I need a smaller camera, and here's why

Today, after buying a new pair of sneakers on father's day I went for my first of hopefully many walks in Durango, Co. Like most everybody in these parts, I live on a steep hill. And one should not discount this fact when deciding how far to walk. But that's not the meat of this post.

I need a small camera that I can fit in my gym shorts while going on these walks. That's because I 'met' two people that I would like another chance to meet.

First was the woman riding the Animas river rapids on a small kayak. Now the rapids are not of a high degree of difficulty, but definitely rough enough that I wouldn't try it. And after seeing her up river, I decided to stop and watch her go by. Evidently I was one of the few pedestrians on the trail next to the river to stop and watch. And I could almost read her mind as she noticed that someone was finally watching her display her talent. So just as she got even with me she decided to 'twirl' her paddle to kind of say 'Hi there and thanks for noticing my mad skills!'. Now most of you probably know what a kayak paddle looks like, but for those that don't it's a single paddle with whatever you call the flat ends of a paddle on both ends. And on about the second twirl of the paddle over her head, she dropped the paddle. Now I know everyone's probably heard that old saying 'Up the creek without a paddle'. Well, I think it holds for trying to negotiate a river rapid on a kayak without a paddle. She immediately let out a high pitched 'Oh No!' And then immediately dismounted the kayak into the water to retrieve the paddle. And this was no small feat as she had to simultaneously hang on to the kayak with one hand while reaching and kind of one-arm-dog paddling toward the paddle floating just out of arms reach. Finally she captured the paddle and started trying to get back on the kayak, while all the time floating down the river. And to my amazement, she seemed to maintain eye contact with me through the entire ordeal, almost to say 'I wonder if he saw that?' I wanted to yell out at her that I was still impressed, but I was afraid she might think I was being a smart ass. So I just gave her a thumbs up while she drifted out of sight. I have a feeling that this was a 'meeting' that neither of us will ever forget. And this is when I decided I needed a small camera to carry with me on my walks.

The second 'meeting' occurred near the river at a skate board park on my way back home. I decided to stop and watch the skaters a bit while resting for the trip back up the hill. Now this park is one of the finest I've ever seen. It has an obstacle type course that has some ramps and rails like you see the kids riding on the X games. Then there's what I would describe as a wading type swimming pool (with no water of course), and then what looked to me like a good sized swimming pool about 15 ft. deep. Now there were skaters showing their skills in every section of the park. But the most advanced skaters were located in the deep pool. So I sat near the deep pool to watch 'the masters' take turns dropping in to the pool on their boards. There were only 3 of them brave/talented enough to negotiate the big pool. Now the interesting thing about the next person I 'met' was that he was not only the most talented skater, but he had to be 50 years old if he was a day. I swear to you that he had as much grey hair as I've ever seen, and the youngsters taking turns with the old master were definitely giving him props. I didn't talk to him as he was wearing his ipod and no doubt had it turned up to 11. But the look on the teenagers faces let me know that he was the boss of the boards and when he decided to drop in they would make room. Everyone had a small fall during the 15 minutes I watched, except for the old man. He had a sleeveless tee-shirt on with crossed bones over the shape of an antelopes head. And below this figure was what I decided his nickname is or should be. 'BONES'. Bones wasn't wearing any protective gear, 'cause I figure that would be givin' up his freedom to The Man. I was mesmerized the whole time watching Bones, and I must admit that it made me feel a little bit like I've wasted my life. Not a lot, just a little bit.

Anyway, this is a cool place to live. And I hope all of you get a chance to get here sometime during your life. I can't speak to the winter months, yet. But the summers I can say are just about perfect. And hopefully by the time this one's nearing it's end, I'll be jogging up that hill to my place rather than seriously considering calling a cab. And if I'm lucky I'll get a picture of Bones and the Paddle Twirler to share with all of you.

Later dudes!