OK! Yay and thank you all for your quick replies!

When traveling, I take my laptop, an external hard drive, and a few SD cards. At the end of a day of shooting, I insert the camera's SD card into the laptop and put the images onto a file in the external hard drive. I keep hearing about a card reader. What is the process for using one and do I really need to? Thank you for your insights!

I find LR quite easy to use, but yes, you have to learn any editing program. In my opinion, Anthony Morganti is the best online teacher out there. He has a whole series on learning LR that I found very logical and slow enough for me to grasp. It's also totally free. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0f0NiDBPbk Also, if you have a question ever, there is a FB community that only answers questions about LR -- there is so much help out there! Go for it, I love LR.

I wasted some money on LR presets and don't like them in general. But PS actions I like much better because they can be tweaked to your liking and recreating them in PS is, for me, much harder. I use them very sparingly, but when I do, I am pleased.

Are Costco's photo labs any good, though? Photo prints would be the ONLY reason I would join Costco -- how does their quality compare to those other places mentioned?

Just beware. Sometimes when you buy a lens you may notice that the focus is slightly off-- you may think you're focused on an eye or whatever, but when you view the pics you see the focus fell somewhere else near where you thought you were focused. So what you do is correct this problem yourself with your camera and lens. However, I do believe that the 5000 series does not allow you to do this. I had this problem when I attempted to buy a 35mm for my D5500. I actually bought two copies, both needed correction, but my D5500 cannot do it. I had to send both back and I gave up trying to buy additional lenses for that camera. The 7000 series and above does allow you to correct for this. So just test out the focus accuracy of any lens carefully right when you get it for this potential problem and make sure you can return it if the focus is off. If you're lucky you'll get a lens where the focus is spot on. Personally I will not buy any more cameras that don't allow me to fix lens focus problems.

Here's another perspective. I feel I don't need to be locked in to only one system. I use both the Nikon and the Panasonic systems. I have a reasonably priced, small, and light Nikon D5500 with an 18-140 for portraits, landscapes, family functions, etc. and have been very happy with it. BUT I have the Panasonic GX8 with the 100-400 for wildlife and birds only -- when I know I need to zoom way in. You always know what you are going out shooting for. If I'm wanting to capture Thanksgiving Day with the family, it's the great unobtrusive, low-light performer little D5500 with a little flash. If I am heading to the nature reserve, I take my very lightweight Micro 4/3 with a lightweight but powerful zoom. Sometimes while hiking I take both -- hubby carries one and I carry the other. I grab the Nikon for pretty scenery, and when I spot a bird or deer, I grab the Panny. Do check out the Panasonic GX8 on Amazon right now, it's a great deal and smaller than the G9. Both cameras I've mentioned have a larger sensor than your GX85 so your noise levels should be an improvement.

Thank you ALL for your responses! I appreciate your time!

Wow, didn't know about CS before, but it sounds cool! Thank you.

Thank you for your quick reply and good thoughts!

Thanks so much for your insight! Appreciate it greatly.

Thank you for all this great info. (Yes, it was a bad experience with the Panny 100-400 -- a great lens but very delicate).

After a disastrous learning experience with Panasonic I've about decided that choosing a camera based only on how good the system is just isn't good enough! Which camera brand is easiest to work with when it comes to maintenance, repair, and general customer service? Any to avoid? I'd love to hear your opinions and experiences - thank you!

I have owned the Lumix GX8 (similar to the G9, but I think a little smaller). I used it with the Leica 100-400 for birding. It was a very lightweight system that I loved, HOWEVER, since it was a MFT, I had to bump up my ISO all the time and it was annoying -- it just didn't handle the low light like my little Nikon D5500 could. In addition to that, know that the 100-400, while it gives fantastic range, bringing those birds in close, it is super-delicate with a cheap plastic mount. The first time the camera was dropped (while in the bag) the lens busted to smithereens, scratching the oh-so-vulnerable sensor on the camera in the process. And for birding with a G9, you will want the 100-400, a great lens surely. But if you go that way, I would highly recommend getting insurance on both the camera and lens and treat it especially carefully. As of now, I have been without my Panny system for nearly two months as they take their sweet time repairing it -- a regular repair shop cannot repair this as they could a Nikon or Canon.

I second Asheville, NC. We stayed in a great motel right off the Parkway and next to the outlet mall. A great seafood restaurant, the Arboretum and the zoo were right there, too, which were a great little stops for a change of pace.