Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!   I’m here to fill you with a full course of epic pics!   We’ll start off with the appetizer:  the trip to the Bear Mountain ’11 meet in NY!

The most epic car meet I’ve ever been to returns!  I had originally planned to drive my own  Toyota MR2 Turbo to the meet so I could participate in the event, but the pool of oil under the car at the last minute said otherwise.  -___-   Luckily enough, my friend up in Boston had room for me, and a spare MR2 Spyder for me to use!  Got a plane ticket and flew up there at the last minute, then we drove down to NY the day before the meet.

This was also the first outing for my newly acquired Nikon 17-55mm F/2.8 AF-S.  I had actually bought it just in time for the meet.  So close to the meet, in fact, that I had it shipped directly to my friend’s house in NY!  Really didn’t have any time to test the lens out, so I just crossed my fingers and took aim.  The result?  I was completely unprepared for the sharpness, contrast, and color of this lens, coming from my Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8 VC.  The Nikon is on a whole different level, and worth every penny in the price difference between the Tamron.   I can literally use 100% cropped  images shot at F/2.8, and have them still look as sharp as one of my standard web size images, where the Tamron would be rather soft and blurry.

So, back to the meet, we headed out from my friend’s place in Tuxedo, NY early in the morning…

…and arrived at the meet starting point, the Sheraton Mawah Hotel:

After the meet and greet, we started the first leg of the run…

Stay tuned for the main course:
the Bear Mountain ’11
Show and Shine!