April 2018 - Almontage

Hamburgers and History

Posted on April 29, 2018April 29, 2018by Ray MacDonald

Maria’s away in Kingston visiting her mother, so I went out for lunch today in Carleton Place. Dropped in for a burger and root beer.

On the way back I took my favorite country road and decided to stop at the historic St James Anglican Cemetery just north of town. It’s a historic place – British to the core.

Didn’t spend a lot of time there though – it is cold, wet and sleety outside and the cemetery will look and feel a lot better in a couple of months.

Here is a good example of that early 20th-century British pride. This is not a normal grave marker. It’s more of a cenotaph to honor probably the only guy in Carleton Place who fought in the Crimean War.

Thomas Dunn was born in Ireland in 1834. He joined the British Army at age 18 – just in time to go to the Crimea. Mr. Dunn spent three years there and saw a lot of action – but survived. He came to Canada in 1856 and joined the Royal Canadian Rifles. He was still in the British Army (Canada was a colony and the R.C.R. would only accept 15-year British veterans into the ranks. He probably participated in defending against the Fenian raids after the Civil War.

When the Rifles disbanded in 1870, Mr. Dunn moved to Carleton Place where he and his wife Bridget raised their family. By the time he died in 1908, he was so well respected that the citizens of Carleton place raised the money for this memorial.

This is Mr. Dunn’s actual gravestone with his wife’s inscription on the other side. A little bit of local history to go with my burger today.

Family Hobbies Life Experience Technology

Camera Detective

Posted on April 27, 2018April 27, 2018by Ray MacDonald

My grandma’s family album contains many photos such as this one of the younger folks in 1917.

A lot of the pictures are quite large and are obviously enlargements of the original camera negative.

The camera which took these photos was a very good one for the time, and I believe it must have belonged to my grandmother’s Uncle Weston – a dentist and nutritional scientist. But what sort of camera was it? Let’s play detective.

There are a couple of things we can infer from the start:

Judging from the how it was put to use, this was a compact camera for the time. Most of the pictures are snapshots taken at either the ancestral farm in Camden or at Uncle Weston’s rustic lodge near Bon Echo, on Mazinaw Lake.
There is overwhelming probability it was a Kodak camera. Kodak was the dominant domestic and international brand in the early 20th century. The Germans were making and selling optical parts but they hadn’t really begun to sell cameras in the US. The Japanese hadn’t even got started yet, except in lenses.
There are some photos in grandma’s album dating from ca. 1910 which are smaller – about the size of a print straight from the negative. These are 6 X 11 cm (2.5 X 4.25 inches) That corresponds to prints made from Kodak 116 film. Kodak camera model 1A used type 116.
This was a Kodak Special model. George Eastman believed in selling cheap hardware and making his money on renewables (sort of like the modern computer printer manufacturer.) But he did have a line of expensive cameras called Special. These had the latest materials like aluminum and Bakelite to reduce weight. They also featured imported shutters and Zeiss designed lenses made under license by Bausch and Lomb in Rochester.
The lenses corrected for astigmatism much as today’s eyeglasses do and gave a sharper image, allowing more light to enter the camera. A Special camera cost upwards of $50 in 1910 or close to $1500 in today’s money. Only someone as successful as Weston Price could afford one.

So based on the above I would guess that Uncle Weston had a Kodak Special 1A folding camera. It took pictures like this:

Even with the expensive hardware, it wasn’t easy to be a 1910 photographer. In spite of the advanced lens design, a Zeiss Anastigmat f/6.3 was a slow optic and combined with slow black and white roll film needed a lot of light for best results. There was no flash, the shutter speeds were quite long – the fastest speed was 1/100 sec. You could use a tripod indoors and take longer exposures I suppose. Or possibly stand the camera on a table.

There was a rudimentary rangefinder but all that did was show you what you could get in the picture. You had to set the aperture and shutter speed based on a rough ambient lighting estimate – no light meter. The focus was done by moving the lens assembly back and forth on the rails according to a distance scale. Then you cocked the shutter with one lever and released it with another. After that, you cranked ahead to the next exposure. You got 8 images on a film roll. Hopefully, they turned out. Some obviously did.

Whether Uncle Weston had the same camera from 1909 until 1920 is unknown. His pictures got clearer and brighter as time went on – but that could have been because of improved film technology as much as from improved optics. Kodak didn’t change the basic folding camera design until the 1930s – although they did introduce another 1A “Autographic” Special model in 1914. Maybe Uncle Weston just got more experienced as a photographer.

I find these images remarkable – for their quality, the effort that went into making them, their longevity, and the way the bring my long dead Victorian aunts back to their youth.

I wonder if Uncle Weston would ever have dreamt that 100 years after he took these photos a future descendant would treasure them and try to figure out what equipment he used to make them. Ah, probably not. Life in 1910 was lived one day at a time – just as it is today.

Life Experience

Is It Spring Finally?

Posted on April 23, 2018by Ray MacDonald

It’s been a month on the calendar, the trees haven’t got their leaves yet but today was the first real sign of spring in Almonte. It’s been a long time coming but I think it’s here. I felt so confident I got the winter tires off the Jeep today.

The spring run-off is in full swing, over the new weir for the Enerdu power station.

And the powerhouse is virtually complete.

Water flows over the rebuilt dam at the old Thoburn textile mill.

While the former water turbine at the mill sits idly by in retirement.

The kids are out enjoying the fine weather.

Another sure sign of spring – cleaning up the patio at the pub.

The main falls are roaring with the spring freshet.

While Almonte’s main power station gets all the water it needs – and then some.

The historic “Black Watch” sign gleams in the spring sunshine.

No more trains will cross this bridge after 150 years but it’ll be part of the new rail trail.

The Riverwalk is as inviting as ever.

And this old water pump that used to be part of the Thoburn Mill fire system is just taking it easy now. A perfect thing to do on such a fine spring day in Almonte.

Family Hobbies Life Experience Technology Travel

Image or Experience?

Posted on April 23, 2018by Ray MacDonald

When I started out in photography and for many years after I just had one camera at a time. First I had a cruddy old 127 roll film compact, then a 35 mm rangefinder, and finally a Nikon film SLR. During this time I was obviously shooting film of some sort and didn’t travel all that much – especially by air. So there wasn’t a decision to be made about which camera to take along.

As time went by, my SLR kit got bigger and heavier to the point where I was toting along a camera body, 4 lenses and a flash in a good sized bag. It was getting ridiculous. Aside from the heavy kit, there was also the risk of theft in vacation destinations. Also, the airlines were getting skimpier about the amount of baggage you could carry on.

Well, I went digital finally. And aside from the fact that I didn’t need film any longer, I got the choice of the type of camera to bring along. I still have a DSLR and a bunch of lenses. But I also have a nice little travel camera. A lot of folks don’t bother with either and just use a smartphone.

It comes down to the choice of concentration – image or experience. On a vacation, the emphasis is on experience. You don’t want to mess that up by hauling a heavy kit around, worrying about somebody stealing it or getting it ruined by salt water and sand.

On the other hand, when you are asked to take photos of a child’s once in a lifetime event, you want to concentrate on the image.

I am pretty sure my great-great uncle concentrated on the image at my mother’s baptism 100 years ago.

So I did the same 100 years later.

The photographer isn’t having the experience here. The child is. So the photographer should concentrate on the image and do the best possible to get that right.

In my case, that means bringing the Nikon and its lenses plus a big flash. Might not need all the lenses but you never know. The flash comes in handy for family photos – it eliminates red-eye and shadows.

These are snapshots, not posed portraits but I still wanted to concentrate on the images as best I could.

There were about 30 people taking photos at the church after the First Communion. Of those, I was probably the only one with a big DSLR. Everybody else used smartphones. Maria thought I was nuts to bring all that equipment. But I hope 100 years from now somebody will appreciate the fact that I concentrated on the image.

Economics Family Life Experience Technology

More Gyrations with Mr. Rogers

Posted on April 14, 2018by Ray MacDonald

No, not that Mr. Rogers – I mean Rogers Communications. That’s Ted Rogers, not Fred Rogers.

Cable TV and satellite providers in Canada keep moaning about the fact that customers are thinking of cutting the cord. Do they ever think that their own stupid policies may influence that decision? Probably not.

Here is a typical Cable TV customer scenario:

You sign up for a package of channels you like, along with an Internet package.
After a year your package expires. The provider never lets you know in advance that this will happen.
Your bill suddenly goes up. This is your first clue that things have changed.
You contact the provider, only to be told your package is now obsolete. You can’t get a discount any longer.
Provider offers you a new package which isn’t the same as your old one. Thanks to regulatory changes in the industry you now have to mix and match channels to get what you want.
At the end of the day, you get back what you had – but it’ll cost you. You get a faster Internet package but since most of your devices connect via wifi you won’t see any change in speed.
Get ready to do this all over again next April.

Add to this the fact that you’ll waste an hour or so sitting in a chat queue, or on hold when you make a phone call to Rogers.

All the fol de rol about the CRTC changes benefiting the customer are just that – nonsense.

Cutting the cord isn’t really an option either, at least not where we live in Canada. We don’t get Hulu or any streaming service that gives us over the air TV channels. We have Netflix but it is a shadow of its US operation. Why? Ask our regulators and Cable companies. They want to stifle competition.

As if we have competition now. My choice in Almonte is cable or satellite. I don’t want a satellite dish hanging off my roof, thank you. Besides the satellite provider offers old-fashioned phone service and pokey Internet.

The good news is that things seem OK now. The bad news is I’ll be back at this in a year’s time. Argh!

Economics Family Hobbies Life Experience

That’s the Bag I’m In

Posted on April 11, 2018by Ray MacDonald

There’s an old saying that a woman can’t have enough handbags and a (usually male) photographer can’t have enough camera bags.

I suppose that’s true in the case of the photog anyway. I mean, I have 6 in my closet – 7 if you count the ancient canvas bag I used with my Nikon FE 30 years ago. I have used them all off and on, and I still have some use for every one.

Just like the travel camera, there is no perfect camera bag. There are different styles, depending on the maker and the way the photographer uses it. Photographers make the wrong choices too. Tell me about it.

When I got my first Nikon autofocus system back in 2002, I had the camera, two zoom lenses and a flash to carry. My old canvas bag wouldn’t work and besides, it gave limited protection to my shiny new stuff. I also had the plan to pick up a couple more lenses someday, so I wanted a bag I could grow into.

So I settled on the above bag – Lowepro Nova 3. Lowepro was the most common bag you’d find in camera stores back then – good value, pretty well made, lots of padding. It was a big bag, but nowhere near the largest Lowepro made.

I took this bag with my camera equipment on a number of overseas holidays, and it was soon apparent that it did not travel well. Back then they didn’t quibble about carry on bags or checked baggage but even so, this camera bag took up a lot of room under the seat. It was bulky to carry around as well, and it was obvious that it was a camera bag holding decent equipment – a security risk. It was heavy on the shoulder too – a day of carrying it around Brussels was not fun.

This bag is still in use though. All the things that make it a bear for travel are perfect for home storage. Right now I keep my complete mothballed film system in there; if I want to use my great manual focus Nikon glass on my DSLR I know where to find it.

I decided to try something else. I got a good deal on a Lowepro Orion waist bag. This is a fairly large kidney shaped bag that hugs your hip and has a waist strap to take some of the weight off your shoulder. I liked this bag a lot for comfort, and it wasn’t bad to get your camera in and out. The problem was that the Orion was not really suited to my style of urban photography. It was great for hiking in the boonies but I felt like a doofus in the city with the waist strap and shoulder strap. It was sort of like wearing a belt and suspenders – plus you were always fiddling with the camera bag instead of your camera.

I use this bag for additional storage; it holds obsolete flashes, digital and film cameras and other assorted gear. It doesn’t get out much.

Now for some bags I actually use when shooting pictures.

The third time was the charm when it came to my SLR and DSLR systems. I got a bag from a different maker this time. It is a Tamrac Velocity 3 messenger bag. This is a shoulder bag that is less bulky, still gives good protection, and does not look like a camera bag. It took my film SLR and 4 lenses to the Baltics. I use it now for a digital SLR and 3 zoom lenses. The Velocity 3 does not have a really comfortable shoulder strap, and you cannot change it, but I manage. I’m not really carrying the whole system around all day.

I don’t do air travel with a DSLR, so this one gets taken by car to mostly family events, or to spots where I want to take wide-angle photos.

In addition to this Velocity 3, I have a Lowepro TLZ-1 holster bag which is good for a DSLR and just one lens. I used this bag a lot with a Fuji fixed lens “bridge camera” a few years ago, but the DSLR system has replaced that. This bag gets used from time to time but not as much as it once did. My son in law has the same bag with hios Fuji and uses it all the time. A good bag for sure.

Back when I got started with digital, I had a Nikon Coolpix 5000 and a small flash. I got a Lowepro D-Res 420 AW small shoulder bag to carry it around. Although I have retired the Coolpix, I still use this bag to carry batteries, chargers and voltage adapters when I go traveling on airplanes. It fits nicely in a backpack and holds all the little things that would rattle around at the bottom and get lost. Handy but not a camera bag anymore.

Finally my go-to travel camera – Lumix ZS50 – goes in a tiny Lowepro Tahoe 25 II case. This is strictly hand carried – no strap at all.

So right now I have 6-7 bags, use 2 for cameras and the rest mostly gather dust in the closet. I don’t think I’ll be getting any more for a while – I’ll need to cull some stuff in the closet first.

Live and learn. Oh yes – anyone want a tripod? That’s in the closet too.

Life Experience

The End of the Beginning

Posted on April 8, 2018by Ray MacDonald

This is the third and final blog post about digital photography in 2018 – at least as I see it.

Consumer film photography was in its heyday for 100 years. The age of the consumer digital camera has now been around about 30 years. It’s fair to say that the film camera is at an end for most practical purposes. How about the digital camera? Is this the end, or – as Churchill might say – is this the end of the beginning?

The lovely Samsung NX-1 pictured above is no more – and it was the finest mirrorless camera on the market when it was introduced. In fact, Samsung – profitable maker of smartphones, tablets, DVD players, TVs, washing machines, and refrigerators – has decided to get out of the camera market entirely. Their market was destroyed by the smartphone.

Now I cannot deny that smartphone cameras have made huge strides in image quality. For the average user, smartphone snapshots are just fine. A smartphone gets smoked by a digital camera when it comes to sensor size, optical zoom, and creative settings but if you are the average person walking around with a phone on a selfie stick, do you care?

Here is one of my favorite photos from the recent cruise we took. I was happy to have my travel zoom along when we returned to the ship from Willemstad, Curacao. Yet I must admit this one could have been adequately photographed by a smartphone. A good one would go wide enough, be fast enough, and have enough pixels to capture the pounding surf and the cruise liner.

This one not so much. You needed the travel zoom’s telephoto capability to catch the Montjuic Castle in the morning sunlight.

A smartphone couldn’t do this either. This one has a DSLR’s capability and an ultrawide lens that isn’t available on a smartphone..yet.

Not to brag, but the average guy walking around with a selfie stick would not have my experience as a photographer. It takes a bit of skill to spot the right point to take an image, plus see things in the right light. You may have to get down and dirty with the rocks in the foreground as well.

A camera does not make a photographer, but I believe that the fact that you do have a good picture appliance along gives you a bit extra motivation to get things right. Plus I enjoy using a really nice piece of optical kit. In my case, a smartphone would not be replacing an el cheapo $100 digicam.

As I see it, it’s far too early to write the last chapter in the digital camera story. “Real” cameras are going to become niche items, maybe even luxury items. The vast majority of future images will be made and shared by smartphones. But just as film and film cameras have never truly gone away, I don’t expect that specialized digital cameras will either. At least they won’t as long as mossbacks like me are around to buy them.

Family Hobbies Life Experience Technology Travel

Have Camera…Will Travel II

Posted on April 5, 2018December 30, 2018by Ray MacDonald

I was a late bloomer when it came to travel – I didn’t have my first plane ride until my early 20s and I never left North America until my mid-30s. Nevertheless, I have been going somewhere and seeing things for close to 50 years – even if it meant taking a simple car trip.

During most of that activity I had a camera along, and after all this time I have learned the two basic rules of travel photography:

The perfect travel camera does not exist.
If the perfect travel camera did exist, you would not be able to afford it.

Knowledge of these rules has not stopped me from taking photos – with various degrees of success and frustration. I thought I might write a bit about the cameras I’ve taken along over the years and how I made out with them. Here goes.

1970-1982 Yashica 35 mm rangefinder

I got this camera in Cobourg once I had saved enough money to buy something frivolous. It was a very simple automatic exposure device with 3 basic settings – sunny, cloudy and indoors. Oh, it also had some sort of flash setting although I had to buy the flash separately. No pop-up flash back then.

The Yashica was never that reliable about focus so I got a lot of duds. In good light and at infinite focus it did OK. (See picture above – Zermatt 1981.) Most of my photography back then was with color slides so I have a bunch I scanned over the years.

Flash shooting was an adventure in failure mostly. Flash sync was unheard of, the camera didn’t allow for any sort of manual control and I didn’t know much about the subject anyway. I’m amazed that anything turned out well.

My trip to Europe convinced me I needed better equipment. But what to get?

1983-2002 Nikon FE 35 mm SLR

Well, it came down to a choice between Canon and Nikon. I knew I wanted an SLR. I was leaning towards Canon, but a work colleague offered me a gently used Nikon FE.

This excellent camera revolutionized my photographic experience. I acquired a number of lenses for it – sadly I could not afford the real thing, so I got Vivitar zooms and a Kiron 28 mm to go with the Nikon 50 mm kit lens that came with the camera. At the end of the day I could go from 28 mm to 205 mm.

Everything except exposure was manual on the FE. I had to load film and crank the advance lever. Focusing was manual although Nikon gave you lots of help in the viewfinder. I never lost a photo because of bad focus – at least not for years.

This camera documented all our March break trips to Texas, Arizona and London in the 80s and 90s. By now I was shooting color print film so I have dozens of photo albums in my basement.

Back then the film was slow, and so were my cheapo lenses – so my best results still came in good light. Taking photos indoors without a flash never worked for me. I have some really horrible stuff from inside the Pantheon in Paris ca 2001.

I would probably have used the FE until the end of the film era except my eyesight began to fail in the 1990s. By 2000 I could not reliably focus the camera. What to do?

2002-2006 Nikon F80 35mm SLR

This might have been an opportune time to switch to Canon or Pentax but once a Nikonian always a Nikonian I guess. My F80 was and is a lovely camera – it was fully autofocus. I was still an analog man at this point since the early digital SLRs had some issues with resolution, sensor size and dust. It was the golden age of film – both Kodak and Fuji had excellent ISO 400 color print film and 1-hour photo labs were everywhere. Flash photography was a snap with Nikon’s automatic flashes.

I got some used Nikon prime lenses to go with my kit zooms and was all set. A fine set of glass, ability to take photos from 24 mm to 300 mm. I expected to go on for years with this kit. But it didn’t happen.

Three things changed my way of thinking about photography and travel:

The digital era arrived in spades and computer technology was able to support the large number of digital images I could make.
We changed our way of travel. Instead of going somewhere and staying for a week, we started to take cruise holidays. That meant I was schlepping a bunch of camera equipment off and on the ship every day. I needed to take a lot of film, and I worried about all the X-ray equipment.
This stuff was heavy. In 2006 I took a camera, flash, and four lenses to the Baltics. I had 20 rolls of film and needed to buy more. After this cruise, I decided that my goal should be to experience the cruise ports rather than photograph them for National Geographic. It was time to go digital. A wonderful film system was stored away.

2007-2011 The Fuji Finepix Era

I had experimented with digital cameras in the meantime but up until 2007 I had never replaced my film SLR as a travel camera. I just found digital so unsatisfying and toylike when it came to images.

That changed when I got my Fuji Finepix S6000fd. It was a fine picture taker.

Mind you I took it some places where it was difficult to take a bad photo.

It was ironic that after all the years of shooting Fujifilm with Nikon that I went with a Fuji camera, but the S6000fd ticked a lot of boxes at the time. It was large and resembled an SLR – so it had a familiar look and feel. Its 28-300 35mm equivalent lens gave me adequate coverage. Its images had a nice Fuji appearance. And no dust on the sensor – bonus!

However, there is no perfect travel camera. The Fuji bridge unit had a wimpy electronic viewfinder, was a bit on the slow side, and its LCD screen was washed out in bright sunlight.

After a while, I got tired of its bulk and added to my travel camera collection a Fuji Finepix F480. This little camera took excellent images but was slow and frustrating to use – sort of a replay of my 1970s Yashica.

Got some nice photos with it though, if the lighting was right.

However this combination of big and bulky and small and sluggish wasn’t the answer. Time to change travel partners again.

2012-2016 Canon S90

Now we’re talkin’! In 10 years I went from 20 lb. of travel gear to a little box the size of a deck of cards. And it did this!

The S90 was a big upgrade from my previous travel cams. It had a nice sensor size for a small camera. It had a Canon lens. It was reasonably good in low light.

This little gem accompanied me on numerous Transatlantic cruises, to the Caribbean, and was my sole photographic tool for a cruise of a lifetime across the Pacific.

I’d probably still be using it except for one thing. It had a limited telephoto range and I missed that for photos at sea.

Oh sure, it was fine if the ship got close enough, but otherwise…

Well, I didn’t retire the S90 – my son-in-law has it now, and it was still clicking away on the last cruise with us. But there was one more thing I needed – decent telephoto.

2016 – Present Panasonic Lumix ZS50

No travel camera is perfect – but this one will have to do for a while. It’s lightweight, has a Leica lens and can go wide or insanely telephoto. I don’t have to worry about some nimrod trying to steal it – it looks like your typical $100 point and shoot. It still gives me some grief in low light (damn!) but I don’t think any small camera could give me as much bang for my buck as this Lumix.

It’s been across the Atlantic and down to the Caribbean and I’ve been happy to have it along.

It handles the ship traffic too. Not perfect, but hey…

So to sum up, I started out with a camera that frustrated my skill as a photographer. I now have equipment that probably gets frustrated by my lack of skill. I went from large and heavy and film based to tiny digital works of art. It’s been quite a ride, and I still have camera..will travel (for better or worse.)

Life Experience

Paleo Photography

Posted on April 3, 2018by Ray MacDonald

First the good news: there is an unprecedented interest in photography right now. More digital photos are being taken and shared on the Internet than ever before.

Now the bad news: the camera makers have never had such tough times. The consumer camera market has virtually disappeared – sales are down about 80% from the peak in 2012. About the only things that are selling are DSLRs or mirrorless cameras with interchangeable lenses.

Canon is concentrating on its health science and printing business. Nikon is shrinking in size, hoping to increase profitability while its Coolpix sales go away.

The reason for this dichotomy is the smartphone of course. Smartphone cameras have steadily improved to the point where they are good enough for most snapshots – and in fact, sharing photos on two of the most popular sites is difficult if you don’t use a smartphone app.

If your workflow is like mine – use a “real” camera, remove the SD card and upload to a PC with a card reader, touch up the photos with some sort of photo studio program, share on a blog – then you are so 2005 it isn’t funny.

Just as the SLR replaced the vintage 30s and 40s twin lens reflex Rolleis above, the smartphone camera has taken over the once massive fixed lens digital market. This was quite noticeable to me on our recent holiday. The ship’s photography area used to have a large and varied selection of point and shoot cameras for sale. Now they have maybe 3-4 modestly featured units. I noticed that the ship’s pros were still using Nikons, and there were a few enthusiasts carting around heavyweight Canons (they must have driven to the port.) But I was one of the very few who had a “travel camera.” Another guy from the stone age, apparently.

When I came home, I noticed that our local Walmart’s camera section has disappeared from the store. Not even DSLRs are being sold there anymore.

So you tell me. How would I get an image like this with a smartphone? How could I go wide enough, have a lens that is sharp enough, a camera sensitive enough, with a shutter fast enough to catch the pounding surf at just the right point? I admit that I was lucky to be there at the right time, and it isn’t all just equipment – but give me a break.

My travel camera is small and lightweight but it has a Leica branded lens, can go from wide angle to ridiculous telephoto, works in just about any lighting. It’s capable of manual control or totally automatic operation. There has to be a market for a camera like that.

And what about the really great cameras like my Nikon D5500?

Will I not be able to take something like this –

or this – in the future?

Well yes, I will as long as my current stuff keeps working. My uncle continued to use his ancient Kodak rangefinder long after the average photographer would have replaced it with a new Canon AE-1. He got the same great images.

But I wonder if the future of photography will ever be reconciled with its past. I have a wonderful Nikon film SLR and a good collection of glass to go with it. I’m keeping it for my grandson. Maybe he’ll like to try out film photography when he hits his teens. But I fear he will not. Maybe he’ll just be happy with his smartphone.

Life Experience

Chilling Out

Posted on April 3, 2018by Ray MacDonald

This was the first time in 14 years that we traveled during the Ontario March school break, and our cruise ended on the day that all the students would be coming home from vacation. The airport in Ottawa would be jammed and prices for flights were very expensive. We elected to extend our holiday a couple more days and come home on Tuesday instead of Sunday.

We were disembarked without incident, customs and immigration was a breeze and we soon found ourselves back at the old familiar Holiday Inn. Of course, we could not check in but we were able to store our luggage. We headed off to explore the Biscayne Ave area.

Didn’t expect these guys in downtown Miami but there ya go.

There was a big concert planned in the seaside park so the kids’ favorite playground was off limits. Very disappointing.

Sarah and Maria discovered a Marshall’s nearby and immediately went into shopping mode. Dave and the kids were not as enthusiastic. Everybody was hot, tired and hungry. The Marshall’s was crowded with ships’ crew on turnaround day. We escaped to a burger joint.

Back at the hotel, we crashed until we were able to check in.

Our ship was ready to go on the next cruise. After a bit more shopping we called it a day. The kids had a McDonald’s picnic in our room that evening.

Next day we were up bright and early. Sarah, Dave and kids went to the science museum and aquarium. Maria and I opted for a bus tour.

We took the city tour first. Got a spot up top where it was breezy but cooler. Watch out for those palm branches though!

Coconut Grove.

Little Havana. We remembered this spot.

We headed downtown and back to the hotel area. Then we took the second tour which went to Miami Beach.

We went over to the port to pick up a few cruise passengers who were in for the day.

On our way to the Beach.

Miami Beach has some very interesting buildings ranging from the art deco 1920s to the 1950s. Before 1955 there was no air conditioning – so the “better” places had eyebrow shades over the windows to keep the sun off. A good way to spot the older stuff.

Some real beauties around 11th St.

The taller 1950s buildings are very impressive as well.

Even the newer stuff has that South Beach vibe.

It was nice and cool along the water – if the bus was moving.

A look back at the Beach.

On our way back downtown.

Back on Biscayne, we went to visit the J. F. Kennedy Memorial.

We wrapped up our holiday at the Bayside Mall. Can’t miss the Disney Store, now can we?

The next day we were up at 3:45 AM and our of Miami by 06:30. We arrived safely back in Almonte by 3 PM, picked up Mr. Oates and got back to a normal life. It was a great vacation and I’ve enjoyed sharing it here.