I love black and white. My grandmother used to tell about the 1900 Galveston hurricane. The family house survived only to be taken out by a tornado in the 1970's.
I ordered a refurbished D500 several weeks ago. I received an email that UPS would deliver it on a certain day and within a certain time frame. I waited around all day and the time frame kept changing until after 6 p.m. when I received an email stating that the delivery had been canceled. This was only a few days before my schedule departure out of town for two weeks. I could not be present at the first delivery but left the UPS form signed for UPS to leave the delivery. UPS failed to do so and then reported that three attempts had been made when only 2 had been attempted. I finally figured out how to ask UPS to deliver to my local UPS store. That was ignored and UPS returned the camera body to Nikon, which gave me a credit. I guess Nikon is not very interested in making a sale. Henceforth, if UPS is delivering I won't buy the item from the vendor. I hope somebody from Nikon USA reads this.
I have the Nikkor 18-300 and use it as my travel lens. I keep seeing posts that it's heavy. I don't think it is particularly heavy and I carry it around my neck all day long. I am not sure you will see a lot of difference between a 200 mm zoom and 300 mm. Frankly, traveling I use it mostly in the 18-150 mm range. It's not all that often I extend all the way, but it's certainly handy when I want to zoom in a far away object. But, I do think you give up sharpness.
I have been in the Rockies. I am not going to pontificate on which lens, but you will like what you get with a really good wide-angle lens. Some of my favorite photos were shot low down to the ground at the Continental Divide with mountains in the background.
I asked a simple question and am dumbfounded by the number of posts that are totally unresponsive.
Some of us buy cameras when we are going on a trip or have a need for a particular use. Some of us don't need to pinch pennies and buy new gear rarely so we try to buy the most advanced that we can afford. Some of us wear polarized sunglasses and can't use mirrorless screens. Some of us don't think mirrorless meets our needs. Some of us are perfectly happy with DSLR and don't want to buy a whole new set of lenses. Some of us like Nikon as opposed to Canon.
Some of us are tired of pointless posts. I actually have a technical question but wonder why should I bother to post it if I am not going to get a helpful answer.
I saw an article that Nikon is expected to introduce two new DSLRs in 2021, one a replacement for the D850. However, I have not seen what the other one will be. Has anyone seen some information on the other DSLR?
Wherever you travel, hide your IDs and passwords, credit card codes in either a "note" in your phone or a document saved on the phone. Don't depend on the "saved" IDs and passwords to get you to an airline or credit card web site in an emergency. To get money from ATMs you will need your password code for your credit cards. Take plenty of batteries; you will probably only be able to charge them at night although some of the Range Rovers have the ability to plug in. Take cleaning materials for your lenses, cameras; it can be dusty.