It’s been well over a week since my last post but with good reason. First, and perhaps most amazingly, I spent the entire holiday weekend away from a computer. The in-laws were in town so we spent Saturday and Sunday taking them around to some of the interesting places in the area. We did Harpers Ferry on Saturday, with a brief stopover at Charlestown Races & Slots, dinner at Yellow Brick Bank in Shepherdstown and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Sunday. On Monday, we spent the better part of the day water skiing, drinking and soaking up the sun on a friend’s boat before heading back to their place for some 4-person Wii Mario Kart (which I dominated). Second, I’ve spent the last few days working on all the pictures and video from the aforementioned adventures.
I’d been to Yellow Brick Bank before and from what I remember, the meal was pretty good. We were going to be in the area so I decided to make reservations to check it out again. Since I hadn’t been in years, I wasn’t sure what to expect but the menu was encouraging. Unfortunately, the good really ended there. It was hot inside, 76° to be exact, and I know because we sat right next to the thermostat. The decor, with its obscene colors that could be forgiven, wasn’t exactly high class with dingy, water stained ceilings. Our waitress, who forgot what beers were on tap, was wearing a skirt and Crocs… ‘nough said. The food was actually fairly decent, until the wife lost hers on the way home. We all ate pretty much the same thing all day so it had to be dinner. Evidently the restaurant changed hands about three years ago and local reports say the quality has taken a downturn since then. I’d recommend staying away at this point.
I don’t think anyone needs reviews of Harpers Ferry or the Udvar-Hazy Center so I’ll just link you to my galleries. These mark my first time (yes, first) shooting in RAW and with the help of Lightroom, I’ve been convinced to move to the format exclusively. I just got Lightroom and can already say the program is absolutely spectacular. It doesn’t require that you shoot in RAW, as you can just as easily use JPG input, but I can’t see why you wouldn’t if you have the option. I don’t want to go into too much detail because it’s good enough to deserve its own post. Suffice to say, I’ll probably be buying another memory card to support the larger RAW file sizes on longer vacations/shoots. I’d also like to mention the 18-200mm VR performed very well inside the Udvar-Hazy without flash or tripod. I tossed a bunch of pics out but it’s amazing I got what I did if the Wii Fit is at all accurate measuring my balance.
The last piece of media I can offer is a batch of clips from our water sports efforts. Included in the clip are myself and two friends showing our varying degrees of both ability and success. Two things I’ve realized is that a) I simply suck at it and b) I’m not athletic/light enough to get myself up on skis. With the level of soreness over the last few days as an indicator, I’ve reaffirmed I’m not working all my muscle groups in the gym. The video probably isn’t that entertaining if you’re not watching yourself but here it is nonetheless.
Note the soundtrack has language not safe for work/children.