We’re back from Holiday!

December 6th, 2008

Well, we have been back for a week, and I am sorry for not posting sooner! After a week of catching up I am ready to post some pictures from our awesome trip to Placerville, CA. Erik and I had a blast, as always, with his parents Rod & Lisa Souza, and we got to spend some time with Lauren (Erik’s sister) and our almost-3-year-old nephew Jacob. I haven’t been THAT relaxed in a very long time! Erik and I did some of our most favorite things – spending time with his family, driving around and taking lots for pictures of the beautiful scenery, eating at In-N-Out Burger (2 times), watching the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended version), and catching up on sleep! We also had the opportunity to watch the extremely talented Lisa Souza in action – she is one UH-mazingly gifted artist (there will be a future post with images of her at work). Lisa taught me how to knit a couple of years ago, and after almost a year of not knitting, I am SO inspired to knit like crazy after seeing all of her awesome colorways. Yes, I saw her entire stash all in one place – in the guest house/studio where we slept. A color-freaks dream ; ) This is what I do in the off season. Erik plays video games.

On our first day there we headed in to “town” and Erik and I were so amazed to see how much Jake has grown. He didn’t forget us, thank goodness ; )

Jake was trying on hats – his Uncle Erik ended up buying him this one.

We got to play some ball! Here is Lauren sending it home:

Rod:

and Jake!

He eventually figured out that it is easier to hit the ball with his eyes open, but it took some practice.

Then Lisa, Rod, Erik and I drove up to Jenkinson Lake. We found this cool stump:

It was a perfect day! The sky was gorgeous. (especially with my infrared converted camera)

We were walking around a bit and saw a wolf. It was so beautiful. Unfortunately both Erik & I had on our wide lenses to shoot the landscape and we didn’t capture it. We just watched it walking around. I felt so lucky.

Then we headed up into the Sierra. It is so magical there! Here is another infrared:

The moss on the trees was incredible.

I love these trees – they feel like something out of a fantasy movie.

The views up there were breathtaking:

We passed through Silver Lake:

And then to Caples Lake. Apparently they had been draining the lake, which made for a crazy experience! There were many old stumps, and rocks and old objects (Erik found an old Bubble Up Soda bottle which was made in the 70’s) that were buried under the Lake since way back when.

A few years ago Erik and I went to see the Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones exhibit at the SF Moma on their documentation of Lake Berryessa before the dam was built. Mind you, the images looked very different, but the exhibit kept coming to mind…Sadly I can’t find any of the images themselves online.

It was like another world.

I will have more to post from our trip for sure. We took so many pictures ; )

Be sure to check out Lisa’s blog for her version – and you can see a picture of Erik & I “chimping“.

10 Responses to “We’re back from Holiday!”

  1. Stephanie Nemec Says:

    Awww these pictures are amazing!!! You always do an excellent job!!! I also love the hat Erik bought for his nephew… Its so cute!!!!!!!

    I’m looking forward to your other pictures from your trip :)

  2. Vicki Says:

    Thanks Steph! Thanks for checking out the blog and commenting!

  3. Lisa S Says:

    Awww, you captured it all so beautifully. Too bad about the wolf but I think that he was meant to be there as a totem animal for us to share, nothing more. The shots with the infrared are amazing.
    Well, we miss you both so much. It is hard letting go again but we had such a great time and packed on a few pounds with the great food, to remember you by. Hah!

    Happy Happy Birthday, by the way. We all love you dearly and Lauren was saying how much she adores you, just last night. Today we will head down to town to watch the Christmas parade…horses, horses, horses and lots of little kids…small town style. Wish you were here.

  4. Vicki Says:

    Thanks Lisa ; ) We miss you guys a lot and wish we could be at the Christmas Parade!! We had snow today, which was awesome – i am thinking you will be getting some soon too. Love ya! Vicki

  5. Holly Says:

    Wonderful photos! We really loved seeing Schnickle at bat!

  6. Erin Says:

    I already wrote you an email about this, but Im saying it again… these nature shots are incredible :) so pretty!

  7. Vicki Says:

    Thanks Erin ; ) I always love comments on my blog too!

  8. Val McCormick Says:

    What beautiful images and a talented mother-in-law! I miss the sierra’s, seqouias and Yosemite for sure!

  9. robin dini Says:

    WOW! those landscape shots are incredible!!!! Teach me about infrared…that’s so cool!

  10. Lisa Souza | Victoria Souza Photography Blog Says:

    [...] being more relaxed than I ever remember being. We took a drive up to Lake Tahoe, stopping to take in the beauty along the way, we spent some time in small-town historic Placerville, and we re-watched the entire [...]

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