two things of note, both of which i was highly anticipating and which have now come and gone....

..lassen..
man, i love this place. i love camping in general, but liz, marla, and i are attempting to make this our annual fourth of july trip. my family had regular memorial day and labor day weekend camping trips to hume lake when i was growing up, so i think it's fun that we're trying to start our own tradition. anyway, this was officially our second annual lassen trip, and we expanded the group to include heather, anna from soccer, liz's friend alex, liz's coworkers stephanie and ana, steph's boyfriend tom, and ana's boyfriend sergio. (my first time meeting sergio, a hilariously nutty taxidermist from spain with a goofy sense of humor, and alex, a sweet sixth-grade teacher with a silly gangsta streak.) we explored lassen's bubbling sulphur springs, icy snowmelt lakes, lovely hiking trails, and cool lava tubes. a bunch of folks did the lassen peak hike and sledded down the mountain in self-made butt-grooves. we had lovely weather again... more snowpack than last year due to the wetter winter, but the weather was warm enough that we were yet again able to enjoy the weekend in shorts. must bring better skeeter repellent next time, though! next year: cinder cone and painted dunes.

..rascal flatts..
if you're not a country fan, you probably haven't heard much from these guys.... which is kind of a shame because they're more "country 'n' roll" (as they put it) than they are classified in record stores. they've definitely made a name for themselves on the country circuit, but they put on a great show and have some real musical talent. i love their music as it is, but it's always incredible to go see someone live and realize how truly talented they are. last night we got to see lots of rascal flatts with a flavor of garth brooks, bruce springsteen, the beatles, jerry lee lewis, brian mcknight, and others. they mostly played their hits (from all three albums) but these were interspersed with some fun covers (see above) and some sweet segueways. they had an INCREDIBLE fiddler -- man, he was amazing -- and some quite good instrumentalists. all three boys had solo bits, even though gary generally is the lead singer of the group, so that was cool too. jay actually has a pretty good singing voice. (joe don not so much, but his guitar fingering more than makes up for it. he's good as the harmony.) it's really great to see people truly loving what they do, and being truly thankful that they get to wake up every day and do what they do. they brought back the opening acts (shelly fairchild and blake shelton) for the big finale number. they even stayed on stage for a while after the show to sign autographs. very cool. :)

and a brief note about the tragedies in london: terrorists suck!