Towards the end of last year, in the middle of our travels, I faced a challenge: do I begin working on a photo book for 2010, or do I delay the project until the end of 2011 and produce two volumes at once? Or, do I just drop the idea of doing annual photo books altogether and make a single book specific to our travels?

The alternatives only seemed to put off the inevitable, and I knew that the longer I waited, the harder it would be to remember the details. As satisfying as creating an “Our Big Adventure” book sounded (I admit I haven’t entirely ruled out the idea), over the course of our lives the trip will be just one of many things we’ve done. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of continuing the photo books as an annual tradition, splitting the adventure over two years—continuity be damned! So I decided to plow ahead, even as Bali swirled around me.

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From Loriol, we went on a road trip though Stephanie’s family tree. In Burgundy we spent two nights at her aunt’s pre-French Revolution farmhouse (it had been 20 years since Stephanie last visited). In Auvergne we visited the family of a cousin she’s never met (more precisely her first cousin once removed), we toured the farmhouse where her maternal grandmother was born—which is still in the family (occupied by her great aunt), and we saw the grave where the descendants of her great-great-grandmother are buried. Nearby we drove through the town and saw the house where her mother was born. In Provence we spent an afternoon with two of her cousins and their families.

The visits were mostly unplanned, in part due to the weather, which had turned unseasonably wet, thus preventing us from camping (comfortably). In the case of the cousin she’d never met, we literally walked up to the door of what we assumed was their house (based solely on description—we didn’t have an address) and knocked. We were very warmly welcomed. It was the type of trip we’d been dreaming about for several years, traveling deep into central France and exploring her roots, but one that we’d never had the time or the means to do. It gave Stephanie the chance to add pictures to the stories she’d heard growing up, while also rekindling some family bonds.

When the rain passed, we found ourselves in Provence, eager to spend a few nights camping before returning to Le Cannet for our final two weeks in France.

On July 4th we left Parma and drove west across Northern Italy, over the Alps (actually “through” them, thanks to the 12km Frejus tunnel), and returned to France to spend two weeks with Jean-Claude (Stephanie’s Dad) and Sabine in their new house in Loriol-sur-Drome, just south of Valence. It was also Stephanie’s first chance to meet her new demi-sœur (half-sister) Gaïa, 8 months old and full of smiles (when not sucking her thumb).

In addition to the usual (taking it easy and catching up on the internet), Jean-Claude and Sabine were eager to take us around and show us the area. Over the course of our time together, we visited a lavander distillery just before the harvest, tasted (and purchased) Clarette/Cremont in Die, toured an olive oil moulin (mill) in Nyons, had cheese fondue in Villard-de-Lans (a ski station in the wintertime), toured (and tasted) Chartreuse at the distillery in Voiron, watched the feu d’artifice (fireworks) from their terrace on Bastille Day, and finished it all off with a fête du village (village festival) in Saoù, honoring the local goat cheese, Picodon, a tasty chevre which gets progressively more gnarly the longer it’s aged.

Rooftop panorama of Loriol: clay tiles and satellite dishes

Like someone slowly unpacking after a long journey, I feel like I finally got to the bottom of my suitcase with that last post about Africa.

Meanwhile the world kept spinning. During our first two weeks in France, we stayed with Stephanie’s Mom at her studio apartment in Le Cannet, a village just north of Cannes. In that time we “bought” a car, ate cheese, shopped for clothes, caught up on internet, washed our gear, cooked Thai food, laid on the beach, celebrated a birthday, painted a bathroom, visited Mamie (Grandma) in Fayence, went grocery shopping, and I started learning how to drive stick.

In short we did a lot of normal, non-travel stuff. We settled a bit and ate a lot. We lived out of a closet instead of a backpack. I believe those two weeks are the longest we’ve slept in the same bed since our 28 days aboard the Cap Cleveland—last September!

France is one of our homes, and in that way, it represents an “end” of our trip, an end to what someone aptly described as our “hardcore travel mode”. True, but in looking at the landscape ahead, the next few weeks, months, even year or two, I only see beginnings.

But we’re not done with traveling just yet! France is definitely about family, but since we finally have time and transportation at our disposal, we also wanted to get out and see some things. Of course the one thing we don’t have a lot of (anymore) is money. So two weeks ago we bought a cheap tent and caught a ferry to Corsica.

Over the last 7 years, I’ve turned the obligatory family photo at Christmas into a chance to wish everyone a happy holidays on my blog. (For an interesting look back, see: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 A, 2009 B.) However, for the first time in my 31 years, I was unable to spend Christmas with my family.

Which made me kind of sad to think I wouldn’t be able to post a similar photo this year. And then I had an idea: take a screenshot from Skype—and voila, everyone in a single photo! Together even though we’re far apart. Nevermind that it’s December 26th in Bali—it’s still December 25th in Austin!

But, as it turns out, Katie had an even better idea, to put us on fullscreen and have Dad hold the laptop while they took the classic shot of everyone in front of the tree, including Calvin the cat! I think it came out quite nicely. Happy Holidays!