Day 8 - Williamsport and an affinity to find cheap cameras

Friday July 7, 2017

In case you hadn't noticed, I have acquired a gear-junkie affinity for older film cameras, SLR, Rangefinder, TLR, you name it, if it's cheap, I'm interested. I think we awoke around 10:30 am this morning, which is perfect being that we've been going strong for a week. I welcomed the slow change and the need to actually relax. We hit the local thrift shops after breakfast and on this trip hit our second food destination--Newberry Subs.  Far and away the best sub this year, so that will win our business before we leave.  

A check of local Goodwill stores did not find me anything but cheap plastic Vivitars and a Canon point and shoot, but it was a large slow lens one. I passed.  We hit a couple of estate sales this day too, but nothing good was found. It was a hot Pennsylvania day, and after the trip to the photo store, we went back the house to hang out with our awesome cousin Vicki and her husband Dave--our awesome hosts for this leg of the trip.

I also search for photography stores each leg of our trip and found Hoyers. The kids and Jen waited in the car for me to check out the store and see if there was any Rodinal available. When i asked the owner, his eyes kind of lit up and he asked me if i was from the area. He said he didn't think I was, and we started to talk a little bit about what I did. I told him i was into black and white film photography and was looking for chems since I was out of Xtol and internet businesses don't ship.  He then asked if I used an enlarger or if I'd be interested in one.  I knew these are heavy beasts and take up a lot of space, so I told him we had a little bit of room in the  minivan if it's a smaller one.  Then I asked him how much he wanted for it.  He said he'd GIVE IT TO ME!   I'm going back on Monday to make contact with him and see if it will fit.  I'm really hoping it will, but will understand if it wont.  That's a part of photography I have yet to explore, but would more than likely require building an actual darkroom. I'm up to the task though, I think.  

Later that afternoon Vicki mentioned first night Friday's in the city--similar to a Gallery night in Pensacola, but first we wanted to watch a District Championship game between 2 local little league teams for their chance to go to the series.  My son has suddenly acquired an intense love of baseball and statistics, so we went to the game, which is free. The crowd was amazing.  I don't get this kind of excitement from pro fans or Minor league fans.  It was amazing, especially having seats behind home plate.  Jen, Avery and I left after the second inning (time constraints--postponed due to rain) but GT and Dave hung out to watch the rest. The team I did not think had a chance, ended up pulling out the victory 4-3 in the 6th inning.  Best baseball there is.  I'm actually thinking about coming back in 6 weeks with Garrett if he still shows interest to miss a couple of school days and watch the actual world series, or at least the championship series. 

We went downtown to check out First Friday.  Vicki and her bestie Ann met us on 4th st.  Avery was there for the shopping and Jen and I wanted to try out a new local brewery, Boom City.  Apparently Boom City was bust city as we couldn't get service from anyone, nor did they want our money, so we left after waiting for 15 minutes.  We were all starting to get hungry, so we drove back to Vicki and Daves, then walked a block to another favorite place, the Mountaineer Lounge for some extra crispy chicken wings.  I had the kamikaze and it had me the next day. Love the Mountaineer.