all my weekend plus camera bag review

there's a mouthful of a post title
 if you follow me on Instagram 
you've likely seen a lot of this weekend
 in little square photos

 you are excused
 from the opening portion
 of this photo filled post

 of course 

then you'd miss the good BIG camera shots

come on back 
for the camera bag review 

moving along



Amtrak'd it to Philly 
Reena met me
we drove to Maryland
 to Kate's 
(if you click here and here you'll see more better pix of the weekend)


we sat outside
 with George 
playing toss the toy 
while we decided where to go for lunch


Bayard House on the water in Chesapeake City



we shared this amazing mango torte


Reena and Kate


took the obligatory shoot one another shot 



we, well actually Kate 
'ran' into this black snake
harmeless 
but you'd have thought it was a cobra
 the way the store owners reacted


we wandered in/out of antique-y shops


leaving Chesapeake City 
we drove to a horse farm 
nearby along 
the shady leafy lanes


 and got to meet these adorable foals


in the evening
 we had dinner with The Professor
at 
in Bryn Mawr


 that's Kate's Viejo Estilo 
you should have heard her order it
she sounded like she was a native Tequilian



Sunday 
we went to 
Chestnut Hill
 after brunch at 
in 
Manayunk


this 
is my favorite photo 
of the weekend
 it was taken by Reena's daughter Alex,



 thank you Alex!



Still with me?

I've been searching for a camera bag since I got my Nikon D90
 I've never wanted a camera bag
 that is an actual camera bag
 nothing 
big 
clunky 
something 
sleek 
stylish 
that would also hold my personal crap 
of which there is a lot 
wallet
metrocard case
iPhone
keys
plus
camera connecter cable
spare battery
kleenex
iPad photo adaptor
iPad photo adaptor cable
iPhone charger and its cable

so you see I needed something 
big 
but 
light

I started out using a tote bag with pockets 
but
 it had no padding
 I worried about bumping into something 
a valid worry for a klutz like me

I bought two Crumpler holster type camera bags 
the first fit the D90 and its kit lens
but 
when I got the 28-300 lens it needed a bigger bag
oy
that worked
 but it didnt hold all those extras
then 
I bought a Marc Jacobs Messenger bag
it was almost perfect
except 
it had no padding 
and 
I shattered an expensive UV filter

back to looking for the perfect bag

I was snooping around Helene's blog 
where I read about
Lowpro's Passport Sling

B&H Photo 
as well as many other outlets sell
 Lowpro 

B&H has a great return policy 
so I bought it there and test drove it this weekend

here's what I discovered

all of this


3 miscellaneous zipper bags of the aforementioned stuff plus
kleenex, wallet, keys, my big lens, my macro lens, and connecter cable

fits nicely in here


there are 3 nice outside pockets
the pocket I put my wallet in can hold a bottle of water


the lens sits inside a nicely padded removeable thing
I am sure there's a real name for it


all in all a good bag at a very good price
I think I'll keep it

but

 have you seen

thanks for wading through all this
I should say no one paid me for this review
no one gave me anything
all these words are mine
seriously
who else is so verboise?