Time to return to Seattle

It's hard to believe we've already been here almost a week, but so we have. We've hit multiple 100+ days, and will be more than happy with the 20°F drop in temperature when we get back to Seattle.

Kellen and Josie walking, downtown Long Beach

Why we chose one of the hottest days of the week to wander around Downtown Long Beach is anyone's guess. Then again, the Downtown Farmers Market was a good excuse. There were plenty of fresh produce, as well as hot food stalls and arts and crafts vendors. Fortunately we didn't walk as far as Kellen and Josie did on Tuesday, when they went down to the Aquarium of the Pacific and back to the store.

Fires as seen from Long Beach

There have been many fires in the southland this week due to the dry, hot conditions. We could even see some of the smoke as we were walking around today.

Kellen taking picture

Kellen has naturally been carrying his camera around, looking around for shots. Yes, even taking a picture of texture on a glass divider. He's really excited about photography now, and it reminded me of when I got into photography myself.

Nikomat EL

While the first SLR I used was a Nikomat FTn, the one that I was using when I became passionate about the hobby was the Nikomat EL (those with a good mind for trivia will note that this is a Nikomat since it was purchased in Japan; US cameras were labelled Nikkormat). While the picture shows the camera, the lens I used was different (it had a wider zoom range but was larger). That camera and a pair of lenses went with me to a high school trip to Europe, and it was also the camera I used through most of college. I think Kellen was surprised at how heavy it is, and how few features it has (only aperture priority, no shutter priority). I don't carry an SLR around with me any more (I'm stressing compact size more nowadays, since that way I'm more likely to have the camera with me) but I do miss how well they handle and the quality of the photos.