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Getting Ready and a New Camera!
When are we leaving on our camping trip? That’s what we’re all wondering, you and me both. We were scheduled to leave Tuesday or Wednesday of this week but we’ll be lucky if we leave by Thursday. I’m actually fine with that, as I’m quite used to Toby’s work schedule. I just hope we leave before we are scheduled to come home. I’m kidding…mostly.
The good news is this allows me plenty of time to get ready for this trip. I’ve got a great big list that I add to and check off daily. I won’t lie to you, while I’m very excited to go on a big adventure with my little family, I’m also a bit scared. I’ll just list my fears to save time.
1. Food. I’m the matriarch these days and that means I need to remember that we need to eat three times a day. It’s up to me to make sure hunger doesn’t ruin our fun. We’ll do most of our shopping up north before we head up the mountain but I still need to have a plan. We can’t just go shopping willy nilly and live off twinkies for a week.
2. Water. As in the water in the lake is what I’m afraid of. Not the drinking water, though now that I mention it I should probably worry about that too. We will be next to a lake with a small person who cannot swim for a whole week. I’m having nightmares about her drowning.
3. Bugs. We don’t have a problem with mosquitos here so I am completely unprepared for flying/crawling things that can bite. Hasn’t it recently been proven that Deet causes cancer or something? Should I rub garlic on our skin? Marigold oil? I have no clue. I feel like a city slicker.
4. Shoes. Toby instructed me to buy water-shoes. I nearly went postal today at REI trying to find water sandals in my size. Apparently, the season is over and they sold all the size 7’s over Labor Day. I did find some that fit but they are butt-ugly. I wanted to buy the cute ones but they chafed at the heel. Comfort is more important than vanity when hiking and camping right?
5. Clean clothes. I’m trying desperately not to wear the clothes I want to pack but as the days go by I’m thinking I’m going to have to make another last minute trip to the laundromat. Also what will the weather be like? Warm in the day, cold at night? What does that mean? Pack everything? Ack.
6. What to do about this blog while I’m gone. I haven’t lined up any guest posters. I may have cell phone reception which means I could upload phone photos with a brief description… I could create a little back log of eye-spy posts. I might do that… who knows. I might just hang up a “gone fishin'” sign and call it a week off.
I think that’s about it. Though I’m sure I’ll think of seventy other things to worry about before we leave.
However I meant to write about my new camera! Remember how the waterproof minivan dolt camera died after I took those killer under-water shots? Well, I took it to Ritz and they said they’d fix it or give me a new one is four to six weeks. Six weeks finally rolled around and I got a letter with a gift card saying I could buy another camera because they couldn’t fix it and they no longer carried anything comparable. Usually that would be good news except when I stopped in to check out what they did sell they had nothing good to offer. We are camera snobs in this family and I wasn’t about to settle.
I came home dejected. But then Toby said he’d order me the new Canon waterproof camera and use my gift card to buy something for himself like a CF card or something that he needed anyway. Great plan, I said. Two days later a box from B&H arrived and it was like I got a really cool anniversary present.
So I’ve been testing it. I’m not quite ready to write a full review but it’s cool. It’s definitely idiot proof. It’s slick looking, I think. It sort of reminds me of a tiny submarine, which is appropriate. Best of all it’s survived my purse for the last week (which everyone knows is more treacherous than anything you’d ever find in nature). I think it will work.
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Shooting (photos of) Horses
Yesterday was Take-Your-Daughter-To-Work Day. Or at least it was in our house. I have no idea when that day is for the rest of the country. Toby let us tag along on one of his photo shoots because he’s been taking pictures of a local horse ranch and he thought we’d get a kick of out of seeing some real horses.
Before we left, Toby asked Bug if she’d ever seen a horse before. She has, but it was a long time ago when she wasn’t even a year old, so I doubt she remembers it. But of course she said she had and when Toby asked her how big a horse was she showed him her hand. As if horses were as big as a hand. We finally got it out of her that she had seen horses in books and they were about the size of her hand. When we explained that horses are bigger than me or Toby her eyes got really big.
The first thing we did when we got there was meet the horses and their trainer. I was so nervous about the horses myself that I didn’t actually get a good shot of Bug petting them (stupid low light and bad angles), but she did. She was quite impressed. The trainer was very nice.
A stable hand, named Juan, led the model horses out to the pasture to be photographed. The owner of this ranch is selling his property and Toby thought it might be nice to have a few horses in the foreground of his regal estate.
Then we drove around to the front of the property and Toby climbed up on top of his van to get his shot. Who needs a giant ladder pod when you can climb up on top of your big old Eurovan to get your angle? He does it all the time. I’ve even had to patch up his pants a time or two from some of his stunts. I hope I’m not giving away a trade secret here but I thought you guys might find it interesting. I’d share the shot he took while up there but he’s still processing the images. Instead here’s a shot Bug took:
And one of me, though I’m not so fond of this angle.
It was hot and dusty out there. It’s amazing how going inland a few miles in Southern California means the temperature goes up dramtically. We think we’ve had it bad during this latest heat wave, but it was scorching out in San Juan Capistrano. I could almost feel the moisture being sucked out of my skin.
The horses don’t seem to mind the heat much. They seemed to love it out here. I suppose horses would like to trot along the beach just as much as I do but there’s lots more room for them out here. Miles and miles as far as you can see there are hills and valleys just waiting to be galloped over. We walked around the property a bit and had the pleasure of watching two girls learning how to ride. They galloped and trotted and jumped over gates. It was all very exciting.
Not bad for a day’s work. Then we left and drove straight to Starbucks for the biggest coldest passion iced tea we could buy, and boy did it taste good.
