Adventures of Beth and Dan: Organize, Explore, Relax

Good morning Zoey! As I write to you I know you are in school today and mom and dad are at work. But soon your dad will be heading to Idaho to your “ Idahome “ and then you and mom will follow. Papa and I had a good three days in Redding, California. The biggest thing I can tell you about our experience in Redding is the horribly obvious drought that is everywhere. It looks like August here and in the surrounding areas. The devastation of the 2018 Carr fire is also visible and one you can’t avoid no matter which way you look. Typically after a fire the rains come and the next few years the green vegetation fills in but not here. It looks like it did three years ago.

Frazier slept for almost three days tucking in under our bed as if he were hiding and avoiding travel in the pickup!! It was nice to set up and stay put for a few days. We took one day and went to Lassen National Volcano Park. This has been on our bucket list( Zoey what do you think that means?) for awhile and we were so fortunate to have explored it with the fewest number of travelers we have ever had in a national park!!! It felt like we had it all to our selves. As we climbed in elevation to 8500 ft on one of the passes the temperature dropped to 42 degrees!! It was a day of long pants, jackets and gloves!!! We stopped at many locations to ooh and aah and take in the beauty and history of another of our wonders in the United States. How lucky we citizens are to have all these lands put aside for future generations to admire and hold dear.

Here are some tidbits about Lassen Park: there are hot steaming mud pools to view, you might see bears here!, there are 150 miles of trails including 17 mules of the Pacific Crest Trail, you might fish in Manzanita or Reflection Lake which are two large lakes, Pika can be seen here Zoey, Lassen Peak is one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the WORLD, it’s last eruptions we’re between1914 and 1921 with the largest in 1915, all four types of volcanic rock (shield, cone, cinder cone and plug done) can be found here, you could rent a kayak here at several of the lakes, Lassen Peak means snow mountain. As John Muir said in 1899 “Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing…out of one beautiful form into another.”

The next day at Redding we used the time to keep organize. I did a few things inside while Papa worked on all the storage compartments outside. We were worried we would have less storage with the new rv but actually we are finding we have more and if we are more careful about how we store things it’s even better. It was a lovely day to be outside and we had our chairs set up with the awning out, my geranium that I brought from AZ and our little fold up side tables. I was able to clean up the “special drink” fridge outside and stock it and then get the outside tv running!! Zoey, I will have some special drinks for you in there when we get to your base camp :). We did take another drive to Whiskeytown National Recreation area just outside Redding. It’s a lovely reservoir but was harshly affected by the Carr Fire. We visited the visitor center and took a few side roads around it exploring the area. The reservoir was almost full and a few boats were out fishing on the lake. Several folks were setting up dry camps at the dry barren camping spots. It look dry dusty and not comfortable but if you want to get out close to home for almost free then you reserve your spot and at least could swim or fish for the Memorial Weekend. Zoey can you tell me why we celebrate Memorial Day??

Our last night at Redding we walked around the park which was almost full. There is a little stream that passes through with about 20 happy Mallards swimming, napping and looking for food. The pool closes at dusk but the park is well taken care of and fun to explore.

Dan cooked taco meat in the electric skillet outside on the picnic table and I got all the fixings for taco salad ready inside. I wish Tessie had been there because this is one of her favorite meals!! But soon enough I will prepare it for her. We showered and got things ready to head out in the morning for Eugene and another Premiere RV park. We will be here for five days so that will be fun and Frazier won’t have to get anxious about traveling.