The Camera...

Several readers have asked me about the camera I'm using on this trip.  It's a FujiFilm FinePix X100, and for all but a couple of photos it is hand-held.  I used a tripod for some time exposures of tumbling streams, to soften the white water.  The only accessory I use with it is a circular polarizing filter.  Quite a few of the photos are cropped; some have exposure adjustments; other post-processing is minimal.

The X100 by far my favorite camera to travel with, because it is incredibly compact and yet has almost all the features I'm used to with a “real” SLR.  The only thing I miss about my Canon SLR so far is the telephoto lens, which is essential for wildlife photography.  But the convenience of the X100, for me, far outweighs the additional functionality of the Canon.  With the X100, everything I need fits in a small fanny pack, and most of the time I carry the camera all by itself.  With the Canon, I carried around a medium-sized backpack with over 100 pieces of gear, weighing 30 pounds.  When you're a 60 year old geezer with a gimpy knee and way too much body fat, that is not an insignificant difference :)

Day 10: Durango...

We took a day off of offroading today, and instead traveled to Durango, roughly one hour south of our cabin.  We needed a few supplies (groceries and doggie care), and wanted to check out the doggie day care we're going to use a week from today when we join my cousin and his wife for a ride on the Durango-Silverton steam railroad.  We saw the trains several times today, blasting their old-timey sounding whistle and belching evil black smoke in the pristine mountain air :)

The view of Silverton on the way out was quite pretty:

But the main reason for the trip was to visit an art gallery/store in Durango named Sorrel Sky.  Debbie had an objective – to acquire a few pieces of jewelry by the artist Ben Nighthorse.  These earrings are one of the pieces she picked up:

Tomorrow we have a big adventure: from Silverton over the Black Bear Pass, past Bridal Veil Falls into Telluride, then back up over Imogene Pass to Ouray, and back to Silverton.  Most of this will be new to us, including everything on the Telluride (west) side of the mountains...