With the first snow of the season behind us and the New Year before us, it is time to begin preparing for our summer road trip. This will be a doozy – a 60 day tour of the Canadian Rockies and Alaska! We have wanted to visit Alaska for some time now and always thought it would be via a cruise ship.  Once we purchased the RV, however, our minds began to wander toward the prospect of investigating the 49^th state on wheels! Since we still consider ourselves newbies to the RV’ing world, we are opting to caravan with Fantasy Tours who take care of the plotting and planning and provide us with the comfort of traveling with guides who have “been there, done that”.

In anticipation of this Alaska adventure, I purchased a telephoto lens for my Nikon D5000 to capture up-close shots of all the wild life we hope to see. Though a bit of an extravagance on my part, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to record the thrill of seeing animals in the wild. I also did not want to need to provide a magnifying glass to my friends and family to convince them that they were looking at a picture of a bear, moose, whale or any other critter we may encounter! I persuaded Art that this was a necessary expense by absolving him of all gift buying for me for the foreseeable future unless, of course, he feels moved to do otherwise!

The beauty I chose was the Nikon 200-500 mm F/5.6E VR. Weighing in at just a little under 5 lbs., this lens means business! Adapting to the heft will be a challenge, but surprisingly I find myself shaking less because of the weight. It is very responsive in its focusing and the few times I have experimented with it I have been very pleased! What do you think?

Over the next few months I plan to become more and more comfortable with this mammoth so that by the time that first bear crosses the Alcan Highway in front of the RV, I will be ready!