter called me to let me know that instead of Pat and me going back to pick her and my grandson up to spend a few days together toward the end of the week and return to Indiana together, she was going to return to Indiana. She didn’t want to spend too many nights in a hotel with the baby in case he wasn’t feeling well. At that point, Pat and I realized that we now had 8 days to ourselves rather than 3. That certainly did change things from our original plan! I guess it’s true what they say about the best laid plans. So, we decided to rest and get a good night’s sleep, then think about what we would do as we go along.
Pat & Jennifer
Today’s Photographs
Below is a slideshow of all of the photos from Days 1 & 2.
Click any photo to stop the slideshow and view the photos on my Flickr site.
May 2013: East Bound and Down – Prelude
0Above is the track for our trip, which I have planned using the Trimble Outdoors website
Next month, we’ll be hitting the road for the East Coast. This will be mine & Pat’s final trip east for a while. For the past few years while my daughter’s been in school, I’ve been taking her and my grandson east to visit family, but with this being her final year of school, next year, she can venture out on her own if she likes. Pat and I will thereafter be focusing our attention on pretty much every other direction of the country. We’ve talked about places we wanted to visit, like South Dakota (Mt. Rushmore), some National Parks, like Bryce Canyon, Zion, etc. Another 66 trip would be great, and in a couple of years, we’d like to do 66 with our grandson and go to Disneyland (most specifically, Cars Land).
But back to the current trip. We’ll be pretty much slabbing on the Evil I to Connecticut on Friday and Saturday, likely from I-70 to Columbus, then I-71 to I-80 and 81 to 84. could do that in my sleep, which isn’t hard to do, given how awfully boring that route is. I prefer the southern route, but not feeling like paying tolls with two cars!
From Sunday through Tuesday or Wednesday, Pat and I will be venturing from Connecticut for a drive through western Connecticut on US 7, north into Massachusetts and Vermont. I’d like to visit a diner a coworker recommended called the Blue Benn Diner, which is said to have really good “crunchberry pancakes.” That sounds good to me! We might take a bit of a route called the Molly Stark Trail, then after Bennington, head to a favorite vacation spot from my teen years, Lake George, NY. I haven’t been there since the early 80′s, when Gaslight Village was open. I remember the Cavalcade of Cars exhibit was pretty cool, featuring the Munster Koach, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bob Hope’s golf cart, and loads of other famous cars (I think it had some of custom George Barris cars too). I always enjoyed the area, so it’ll be fun to head back there for a day or so.
After that, we’ll meander west toward Cooperstown, NY and take in some of the baseball history there. Then probably cruise US 20 to US 9, and probably a bit on 9J along the Hudson, before going back east to Connecticut. As a side note, I don’t know what kind of bird creature it really looks like, but to Pat and me, the 3 day loop resembles some sort of bird. Even though a buzzard doesn’t have a pointy head, in lieu of anything else, we have dubbed our trip “The Buzzard Route.” LOL
Wednesday I’ll be catching up with friends, and Thursday – Saturday, we’ll venture to southeast Connecticut/Mystic/Rhode Island, then start heading back to Indiana on Saturday.
Other than having a basic route to follow, nothing is planned. Timing, lodging, dining, nothing! I have some notes on things that we might enjoy doing, but otherwise, I’ll simply have my iPhone handy and search for what we want to do on the fly without strict plans in place. I definitely like having a general plan, a little information handy and definitely having Internet access available to help find things when we arrive someplace. But overall, I much prefer to “wing it” rather than be strict and methodical on most of our trips. The irony of that is that I am very organized and methodical in my life and job. If we’re going to do filming locations or really want to see specific things or are in a place where we feel more comfortable with a plan, we will – but just letting things unfold is far more fun and exciting!
For this trip and future ones, I’m planning on posting trip logs and photos faster, hopefully nightly. With my new Sony NEX-6 and iPad Mini, I have a workflow in place that I will be “road testing,” as well as recording the trip using the Trimble Outdoors Navigator iPhone app. As I said earlier, I used the Trimble website plus their My Topo app to plan the route, and the iPhone app will track where we travel, helping me to geotag my photos on my iPad Mini.
So stay tuned!
March 1-3, 2013: Grease is the Word!
4Overview Map
The following map was created using the Trimble Outdoors Navigator app for my iPhone. For an interactive version of the map or to see a closeup of the route, click the “Bigger Map” link.
Prelude
We wanted to get away for the weekend to relax from the strain of several circumstances as of late. Between work, family concerns, household projects, due to lack of time, we haven’t allowed ourselves a road trip for a while and we were long overdue! We just had a few days, so we couldn’t travel too far and we kicked around several possibilities. Looking at the map, I suggested that we continue following the Great River Road, south from St. Louis. We had previously followed it from Minnesota, along Wisconsin and Illinois, as well as some in Illinois north of St. Louis. So, we thought we’d take it south from St. Louis and see if we could reach Memphis and partake in hamburgers from Dyer’s Burgers. We saw Dyer’s featured on the Travel Channel’s show “Food Paradise,” on the “Deep Fried” episode. Dyer’s features hamburgers deep fried in oil, but what makes them unique is the fact that there oil is never completely discarded, only strained and added to. Therefore, Dyer’s claim to fame is that the grease/oil contains 100+- year old grease molecules. Grease is most certainly the word!
Friday, March 1, 2013: Indianapolis, Indiana to Olney, Illinois
We started our journey on Friday afternoon from the east side of Indianapolis, after having a late lunch/early dinner at Edward’s Drive-In. We cruised the Evil-I for a while, and took US 40 west from the west side of Indy. We turned south on US 231. We took a little stretch of the new I-69 until we reached US 50. We took US 50, until we reached Olney, Illinois. We stayed at a mom & pop called the Traveler’s Inn Motel, which had definitely seen better days. The thermostat didn’t work, and it felt like 1000 degrees in there. We opened the door and window for a while, but the relief was short-lived. Pat ended up turning the wall AC on. The room had an odd configuration, there was another door in the room, which I assumed had another door on the other side (adjoining rooms, but that have locked doors between them). But actually, the door only locked on our side! We were a little confused, and assumed that room had to be ours or else anyone could just enter the other room! It was cooler in there too, but we opted to stay in our part in case we were wrong. We went to the other side in the morning, and found that its outside door had no number, so we knew it had to have been our room as well. It had two double beds and a kitchenette. Still, not the best of places, but serviceable.
Saturday, March 2, 2013: Olney, Illinois to Holly Springs, Mississippi
Before heading out early, we luckily had the benefit of early light due to central time. As Olney was the “Home of the Albino Squirrels” we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a peek at one if possible! But first, I needed coffee, so we stopped at a cute little coffee shop in town, called Ophelia’s Cup. Great cup of coffee!! Pat got a hot chocolate, and we were off in search of albino squirrels.
A quick search revealed that the albino squirrels mainly resided in Olney City Park, so off we went. We slowly cruised through the park, and spotted many run of the mill squirrels, but none of the albino variety. We started to think we had a better shot at spotting Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, or a unicorn when we neared the end of the park. Then suddenly I saw, frolicking with the “lesser” squirrels, was a pure white squirrel! My camera was set to a slow shutter speed and I didn’t have my zoom lens on, of course, so this was the best I could do:
We continued our southwesterly trek until we reached the Great River Road in Chester, Illinois. To our surprise and delight, Chester was home to Popeye the Sailor Man! How cool is that? Chester is the hometown of Popeye’s creator, cartoonist E. C. Segar. We came upon a park with some murals and statues, and found that there is a statue trail for the various characters. next to the park was a Popeye store and museum called Spinach Can Collectibles – very cool shop with TONS of Popeye collectibles and memorabilia. We debated about getting our grandson a Popeye doll, but at 2 and totally unfamiliar with the cartoon, I didn’t think he’d appreciate it. Instead, Pat picked up a Popeye magnet and I opted for a DVD of the 1980 movie, “Popeye” starring Robin Williams as Popeye and Shelly Duvall as Olive Oyl. That was a favorite of mine and my dad’s, so I had to get it.
We saw the Olive Oyl statue, then proceeded to head down by the Mississippi River, where the 6 ft. tall bronze statue of Popeye was stationed. Here is Pat posing with Popeye:
We continued down the Great River Road, and could have kept the slower pace we enjoy, but ultimately we decided that we really wanted to have the burgers at Dyer’s in Memphis and we would not make it without unfortunately, taking the Evil-I!
We picked up I-55, and journeyed south toward Memphis, destination: Beale Street. The area was fairly easy to navigate, though we didn’t find any street parking, so we opted to park in a garage close to Beale Street. We made the short walk to Dyer’s Burgers and were entranced with the abundance of cool neon! But first thing was our grease fix. We each ordered single burgers, and I selected French fries with mine while Pat decided on onion rings.
The burgers were pretty good though we have had better, flavor-wise. Being deep fried certainly made them moist and I did enjoy the fries a lot! We decided we had just enough room to split a dessert, a deep fried peanut butter & jelly sandwich (a Smuckers Crustable).
After satisfying our stomachs, we went out to satisfy my need to use my new Sony NEX-6 for some neon photos. Not disappointed at all! I used the HDR feature, which really helped to make the exposure simulate what our eyes see. In HDR mode, the camera brackets 6 exposures and combines them within 10 or seconds, yielding a result that is just spectacular. The camera retains the original photo, as I exposed it and the combined exposure. I deleted all of the original exposures, but I will at some point retain a few and post them for viewing to show the before and after. I thought that the HDR feature would be helpful in cutting down my workflow, and allowing me to get my photos processed and uploaded faster by editing on my iPad Mini if needed. I’m happy that only minimal post processing is needed, the camera does a fabulous job processing. I do have an app called Photogene on my iPad Mini which does well handling any minor edits or cropping I need to do, but is fairly well featured enough to handle more if needed (no substitute for Photoshop of course but it’s still a good app!).
Here is a sample of photos from Beale Street. See the slide show below for all of the photos or click the slide show to go to my Flickr site.
We headed southeast out of Memphis, opting to move on for a place to stay the night. We crossed into Mississippi, and the town of Corinth seemed like a reasonably sized burg, but was an hour or so away, and we were getting pretty tired. The small town of Holly Springs was much closer, and had a few choices, and an EconoLodge that used to be a Hampton Inn had good reviews, so we opted to stay there for the night.
Sunday, March 3, 2013: Holly Springs, Mississippi to Indianapolis, Indiana
The hotel had a decent continental breakfast, so we decided to partake in a little complimentary food before moving on. We headed east on SR 4, and north on SR 5, before picking back up US 72. We continued on US 72 until we crossed into Alabama, then took the Natchez Trace Parkway north to its northern terminus just southeast of Nashville. We stopped at a few scenic locations, one being Fall Hollow Waterfall.
In Nashville, we decided we needed to again take the Evil-I so we could get home at a fairly reasonable hour, so we took I-65 north back to Indy. Our final stop was for dinner at Toot’s restaurant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where first timers receive a complimentary order of fried pickles. We had potato skins as well and I went with the Philly Cheesesteak and Pat ordered a rack of ribs. With yet more grease ingested, we waddled out of there feeling overfull and headed home.
Here is a slideshow of all of my photos from this trip. If you click on the slideshow, it will take you over to my Flickr page where you can also view the photos there.
January 2013: Jingle Rails at the Eiteljorg Museum
0My daughter was interested in going to the Eiteljorg Museum to see the Jingle Rails Exhibit with my grandson, so I thought that might be a fun way to try out the new Sony NEX-6.
This might be an annual exhibit, so if you are in Indianapolis during the Christmas holidays, I highly recommend going!
Here is a slideshow of my photos. If you click on the slideshow, it will take you over to my Flickr page where you can also view the photos there.
My Gadgets: Past and Present
1Most ladies’ shopping addiction is to clothes, jewelry, etc. My addiction is to buying computer stuff, gadgets, electronics, etc.
Here’s the lineup of my gadgets, past and present…
GPS
DeLorme Earthmate BT-20

The first GPS unit I had was actually one I used with my Palm TX (see below). The DeLorme Earthmate BT-20 is a Bluetooth GPS unit that works on any device with Bluetooth capability. My Palm TX had Bluetooth and was capable of running the mobile version of DeLorme Street Atlas. The device worked well in receiving a good GPS signal fast. It would follow the map and show one’s position with speed and accuracy.
What was not so good was basically, everything else! Getting maps onto the device was so cumbersome. One would have to be in the Street Atlas software on the desktop PC and “cut” maps and transfer them to the device. Cutting the maps means to view the maps with gridlines on and select grids and form a map package with them. The problem is, more area = more grids = more data. The transfer was painfully slow and I could only cut small maps at a time. It would have taken forever to get the entire US transferred to my Palm. I was sick for a week and was laid up in bed, so with my mom’s borrowed laptop, I managed to make some progress. But aligning the squares for each map (you can’t overlap, that’s bad) was so frustrating, I gave up. Not only that, but searching for POIs was excruciatingly slow, and if you had the foolishness to even attempt creating a route more than 500 feet long, was impossible for the Palm to calculate. However, this was not the fault of the BT-20 itself. If combined with a laptop running Street Atlas, I am sure the performance would have been fine. You would have all of the maps, and no processing speed problems. My problems were the result of running the mobile version of Street Atlas. I had enough!!
DeLorme PN-40 GPS

The DeLorme PN-40 is my new handheld GPS. With the pathetic performance of the BT-20, I thought about a new GPS, primarily for geocaching, but also for some road navigation, finding points of interest, and “tracking” during a trip, so I could take the “track” file and then geotag the multitude of photos I take during road trips.
A handheld model could fill all of these needs, and I chose the DeLorme PN-40. An added bonus on the PN-40 is the ability to have multiple types of maps (layers) on the device. One can have the map file, topo, USGS, nautical maps, aerial imagery, and custom stuff as well. This GPS comes with DeLorme’s excellent mapping software, Topo 7, but for a $100 upgrade, XMap can be used to import any custom images, maps, satellite photos, etc. I can create a very intricate route, transfer it to the DeLorme, and use it to navigate during my trip.
The cool thing with this device is that I can georeference old maps and transfer them to the device. I can then be out traveling and use the GPS viewing an old map. Why, you ask? This would be very helpful to identify old alignments of US Highways, auto trails, etc. If only I had this when Pat and I assisted Thomas Repp of AMERICAN ROAD magazine with researching an old auto trail in Indiana, the Ben Hur Route.
Garmin Nuvi
Well, even with having the awesome DeLorme GPS, I found that it wasn’t the best for street navigation when I was trying to look for a place “on the fly” and navigate there…fair, but not as responsive as I’d hoped. Wrong turn? Forget it…took too long to recalculate. So, I opted to also procure a Garmin Nuvi 200. Nice little device. It’s a more bare bones model, and doesn’t do multipoint routes (I think I can add one via point), no software to create routes, doesn’t speak street names (but of course, it displays the street name). It’s quite a nice gadget! I still love the capability of the DeLorme to transfer a route that I created on my map software, so there’s good reason to have both devices. Now only if DeLorme could make a street-routing device that functions like the PN-40 (integration with Street Atlas or XMap, waypoints, routes, etc.) but with added features like lightning-fast response for street navigation, spoken turn by turn directions, faster search capability, easier addition of large amounts of points of interest (that would be really sweet!) so I could load POI Factory files in no time, like I can on the Garmin.
MP3 Players
Dell DJ 20
I wasn’t an early adopter by any means, but I did dive into the digital music player realm several years ago, probably in 2005 or so. I had a Dell DJ 20 (2nd generation):
Not a bad music player by any means, I enjoyed it alot. At that time, I could get audio books from the public library’s Overdrive system, which was not yet available for the iPod. Unfortunately, I ended up with issues with its hard drive and it eventually died.
iPod 80GB Classic
I then moved on to Apple’s then-current offering, the iPod 80GB Classic:
I’ve been very happy with it, but was kind enough to offer it to my daughter when her 30GB model started acting up. I didn’t watch videos that much, and while I loved having all my music with me, I really didn’t listen to most at any given time. So I traded it for her Sony 16 GB NWZ-S545.
Sony 16 GB NWZ-S545

The Sony 16 GB NWZ-S545 is a respectable little music player with an FM radio, plays videos (all mine are in iPod format and I don’t currently have the time or inclination to convert them), and of course, music.
PDAs and SmartPhones
I have been a Palm devotee for some time. First…
Palm IIIxe

Then, I moved up to color…
Palm Z22

Lastly, color and high resolution!
Palm TX

I was very initially enthused about the Palm TX, and had high hopes: high resolution color screen, more memory, better processor…and wi-fi! Alas, this device wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Frequent resets, wi-fi was a joke, and the worst part…a faulty battery status indicator. At first, I thought the device had trouble holding a charge (well, I think it does, somewhat…because it does drain faster than one would expect, even when not used for several days!). But the real problem is that at any point, the battery indicator shows a full charge, when in fact, the battery is ready to fully discharge. The solution, was probably just to charge it every day, but that device was getting frustrating. It was time to move on, and perhaps look into a Smartphone or something.
This led me to Smartphones. First up…
Samsung Epix
3G, phone, Internet, wi-fi, organizer, contacts, etc. So far so good. It has its quirks, to be sure…but it’s pretty good the worst smart phone that ever existed.
December 2010: Since my initial writing, I found the Epix to be an epic failure. It failed so often it was ridiculous. I had multiple occasions that I received phone calls and the ringer didn’t ring and I missed the calls. There was one very important call that I was anxiously awaiting medical test results, and the Epix never rang, nor did it indicate I had a missed call or a voice mail. Only when I called the voice mail, it was there…but the phone lacked all three ways of indicating that the call came in, that I missed it, and that the caller left a voice mail. I feel bad for the poor nurse who had to receive my angry call when I thought she never called me back as she promised. D’oh!!
Still under warranty, I moved on…
HTC Fuze (Windows Mobile)

After 3 horrific warranty swaps of my Samsung Epix (I will spare you the gory details), I was offered a choice of replacement phones. After commiserating with other disillusioned Epix owners, many going through the same thing, several of them chose various models, ranging from Pantech, to Blackberry, and HTC. The replacement needed to be in the same general classification as the Epix and many chose the HTC Fuze and were thrilled. I chose it too, and enjoyed it thoroughly! I promptly managed to successfully flash a new custom ROM and that made the phone even better. iPhone killer? No way…of course, I never had an iPhone at this point, but seeing what the iPhone does, and how it functions, I knew it was no iPhone killer. But it was still a good phone, and I cannot say a bad word about HTC phones. I wasn’t crazy about Windows Mobile (though I never really had too many issues with that either). But the anemic supply of apps for Windows Mobile pales in comparison to the iPhone, and probably the Android now as well. They’re also so expensive! There are some inexpensive apps, but most are $4.99 and upwards…but still, I liked the phone.
Gradually, I started getting some crashes and more often, outright freezeups. I became so adept at pulling the battery I could do it with one hand tied behind my back. Perhaps a hard reset and reinstallation would have done the trick, but that seemed like such a nuisance. Windows Mobile doesn’t make the process easy! I was nearing the end of my contract with AT & T, and debated what to do.
I had a deal-breaker though…I had been a die-hard Quicken user since 1997/1998 and adopted Pocket Quicken for my Palm. I need to have my financial data with me at all times (that’s just me, I track my spending very well). Unfortunately, Pocket Quicken is not available for the iPhone, and Intuit even severed ties with Landware, the makers of PocketQuicken. The only Quicken iPhone app available is Mint. Some swear by it, some will never put their financial data in the cloud, others say its more for tracking money spent, not allocating where it goes and tracking it.
Further, Quicken is a desktop product. It synchronizes directly with Pocket Quicken, and no data is ever “in the cloud.” Quicken is also a very powerful product, which can manage alot of financial info, investments, savings goal planning, etc. I cannot speak to Mint’s pros or cons as I don’t use it, but I have read it is not as robust as Quicken and it is not meant to provide the same detailed planning and tracking as Quicken.
Mint was acquired by Intuit when its own cloud app, Quicken online, failed to kill Mint. So, I guess Intuit figured if you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em! Since Mint founder Aaron Patzer created Mint to go up against Quicken, it stands to reason he would inherently dislike Quicken. I admit I’m hesitant to provide my financial info to Intuit, which Mr. Patzer attributes to us cloud-fearing folks as being old and stuck in our ways. At 43, I don’t feel all THAT old, so Aaron better watch out…before he knows it, he’ll be hitting the big 4-0!! He also knocked Quicken users down another peg by saying it’s for “anal retentive types” who want their finances “penny perfect.” I can’t argue with him there, I plead guilty on both counts.
Regardless, or rather, more so than ever, I wanted a different financial software than Quicken. I was tired of Intuit’s forced 3 year upgrades anyway. So, I found a new desktop software called “You Need A Budget.” Wow…great software!! It is actually more simplistic than Quicken, which in my case, is a good thing. For people who track investments, need financial planning tools, etc. I wouldn’t recommend YNAB. I’d recommend looking into the other product I was considering, Moneydance. I haven’t used it or tried it, so I cannot attest to it, but their support forum is active and the folks at Moneydance seem responsive to user’s concerns and suggestions for improvements. I went with YNAB because it did exactly what I needed: as a Dave Ramsey plan follower, I was interested in creating a budget and tracking spending. Simple, and YNAB does it so well! I plan my budget on my computer and can sync it OTA to my iPhone. Oh yeah, that brings me to the convergence of these decisions. I decided to axe Quicken, and upgrade my phone from Windows Mobile. YNAB only has an iPhone app, so that solidified my decision to get one!!
Apple iPhone 3Gs (32GB)
OK, it’s December 2010 and I got an iPhone 3GS, not the iPhone 4. My days of gadget acquisition have slowed down considerably, so I consider purchases carefully at this point. I am on a stricter budget, so rather than get the latest and greatest iPhone (and thus more expensive), I opted for the next newest option, an unblemished, refurbished 3Gs. At $149 (contract price), I was able to get a 32GB model, and get an extended warranty/insurance plan which would provide 2 years of coverage for not only technical failures, but accidents, spills, theft, etc. All for less than a new iPhone 4, though that looks very cool. But I was looking for cool on a budget, and the iPhone 3Gs fits the bill. I am loving it!
Now January 2013, my contract is up, and I am awaiting expiration of my daughter’s and husband’s contracts, so we call switch together from AT & T to Verizon (I need better data coverage while we travel). So in June or so, we’ll all be getting iPhone 5 – which will already be 8 or so months old by then! Till then…
Tablet / e-Reader
I’m combining the headings of tablet / e-reader, since my foray into both realms of these devices is a hybrid: the Kindle Fire.
Kindle Fire

December 2011: Being the gadget hound that I am, I had Kindle envy since the first generation Kindle was released in November 2007. From the first moment, I thought it would be cool to have a color version of the Kindle, and decided that’s what I wanted and wouldn’t get a Kindle until they had them in color. Welcome the Kindle Fire – a cross between a tablet and e-reader.
I had an iPhone and was intrigued of course, with the release of the iPad. I didn’t pay attention until the iPad 2 was released and they were distributed to managers around my office. I still liked the iPhone, but thought the larger iPad would be easier on my eyes and be fun to work with. However, the price range of $499 – $829 was cost prohibitive to me at this time. I still liked the idea of a tablet, and going back to my desire for a Kindle to well, re-kindle my love of reading, I decided to fulfill both desires with the Kindle Fire. I’m an equal opportunity gadget queen – no brand is hated; I’m not going to debate the Kindle vs. the Barnes & Noble Nook vs. the iPad – there’s loads of commentary on that out there. If I’d had the money for an iPad, I would have sprung for that, but I am VERY happy with the Kindle Fire. It does all I want it to do, and I’m enjoying it. I The smaller size to me is a plus, and I have loads of apps from the Amazon Android app store, ranging from games, Internet and social media, to productivity. There’s music, Instant video with my Amazon Prime membership, and magazines through the newsstand. Of course, then there are Kindle books. I always loved reading but space, time, and finance constraints have cut back on that. The Kindle helps in all aspects – save space with e-books! No clutter and no dust collection to flare up my allergies! Finances have been helped too! Kindle books are reasonably priced compared to their paper counterparts, but one can save even more by getting an Amazon Prime membership and using the Kindle Lending Library
I might even consider a Kindle e-ink version for books sometime. I LOVE the color, but it’s backlit and my eyes are 4 years older than they were when the Kindle was first introduced. Color is cool, but backlit screens do strain the eyes. So we’ll see about that.
Kindle Touch

Ok, have I considered the e-ink version! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Kindle Fire; however, I am often in the car on road trips or outdoors when camping, and the glass screen of the Kindle Fire has an intense glare that makes it almost impossible to read. I knew the e-ink was going to work, I’d seen e-ink Kindles before and was totally impressed with the readability. So, I was debating which one to get, it had to be inexpensive, as I am very cost conscious now. It was definitely going to be a model with “Special Offers.” The offers / deals they have on the screen saver, and a small bar on the home page, make the devices $40 less expensive than their ad-free counterparts. One can buy the ad-supported version at a $40 price break, but if unhappy with the ads, just pay Amazon that $40, bringing the device back to its full cost, and the ads go away. I think the $40 price difference is worth it. The ads are not intrusive at all; they are displayed in the form of either a screen saver in sleep mode or else a small bar on the device’s “Home” screen. There are NO ads while reading books!
I went to Best Buy and picked up both the Kindle Touch ($99) and the Kindle ($79) and immediately knew that while turning pages with the buttons on the sides would be fine, the virtual keyboard navigated by use of the 4 way arrows on the Kindle would drive me nuts. If I take notes, I would far prefer the Kindle Touch, so that’s what I got!
Anyway, my aging tired eyes are no longer tired and sore…the combination of the e-ink of the Kindle Touch and my new progressive lenses have greatly improved my eyestrain and fatigue! I read most of the books on the Kindle Touch, but periodically will download some to the Fire if I want. On Wi-Fi, both devices keep in sync with my page location perfectly! I now have an iPad Mini instead of the Kindle Fire, but use the Kindle iOS app to also read Kindle books on the iPad. However, for longer sessions of reading, my old eyes appreciate the e-ink.
Apple iPad Mini
The 1st generation Kindle Fire has served me pretty well in the past year, and enjoyed its low price point and smaller size. As soon as the rumors of an iPad Mini were confirmed, I was intrigued. I read that Steve Jobs had said a 7″ tablet wouldn’t sell, that it was a “tweener” and wouldn’t have a market. I think the success of a Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 have disproven that, and obviously Apple now thinks so with the release of the iPad Mini. The higher capacity versions are still a bit cost prohibitive for my limited budget, so I opted for the WiFi only 16GB version. It has double the storage capacity of my Kindle Fire, and with cloud storage, I have plenty of room for my needs. The coordination between my iPhone has been flawless, and it has already helped me feel excited about photography again, because, well…see my new camera, the Sony NEX-6 below. It will also help me to be able to update my blog posts during road trips because I can pretty much do everything on it that I would do with my laptop.
Cameras
1980′s: I started out in high school with a Nikon EM, an entry level Nikon 35mm SLR, which I have now found was evidently intended to be an easy to use, less intimidating “SLR Camera for Women.” Hilarious! It was actually not a fully manual SLR at all! It was an aperture-priority only camera (huh…so funny in retrospect!!). Rather than being able to manually adjusting both the aperture and shutter, one would only adjust the aperture ring on the lens, allowing the camera to select the correct shutter speed for the correct exposure. But since that was my first and only SLR experience, at the time, I was completely oblivious to this.
Nikon EM

Concurrently with the Nikon EM, I owned a series of point and shoot 35 mm cameras. Though unremarkable and forgettable, there was one that worked very well. Since it was forgettable overall, I don’t remember what kind it was, but it worked well for a point and shoot. It too, disappeared from my life along with the Nikon EM (but that’s another story!).
Several more point and shoots later, in 2003, I decided to go digital. While not really an early adopter of digital cameras, I certainly am never one to shy away from new technology (unless those pesky finances prohibit…). I knew I didn’t want a point and shoot, but I didn’t go with an SLR either at that point. I opted for a camera with manual adjustments, but without interchangeable lenses, and selected the Sony Mavica CD-500. I liked it alot. It used relatively inexpensive media, mini CDs. Exposure modes of Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, and some scene modes. 5 MP. It made decent movie files, too.
Sony Mavica CD500

In hindsight, here’s what I didn’t like: shutter lag. Unbearable. Useless at the Indy 500! For stationary subjects, all was well, but there were some action shots I would have liked to take! Startup: slooooooow…had to be at least 10 seconds. Maximum 1/1000 shutter speed. Aperture range of 2.0 to 8.0. Maximum ISO of 400. Zoom equivalent of 34-102 mm. It was also painfully slow writing data to the mini-CD’s. However, with this said, at first, the camera suited me quite well. It helped me learn about settings, manual adjustments, and so forth. Of course, the greatest benefit to digital is that I could look at my images immediately, and tweak the settings to get the right exposure, depth of field, subject motion, etc. The Sony Mavica CD500 served me quite well for three years. But I outgrew it, and was tiring of the shutter lag and slow performance. So, I opted for a Digital SLR and chose the Nikon D50.
Nikon D50

May 2006: This camera had 6 MP, ISO ranges from 200 – 1600, the same exposure modes (P, M, A, S + scene selections and auto), the shutter speed went up to 1/4000! Instant startup time, no shutter lag and a host of lens selections. I added a Nikon SB-800 Speedlight to my arsenal, along with a Promaster 18-200 mm lens. I liked having one all-around lens for most purposes without having to switch lenses all the time. Using this camera greatly increased my photography skills, and I am pleased with having owned it.
The Nikon D50 served me very well for just over 3 years. Though nothing was wrong with it, and I swore I wouldn’t upgrade yet, the lure of the latest and greatest Nikon, along with an terrific offer I couldn’t refuse, led me to an upgrade. I thought about the Nikon D90, but that wasn’t enough of an upgrade for me at this rate. I pored over Ken Rockwell’s excellent site, reading all of the details about each one. The Nikon D3 was out of my price range, so I opted for the next best thing. Nikon’s very advanced consumer model, second-from-the top, D700.
Nikon D700

Sony NEX-6
December 2012: It might come as a surprise that I decided to switch from the a higher end DSLR like the Nikon D700 to the Sony NEX-6, but I did. Make no mistake…the Nikon D700 is a great camera that has served me well for the past three years. But several factors combined have led to a sharp decrease in my usage and enjoyment of this fine piece of photographic equipment. The considerable size of the camera became a burden for me. I prefer to travel light and simple, and this camera is far from light at 2.5 lbs. – especially when coupled with a 28-300mm zoom lens, a 50mm prime lens, external flash, tripods, etc…also, I enjoy post processing my photos when needed, but lately I have had far less time and no desk space at home to do so. As sad as it is, I found that I was just opting to take more photos with my iPhone because it was small and immediate. My iPhone (as of January 2013) is still the old 3GS model, so I don’t have the benefit of the newer iPhone’s better camera. No slight on Apple (as I’m counting the days until my upgrade to the next iPhone), but even the best phone camera wouldn’t be sufficient for me; I need better controls and flexibility, but in a smaller, lighter package (save for an additional lens or two).
The Sony NEX-6 is a compact camera system, also known as a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. It has many similarities to a DSLR in terms of manual controls, white balance, ISO, and of course, interchangeable lenses. It takes RAW files, in Sony’s format (only downside is I cannot currently process these in PhotoShop, so if I happen to need to do any RAW image editing, I’ll have to convert them to DNG, which is a painless process with Adobe’s RAW file converter).
ISO ranges from 100-25,600 and the size of Sony’s APS-C sensor at 16.7 MP offers minimal noise at higher ISO (better than the NEX-7, which had more pixels resulting in greater noise and offer me no additional benefit as I don’t print billboards!). The sensor is certainly not as good as the D700′s full frame sensor at 12 MP, but all the reviews I read indicated it does better than most of the others. Nikon’s compact system cameras, the J1 and V1, did not get as good reviews as the Sony NEX – and it’s very small sensor did not lend itself to good performance in low light. I didn’t really consider any other camera than Sony or Nikon – not because they weren’t good equipment, but mostly because many of the sensor sizes were a smaller size called Four Thirds, and they also would be subject to more noise and less range. Since one of my favorite subjects is neon, good low light performance is a must!
The Sony NEX-6 also takes 1080p video, and has some advanced features, like face detection, in-camera HDR, panoramic mode, and my favorite – it has WiFi, creating its own network to which I can connect my iPad Mini, edit, and upload photos more easily while traveling without carrying a laptop around. When I get home, I can transfer the photos to my external drives, but the combination of the NEX-6 and my iPad Mini will make taking and sharing photos fun and more immediate. I have not added any trip photos from the past year to my Flickr page or this blog because of that and am excited to try it out on a road trip!
As to the HDR feature, I am very impressed with that as well. Without getting too in-depth regarding HDR or High Dynamic Range, a subject of which I have only cursory knowledge, it basically involves a wider range of exposures in an image. Our eyes can see varying levels of light, things well illuminated and also some things in shadow and our brains process them well. The camera can expose on level light, and can often underexpose shadows and overexpose brighter areas. Even before digital, photographers would bracket exposures, and use darkroom techniques to dodge and burn images to get the perfect exposure. PhotoShop allows us to do that digitally, and RAW files offer unprocessed images to be able to increase levels in shadow and lessen highlights (overexposed). HDR software combines a photographer’s bracketed images to be provide a wide range of exposure, resulting in an image that more closely resembles what we see in real life. Well, the Sony’s HDR feature works REALLY well. I only took a few throwaway shots, didn’t keep them – just mundane street shot – but I can already see how well it works. It’s impressive!!
Now, for a couple of downsides. The battery life and the electronic viewfinder are definitely things I do NOT prefer over the D700 or any DSLR for that matter. My D700 lasted forever without recharging, and I even had a 2nd battery. I will have to get another battery for the Sony or it won’t last on some trips (a car charger is going to be a necessity). The optical viewfinder is a nuisance, it is kind of laggy (but at least it does have a viewfinder instead of just the screen, some others don’t).
Overall, this camera doesn’t have the speed performance of the D700 of course, but I knew that going into this and readily accepted that as a trade-off for the bulky D700 that I knew I didn’t want to carry around, and couldn’t edit photos until I got home and back on my computer (and sitting at a desk because my laptop screen isn’t conducive to photo editing). The Sony NEX-6 does fare better than some of the other compact system cameras because it has phase detection autofocus like its DSLR big brothers, unlike contrast detection autofocus, like the other CSCs. The phase detection makes the autofocus speed faster, especially in low light. For me, the advantages of the Sony definitely outweighed the Nikon – whose weight was my biggest problem.
I bought the kit containing the 16-50mm pancake lens, because anything that is a smaller, lighter profile is appealing to me. I also bought the 18-200mm zoom lens, since I needed a greater range, rather than 55-200. Lastly, I did pick up a prime lens, a 35mm (49mm full-frame equivalent). It’s a 2.8, so not as a fast as my 1.8 50mm Nikkor lens that I used with the D50 and D700, but it was $300 less expensive than the 1.8, so that was what fit into my budget right now. The NEX-6′s reviews on ISO and low light performance were very good, with low noise at high ISO, so maybe the only sacrifice is bokeh.
I have not had the camera long, and my write-ups are not meant to be full-fledged reviews, just overviews of my various gadgets. But at this point, I’m REALLY pleased and excited about my new Sony NEX-6…oh and I guess I have come full circle, because my first digital camera was a Sony Mavica CD-500.
Computers
Like most people, I’ve had a string of computers, commencing in March 1997 with a largely homemade PC (made by my former neighbor and boasting Windows 3.1!). I bought a Dell Inspiron laptop in 1998, and thereafter mostly stuck with the Compaq line of PCs. Compaq has a nice, consumer price-friendly line of reasonably inexpensive PCs. By October 2011, I was ready to relinquish the desktop PC in favor of a laptop. A great deal was had on a Dell Inspiron 14R, in Lotus Pink! I caught a VERY good markdown at Walmart, and combined with my daughter’s associate discount, could not have passed on this deal.
- Intel Core i3-380M processor
2.53GHz, 3MB Cache - 4GB DDR3 system memory
- 14″ screen
Dell Inspiron 14R













































