My recommendation is don't skimp on a tripod. I've purchased 4 or 5 tripods that are small, lightweight, etc. over the years. Sadly none of these smaller cost-effective tripods really do the job well. About five or six years ago I stepped up and purchase a carbon fiber tripod. This was the best decision I've made in purchasing a tripod. It's lightweight and collapses to a nice compact size and has worked well for me since the purchase. It was first used with my D90 with an 18-105 lens and now with my D750 with all my lenses including my 200-500 lens. I believe this tripod will outlast my D750 and work well for my next new camera when that occurs. Save yourself some time and money and get a good tripod. You'll thank yourself in the long run. Good luck with your choice.
Lane

We've gone to Hawaii (Maui) every year for the last 12 or so years. I've decided not to take my 200-500 lens unless I know I'll be there during whale season. I've had some success taking photos from my room balcony of whales. Sadly at the time I didn't own the long lens to so photos are just so-so in my humble opinion. So unless I know it's whale season it is just to heavy to schlep, however, I have a carbon fiber tripod I put in my packed luggage and take it with me every year. Mine has the ability to unscrew one of the legs and make it a mono-pod if needed. I've started to leave heavy stuff at home and enjoying the relaxation and beauty of the islands. Sight seeing on the islands is different than going out shooting at the park, in the mountains or any other venue. We do lots of walking so keeping things light, is a must, especially as I age the equipment seems to be getting heavier. I notice many on this site are trading up, down, sideways, whatever to mirrorless cameras due to weight. By the way, I pretty much only use the tripod for night shooting. So I'm usually not carrying tripod around during the day. However, if I'm going on a road sight seeing trip, I'll take the tripod because I can keep it in a locked truck of the car. Good luck with your choices and have fun. Enjoy the views and the memories.
Lane

I've been using a Microsoft Surface Pro for about 2.5 years as my travel computer and a sit on the couch while watching TV to catch up on email or play a few games on the computer when not vacationing. I purchased it with a "pen" and a mouse. I'm not here to tell you this will replace a Wacom Tablet, but I do use some of the tools within Photoshop with the Pen that I purchased with my Surface Pro, i.e. spot healing, selection tool, a paint brush to name a few. I'm sure since two new generation of Surface Pro have come out since I purchased mine, that the new ones that are out today do lots more then what mine is capable. Not only can you use it as a slim down version of a Wacom tablet, you can run the full versions of Photoshop/Lightroom. It is a fully functional very light weight laptop..i.e. all Microsoft products (word, excel, power point) plus internet capabilities, Skype, Facebook and so on. It has a decent battery life as well. I'm sure by now you can probably purchase it with built in cell service. That function wasn't available when I purchase mine. Rarely do I use the Surface Pro where Wi-Fi isn't available to me so that hasn't been an issue for me...if it is an issue, I just turn my mobile phone into a "Hot Spot", especially if I don't trust the Wi-Fi. I purchased mine with 16 gig memory and 500 SSD drive. It's pretty fast and love the weight while traveling. I can't remember exactly, but somewhere around 2 lbs. Good luck with your selection.

Are the computers networked with shared drives? If so, just copy and paste over the network and when you are satisfied they are all on you desktop you can delete them or use the laptop as a backup. If the photos are too large for one flash drive you'll have to copy them in groups. As a side note, Costco has a 5T portable drive for $89. I just picked one up to use as a backup to the backup. In addition, I shoot most of my photos of events in the community where I live, so when I travel I can take all of my photos with me if I need to use them while on the road. I support our monthly magazine with photo layouts for some of the articles and two page layouts of events here where I live.... so I need access to them more frequently than the average person. Good luck...feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Absolutely only one answer...those granddaughters know how to wrap grandpa around their finger....great photos from a non wedding photographer :)
She'll be please with what you shot. Oh and by the way, I like them too. Thanks for sharing and congrats.

We go to Maui annually (own a time share). I schlepped my 200-500 the last two trip in the event I see any whales migrating. October is still a little early for whales. This last trip I never took 200-500 out of the villa. However, when you go it is "whale season", so I would schlep the long lens. Several years back before owning the long lens were there in Dec. and that was my motivation for buying the long lens. We stay on Ka'anapali Beach and you can shoot whales migrating from our villa. So far no luck with whale shots in Oct. I use my walk around go to lens which is my 24-120. There is so much to see and shoot with my go to lens that when we travel there next October, I'll probably leave my 200-500 home. I may kick myself but as someone already mentioned too hard to schlep around in the heat and humidity. Have fun. While on Maui, be sure you don't miss going to Warren and Annabelle's magic dinner show. It is located in Lahaina right next to Ruth Chris Steakhouse upstairs. Make a reservation before you go as they sell out frequently. We've seen the show for the last four years we've been there and intend on making reservations again when we return in October. If you're interested in other places PM me.
Have fun
Lane

I shoot many events in similar conditions as you described at our Clubhouse where I live. Informal fun stuff. I use pretty much the same set up that you mentioned, i.e. D750 w/24-120 lens and SB910 flash. I also use flash dome similar to "Gary Fong" type. Spreads the light more evenly for me. I have success using ISO at 800, F5.6 and shutter speed at 125. That stop most of the action and I never see any noise in my photos at ISO 800. I found in a large room the light goes everywhere fast and my camera needs to be faster, thus the ISO 800. Sometimes I have to slow the camera down more and go down to a shutter speed of 100, but lots of success at 125. When you are shooting folks at a table you're going to be standing back 8 or 10ish feet back in order to get the entire table. I've found to have had adequate light using these settings and works the best for my environment. Here is just one example of an event I shoot if you're interested in viewing. These were taken during the morning hours to lots of natural light from the windows...many of my photos are at night only using the ambient light plus my flash...the setting still work. You can check this link out and view others from this site if you have the time. Here is the link... https://lanejsphotos.shutterfly.com/pictures/6749

Good luck and have fun shooting. I have a great time shooting events as you described. You many have to copy and paste the link I just put in this box if it doesn't show up at a hyperlink.

By the way, I leave my white balance to auto...I've tried other white balance settings with little success, so I just correct the auto white balance in Photoshop.

I'd love to see your results when you're done with the shoot.

Lane

I've only been to Michigan once and it was for a business trip. With that said, someone posted a while back a website that you put in where you are or going and it will tell you all the "Hot Spots" for the most dramatic photos. I saved in my bookmarks and use it once an a while for ideas. I hope it works for you too. Here is the site: https://www.shothotspot.com/ Not sure if it will show up as a hyperlink, but if it doesn't just copy and paste it. I've spent hours just looking around my own area. It's a pretty helpful too....have fun

Great info thanks to all who contributed

I've been using a Surface Pro 4 for about two years now. I purchased I7 with 512 SSD and 16 gig of memory. I use it as my travel computer. It is light weight so it's easy to transport. I purchased a mouse and the Pen when I bought it. I can easily transfer my photos of the day to the laptop and edit them with Photoshop while on vacation. The pen allows me to use several tools from Photoshop, i.e. spot healing for one. Once I get home I transfer the photos to my desktop where they are then load up to my website and backed up on a 8T external drive. If you plan to purchase one.... the tip of the day....take one of your kids or grand kids with you. At least when I purchased mine they asked if it was for my granddaughter who was with me at the time, I asked why, the sales person replied, you get 10% off it is for a student. So, take a kid or grand kid with you☺. Good luck with your choice.

Great photo....did you notice that the colors of the second rainbow are opposite to the first rainbow. Someone pointed that out to me when I shot a double rainbow in Maui. When you see two rainbows, there colors will be opposite each other. Magics of nature. Thanks for sharing.

I'd call Amazon and speak with a customer rep. I agree, this does pass the smell test to me either. Something doesn't seem right. Good luck and be sure to let us know if this was a scam or really Amazon needing to verify something.

Lots choices here where to buy them but I'm going to tell what I think are features that might interest you. I did get mine at the VA. They Phonak Marvel. These are new to the market. They are one of the few on the market that stream to your Android phone in both ears. They are rechargeable with a 30 hour use between charges. In addition, the VA provided me with a "streamer" that is connected to my TV and the sound from the TV streams in my earing aids. If you choose, you can listen to music from your phone in stereo thru the hearing aids, obviously you can answer your phone as well and hear the party thru both ears. If you have an I-phone there are lots of choices that do the same thing, but as of today the Marvel is the only hearing aid that does the features I just mentioned. Technology is changing daily with hearing aids, so check with the VA if you are eligible or Costco as they do have the best pricing for the rest of folks that need hearing aids. Most important is to get someone very familiar with fitting them correctly. I'm not saying comfort fit, I'm saying hearing fit. When I got my first pair they were terrible, went back to the VA and had them adjusted and the second doctor was much more versed and did an outstanding job. When I upgrade just two weeks ago, I asked the VA for the same doctor. The new ones are outstanding and I absolutely love them. Good luck with your choices.

I live in a 55 & older community about 85 miles east of downtown LA on the way to Palm Springs. We starting last year having car shows every spring. I was totally amazed how many residence that live in my small community of 1290 homes that had "hot rods". Some one brought their 56 Chevy to show off. While I was shooting this event for our monthly magazine a grandson of one of the residence was admiring the 56 Chevy as was I, he must have been around 16 or 17. I told him if you could put gas in the car I'd buy it for him it didn't matter the cost. He looked at me with a strange look and anxiously proceeded to walk around the car to locate the gas cap. After about 10 minutes of fun as he drew a crowd by then with many of us seniors looking on, the kid gave up. I walk over to rear of the car twisted the tail light lock and bingo, opened the tail light to show him where the gas cap was.....good thing I probably couldn't afford the car. I never get tried of seeing restored vehicles as you've shown us. Thanks for sharing.

I'd contact Adobe...there may be a easy fix or it could be like I had, my Windows 7 was not compatible with the new version of Photoshop. In order for me to use the latest and greatest PS I had to upgrade to Windows 10. So I sucked it up and upgraded my entire system. Of course when I up graded mine, I HAD to upgrade my wife's computer too. Despite the fact Photoshop grade included in my subscription it cost me a few thousand to upgrade computers. What we think should be Bing Bang upgrade turns out to be a huge issue costing us all. Heck during my upgrade to Windows 10 I had to replace two perfectly good printers. After contacting HP, neither computer had a driver that would be compatible with Window 10. So the two printer became huge paper weights. Windows 10 doesn't play well with old software or equipment. Good luck with getting your issue solved.