We were definitely not the first people exploring the bottom of the Grand Canyon… “Current archaeological evidence suggests that humans have inhabited the Grand Canyon area as far back as 4,000 years and at least were passers through for 6,500 years before that.” (wikipedia)

Interesting, huh?

Two weeks ago (already!) Justin and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon. Or should I say “into” the Grand Canyon. I’m finally cutting into my beauty sleep in order to post some photos. Yes, you can feel lucky and special!

While you can get all the juicy details from Justin’s blog, about the preparation, the descent, some undesired encounters, the river and the ascent, I will limit my narration and let the photos speak for themselves.

Outlining the trail on a photo makes the scale more real, as it gets less and less visible in the distance, and disappears completely before the last big drop of the inner canyon. This shot, was taken at about a third of the way down (just to give you a little perspective).

Here are *many* pictures of the descent that would be best enjoyed in a peaceful, quiet moment of your day (or a very chaotic moment, seeking for peace and quiet).

Last year we went to Lassen Volcanic National Park for thanksgiving with Dad and Sabine, but little did we know the park was going to be closed. We only had access to a couple of sulfur holes (which introduced us to the wonderful palette of rotten egg-like fragrances) and hiked on the only accessible trail that led us to a waterfall. That trip was a great first taste of the park, but it really was only an appetizer and we were left hungry for more.

We made sure we would go back and made campsite reservations as early as March to secure a spot for Labor Day. So, last weekend we packed our bags and left on Friday night with our friends Joy and Kyle. We stayed in a Motel 6 in Red Bluff which left only about an hour and a half drive to get to the park the next morning.

We started with the Bumpass Hell Trail which was THE hydrothermal activity highlight of the park. It was absolutely stunning both for the sight and the smell. Vivid color contrasts, bubbly pools and steamy mud hole made it really live up to its name.

We then continued down the trail to reach Cold Boiling Lake, which turned out to be more of a Cold Boiling Pond… a little deceiving and added an extra few miles of hiking that we would otherwise have skipped. But what can you do… it’s an adventure!

Luckily we finished hiking fairly early and were able to set up camp in the day light. Our camping neighbors were absolutely adorable and kept giving us wood all weekend long! We were incredibly thankful because it turned out to be a lot colder than we thought and we fired up the bad boy as much as possible.

The next day, we were headed to Cinder Cone to see its crater and the Fantastic Lava Beds, on the north eastern side of the park. I’ve never been on or around a volcano and I was thrilled! Cinder cone is pretty small in nature’s scale, but you end up walking on cinder (essentially ash) which feels like walking on the beach. It makes every step you take doubly hard, especially when going up that steep hill.

When you get to the top and discover this big hole in the mountain, you realize how much sweating getting up that hill is worth it. The crater looked and felt so much bigger than I expected. I can’t even begin to imagine what craters like Mt. Lassen’s would be like. Giant.

From atop the volcano we had spectacular views of the fantastic lava beds created by several eruptions of Cinder Cone. They turned out to look like a very thick dump of volcanic rocks. They didn’t look smooth or anything. It almost looked like a junk yard. Weird. Fascinating.

After walking all the way around the crater and letting Justin hike down to its center, we ran back down the hill that gave us so much grief coming up. Take that, hill!

What a weekend! I love adventure and discovery. Our next big excursion? Grand Canyon! In the meantime here’s the full set of pics of this amazing place:

I’m a little behind on posting very cool stuff that have been happening in the past few weeks. This post explains why I’ve been behind. But very cool things have been happening!!!

I really love two things during the summer. #1 is heat and #2 is tomatoes. Well, actually I love other things too, but these are top on my list. Guess what? We went to the farm where we get our veggies from and picked tomatoes… in the heat. Imagine how happy that made me!

Yes. Very happy.

Here are a few more photos that should inspire you to go to a farm and pick tomatoes too!
Oh and you’ll see some figs too… unexpected delicious bonus!!!

Don’t freak out! This is just the first layer of color. I decided to work first on the primary colors and a few grays with acrylics. I wanted to get the whole canvas covered with its general color for each area.

The nice thing about yellow is that it’s not very opaque which allows me so still see my sketches underneath the layer of paint. I will use those as guidelines for the next layer where I will start shaping some windows, doors and balconies.

You can see the progression of this painting by going back to Act I and Act II

The month of August 08 will be memorable and it’s not over yet! So much has been going on. So much!

Here’s a semi-organized summary of Stephanie’s world for the past couple of weeks:

• My co-worker whom I work closely with was hospitalized for two weeks because of an appendix burst. He went through surgery and a not-yet-over pretty painful recovery. So I went to see him pretty much every other day, for entertainment purposes mostly but also to keep him in the work loop (because he wanted to be).

• My co-worker being “out of service” means I needed to (and still am) cover for him. It was particularly challenging because it was also month end, which is the time of the month when we gather all of last month’s numbers to see how much my little nook of the business made. Read: endless reporting and Excel spreadsheet work.

• I got called for jury duty… and picked as an alternate juror… and sat at a criminal trial for a week. So basically I was not able to work for most of the day, but squeezed in document work in the random 10-15 minutes pee breaks the court would give us and of course work at night to catch up. Lunch was the only time I could access the internet at the court house, which made that hour very intense.

• The criminal case involved an assault to a police officer with a deadly weapon (a car) and a hit-and-run. That means a lot of witnesses, testimonies and emotional grown men. The guy was found guilty for both crimes and the sentence will be released in September. The process was intense and every time I got out of there I was shaking a little and had to take a walk. Once I was done with that, I would go to the hospital to visit my cut up buddy or email my life away.

• Dad and Sabine are officially moving back to France. For good. They packed up their house, sold part of their stuff and put the rest in a container to be shipped over seas. We got to stay over at their place before everything was gone. Although I know this is the best decision they can make right now, the thought of not having them around is a little disorienting. I think that the idea really hit me when Dad told me the house was completely empty and they were giving it back today. I’m so happy for them and amazed at their ability to drop everything and start over. I’m also really happy we’ll be able to see them again before they leave.

• Tomorrow is FM’s last day in Sausalito!! We’re working from home on Thursday and Monday… ta da da dah, we’re going to work in San Francisco!!!

• Next week also, I’m performing with Loose Change at YBCA as part of the West Wave Dance Festival. I’m excited, it’s going to be fun (although it was hard to squeeze in the rehearsals).

• And guess what? Within all of that, I got promoted at FM! Woo! I got the official word and effective date in the hospital “conference room”. :-)

Memorable, I tell ya.