Crater Lake

We decided to head off to see Crater Lake today so I packed us a lunch to take figuring that we could find a picnic table near the lodge for lunch.  As we got closer to Crater Lake, we were surprised to see snow alongside the road.

When we got to the turn off, there was a sign that said the south entrance was open but the north entrance was closed.  Whew, glad we were entering through the south.  The handout we were given by the ranger said that the west rim drive was only partially open and the east rim was closed.  Good thing we hadn't planned on driving the rim.

With remnants of snow around the lakes edge, the lake was beautiful.  It was 59* and warm. We couldn't have picked a better day.  Check out the reflections of the rim and the sky on the lake - breathtaking.

Crater Lake gets an average of 44 feet of snow a season.  This past year, they got 56 feel of snow.  Here the gift shop is nearly surrounded by snow.

This shot was taken near the lodge.  Pictures just don't do the lake justice.  The color of the water is spectacular.

Spotted this old Dodge 8 will rumple seat up at the lodge.  We saw them drive away and the guy riding in the back was all bundled up with jacket, scarf, and hat.  It might have been cold but it looked like it would have been fun to ride in the back.

As all the picnic tables were still under snow, we ate our lunch in the truck.  A fellow South Dakotan stopped by to say hello.  She resided near some lake we never heard of (now there's a surprise).

Crater Lake fun facts (taken from NP handout):

Deepest lake in the US

6.02 miles across - maximum

4.54 miles across - minimum

1,943 feet deep at deepest point

Holds 4.9 trillion gallons of water

Tallest point on rim 1,978 feet above lake

Lowest point on rim 507 feet above lake

Mazama is not an extinct volcano

On our way back home, John got this picture of Mt. Shasta (over 100 miles away) peaking up way in the distance.

We also stopped at this pretty little creek called Crooked Creek.  The creek was running crystal clear.

Once we got home, we went to sit outside for a while.  There are various sizes of chipmunks running everywhere and they aren't the least afraid of humans.  So much so, that they seem to expect you to feed them.  One was so persistent that I had concerns about him bitting one of us or running up our legs, that I went in and got a spray bottle.  John smacked him once in the head with a stream of water and he pretty much left us alone after that.

We also have Stellar's Jays that also aren't shy about begging for handouts.  These guys appear larger than the Stellar's Jays we have seen in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  

After a barbecuing dinner, which we ate outside, we enjoyed the evening sitting outside until the bugs got to bugging us.  

Chillin' near Chiloquin, OR

We were more than ready to depart Redding Wednesday morning.  The first part of the journey was up I-5 to Weed.  We were given beautiful views of Mt. Shasta along the way.

Here is a shot of Castle Crags.

We joke that when you head north that you must be going up hill.  Well, today that certainly proved to be true.  We thought once we turned off out of Weed on US97, that it would flatten out.  We were wrong.  Nothing major but it was constant up, up, up.  We were really surprised at how large Klamath Lake is as we drove the eastern side of it.

We pulled in to Collier State Park and in to our site.  This park is a gem that we discovered from reading other full-timers blogs.  The park has full hook-ups (water, electric, sewer; a rarity) and will accommodate big rigs.  The road is a bit narrow and we will have to be careful when we leave as there is a strange turn here and there but all in all, it is great.  We have not stayed in a state park like this since our Aliner days (prior RV).  We are overjoyed with our site, the pine smells and almost total darkness at night woo hoo.  We will be here for a week and will use the park as a base for a return visit to Crater Lake, Klamath Lake and who knows what else.

One of the first things to get done after getting set up is the removal of bug splat.  We had a lot.

Here is a shot of our site.  Oh look, someone is already enjoying the outdoors.

Another shot of our site.  Now this feels like camping.  We don't normally "camp" but we are making an exception this time.

Turtle Bay Exploration Park

Redding has a really nice area along the Sacramento River called Turtle Bay Exploration Park which is part museum/exhibits/etc. and is also home to the Sundial Bridge.  They have done a really nice job making this area enjoyable for walking, biking, exploring, and such.  If in the area, it really is worth taking the time to visit.

I noticed this girlie SUV with long eyelashes - too cute.  You, too, can outfit your vehicle at Carlashes.com.  Good thing we have a "manly" truck or I could be tempted to get a pair. Was that sound John gasping? lol

While at Turtle Bay, we found a couple of geocaches (a scavenger hunt of sorts with the help of a gps and coordinates from geocaching.com).  This hiding spot was pretty ingenious; more elaborate than most.

Our favorite thing about this area is the Sundial Bridge.  It is beautiful and a real work of art. You can read all about the information on the bridge's construction here.  That Sacramento River is so beautiful the farther north you go.  

The bridge is especially beautiful at night as it is all lit up so we returned hoping to get a night shot.  However, the mosquitoes were so bad that we gave up about a half-hour before total darkness.

Whiskeytown Lake

On Friday, we took a drive out to Whiskeytown Lake.  The lake was suppose to be 8 miles west of town.  We apparently missed an important turn but with the help of Genie (our Garmin GPS), we eventually found our way to the lake after adding who knows how many miles.  Life is an adventure!  A beautiful lake that features 36 miles of shoreline and with several nice beach areas.  They do have RV camping for self-contained rigs but when we checked it out, it was for small rigs in marked "stalls" on the pavement.  Yuck, not for us for several reasons.

The welcoming committee

Getting to windy and cold so they were heading in to the marina

 

This glory hole is an overflow spillway.  Rather ominous looking wouldn't you say?

We would have liked to spent more time there but it was windy and cold so we called it a day.

Mt. Shasta and Lake Shasta

We decided to take the hour drive up I-5 to visit the town of Mt. Shasta to go to the fish hatchery.  As we drove up the interstate amongst mountains, pine trees, water, and blue sky, I was sitting there thinking how my soul was feeling like it was soaring.  John then commented how spectacular it was with mountains, pine trees, water, and blue sky. Really???  Ha, ha proof positive that we have spent way too many months away from the mountains.

We were thrilled to see the lake's water level is nearly full because when we saw Shasta Lake in October 2008, the lake was so low it was depressing.  

When we were at the fish hatchery, we made sure to bring quarters because one does have to feed the fish you know.  Unfortunately, John's pictures didn't exactly turn out of the huge trout that we saw.  We did, however, get to see the impressive Mt. Shasta (14,162 feet) up close.  

On our way back towards Redding, we took a random road that lead us down to the lake. Such beautiful views.

Ever the eagle-eyed one, John spotted an Osprey nest at the top of a dead tree. We could see that there was a bird in the nest.

We then drove down to the Shasta Dam where we had a nice picnic lunch while enjoying lake views and hunting Osprey's.  We headed home where we sat outside and watched the traffic pass by on I-5.  It was fun watching RVs go by and then see if they pulled in to the RV park.  Simple things, simple pleasures.

Rolling down the highway

After having spent almost the entire month suffering with allergies, we were more than ready to leave the Sacramento Valley.  We got on the road and stopped for lunch at Rolling Hills Casino in Corning to insure that we wouldn't arrive at the RV park before 1 p.m.  We also knew that there would be ample parking at the casino and that their buffet was good and not terribly expensive.  The only thing that would have made this stop better was if it had been Tuesday or Thursday and as seniors, we could have gotten the buffet at half price lol. Walking between the truck and casino, it was apparent that we were still in allergy territory - yuck. 

Once we got settled in to our site north of Redding, we were elated to discover that neither of us were having any allergy issues woo hoo!  After spending months in the desert and then a month in a gravel parking lot, our senses are almost on overload with having trees and lawn at our site.

What a joy to be able to sit outside in our chairs and listen to singing birds and chat with friendly neighbors.  We will be here for the week to put the Memorial Day weekend behind us before venturing north.

Volunteering

Our daughter and her friend, Emily, were co-chairs of this year's Komen Race for the Cure that was held on Saturday, May 12.  We definitely got our eyes opened as to what a major undertaking it is and all that is involved for just a one-day event.  Komen has five paid staff members in the Sacramento affiliate office that serves 19 counties.  Three of the staff were on-site at Arden Fair Mall for the seven days of open registration.  Needless to say, they needed a lot (hundreds) of volunteers to help pull this labor intensive event together.  

The decorations for the mall were done very nicely and the location was right in front of Nordstroms.  I was amazed at the traffic going in and out of the store (not that I had a lot of time to take notice lol).

We got a call Friday night asking if we could come over to lend a hand for a couple of hours. Sure, not a problem.  Then I was asked to show up Monday at 9:30 a.m. and to bring my laptop as I would be doing data entry.  So from about 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. I entered race registrations.  This was repeated on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  As I had been cleared to handle money, I was put on the Registration Table where in between data entry I accepted registrations and donations.  It was a very busy day.  Friday night everything had to be torn down and moved over to Cal Expo (location of the race).  While I was having my fun, John's efforts started on Wednesday with working on decorations (stringing records) and then on Thursday and Friday, putting 2,000 folding chairs in place and zip-tying them together. 

Seeing the transformation from Wednesday to Friday night was amazing.  The place looked great but there was much more to do.  Melissa and crew worked into the wee hours making final preparations, but we called it quits at 8:30 as we had to be up at 4 a.m.; to early for retired folks!

Saturday morning, John went one way and I another.  I helped with some setting up and then manned my post at the Solutions Table.  My reward for having gotten proficient on Komen's software lol.

While I was working, John was rewarded for all his hard work (and possibly for being the father of one of the co-chairs lol).  John got to drive the pace car (brand new convertible Mustang) for the actual 5K race.  Darn, I was suppose to ride shotgun but that didn't work out (see above) :(  John, however, had a great time!

John's view of the Start

Here are some of the decorations in the Expo (notice strung records that were mentioned earlier).

Here is a picture of Melissa, Emily, KCRA's Edie Lambert, and Chris Hollingsworth on stage.

Congrats to all who so dedicatedly worked on making this year's Race for the Cure a success!!!!  John and I have a new appreciation of what it takes to pull off an event like this. While we enjoyed all that we did and the sense of purpose that came from volunteering (plus we each got a T shirt), we will be far away from Sacramento next year at this time :)