Zion National Park Movie

We took a couple of movies in the park to try to show the vastness of it. This one we're posting is a test to see how it views on your computer.

You can hear the amatuer video photographers trying to figure out if they're recording or not....funny. But the video eventually gets rolling.

Feedback would be appreciated.

thanks!

Kim and Steve

Trip to Northeast California

We went away up to the northeast part of California for a week with our 5th wheel to see Burney Falls and Lassen Park and came away delighted (again) at how much there is to see, even on a short trip like this one.
First off, we went up highway 5 to Redding, then cut NE up the foothills (about 5,000 feet) to a nice campground at Hat Creek.

The next day we went to Burney Falls. This is actually two waterfalls in one. One that comes from the Pit River above and over the cliff (this splits into two large waterfalls) and multiple streams coming through the porous volcanic rock from underground water. It flows about 100 million gallons a day. You can view it from the top, then walk down to the water level and further down Burney Creek on a nice walk. The Creek ends up in Lake Britton, which, of course, I had to jump in.

Another self-portrait in front of Burney Falls. So much to smile about.

Cold, refreshing, fun!

Next day we headed up to Lassen Park, but there is still 32-feet of snow in some places over the road so we could only get into the park about 10 miles before turning back. We took a great hike through the forest past some serene meadows, Lily pads and some amazing rock landscape. This turned out to be a part of the mountain that gave way years ago and formed a huge landslide which came at speeds over 100mph and covered the surrounding area with these volcanic rocks.

The Lily pad pond on our walk. Looks like a Money painting.

This is only 10 miles from the park entrance. The roads are getting cleared still.

Rocks strewn from the mountain landslide.

Rocks strewn from the mountain landslide.

Lassen through the trees

Part of the debris field that went for miles.

Manzanita Lake in Lassen

Manzanita Lake in Lassen

The next day we went over to Fall River Falls to see their museum and special horse barn.

Mount Lassen

Very unique horse barn. This was torn down miles away and rebuilt at this new spot using new wood but the same plans.

This was a terrific museum with 7 building full of 1830-1900 antiques. A great curator talked to us and answered all our questions at length. A real find in a town of only about 709 people.

In one of the building there was this tea pot set that had been donated by the children of the lady who collected them over the years. If you click on the photo and look closely you'll see a number of very interesting and one-of-a-kind teapots.

Shasta to the west (far right) and Lassen (far left) from the top of the hill on a dirt we climbed with our truck.

The last thing we did was go to the Crawdad Festival in Red Bluff. We learned how to eat crawdads, dance Cajun and buy homemade pomegranate marinade and homemade jelly.

The crawdad's were sure big !

Homemade jam....someone (Kim) looks happy!

Doing the Zydeco Slide....what moves !

...and what would be a blog without all these cutesy photos.

Nattie watching the ducks...."can I just lick their little feet"?

Water-baby in the RV pool.

...and Water-Girl

Hobbes and new friend.

Some geese at Manzanita lake looking for a handout.

It seems no matter where we go, there's some sort of huge statue. This one was a cowboy-brander.

awwwwww...how cute.

Hobbes and Nattie watching Kim feed the ducks.

Well, we hoped you liked this entry. LOTS more photos to be seen here if you're interested.

https://picasaweb.google.com/stevenlstrick/Hat_Creek?authkey=Gv1sRgCLOzyPTZgs61nwE#

Next trip: Northern California Redwoods ! See you then.

Kim and Steve

Amazing Views

Kim and I are in northern California east of Red Bluff and Redding. We (I really) wanted to do some exploring so we turned off the main road and found Forest Service #22 road. It looked good on the map. The first 2-3 miles were through a beautiful meadow.

Then the road turned into a dirt road. No problem. We have a SuperDuty Ford F250. I looked a bit ahead and noticed a steep road on the side of the hill we were going to go over. "That can't be our road, can it"? Next thing I know, we're on the edge of the 'mountain' on a one-lane messy dirt road going up at a very steep angle. Kim is holding her breath while holding on for dear life. I'm thinking to myself, "what have I gotten us into"? No turning back so we just plowed ahead for about a quarter mile until the road veered away from the cliff. Pheeeewwwww.

Once we got up to the top (about 4 miles later) we came across this view.

You will have to click on the photo to get the full impact of the view. That is Mount Shasta (14,179 feet) on the far right and Mount Lassen (10,462 feet) on the far left. The two of them are about 115 miles apart. Burney Mountain (7,863 feet) is the snowy peak in the middle. And this is just a section of how far we could see in every direction. That dirt road was well worth the excitement.

More to come later when we sort through all the photos. Burney Falls, Lassen snow and forests, scenic views, and more !

Kim and Steve

Red Bluff Part 2

We went into a Raley's in Red Bluff on our recent RV trip and, at checkout, told the lady we were from Dixon when she asked where we were from. Then she asked, "What brings you to Red Bluff"? We said, "we just came to see Red Bluff and poke around a bit". She started laughing...."you came here just to see Red Bluff!!??"

Well, I guess that about sums up how nice it is for us to find a town and spend days just exploring. This trip we: walked around the downtown and talked to the store owners for about an hour; played 9 holes of golf at a small, local place (Kim drove the cart, I golfed); took three drives into the surrounding country (one north, one into the foothills to the east and one to the west); ate a couple of local eateries...great sandwich place called Mr. Pickles; went down to the Sacramento River where we took a hike on the paths; drove up to a small town called Bend where we had a picnic next to the fast flowing river; cleaned and organized our "coach" one rainy day; and a number of smaller drives around the outskirts to view houses, property and their values on Zillow (on my Droid phone).

That's how we've always wanted to travel. It's not necessary for us to see all the big tourist places. We're content to soak in the local flavor. The photos following show off a tiny glimpse into Red Bluff.

Our site on a perfect day (see Kim in the foreground on the right)

We found the field of flowers by accident...just driving down a levee road.

Sacramento River looking north.

A 250 year old oak tree at the oldest settlement in Red Bluff (from the 1840s)

These clouds came in one night and dropped rain all the next day. There were three tornadoes spotted 40 miles south in Chico. Yikes.

*whispering*... he lines up his shot...

What form and follow through!

Wonderful local 9-hole golf course....70 degrees.

...found the rough on this tee shot.

If you look closely, you'll see the golf club just above and to the right of my right arm.... this was after a gawd-awful duffed shot.

Can't have a golf course without water.

Kim took a sequence shot of me blasting (perfectly, of course) out of a sand trap...wait, what was I doing in there in the first place??!

Kim got this bird....just as it got a tasty worm.

Fore!

Terrific photo with the scoreboard in the foreground and some great golfer in the background.

This tower downtown reminded us of the clock tower in Back To The Future. Nice, nice people in all the stores we went in downtown. Very friendly and happy we came to visit.

As you travel into the foothills to the east, the ground is loaded with lava rocks.

Iron Creek Canyon path east of Red Bluff. We spent an hour looking at rock, flowers, bugs, shrubs and what we thought were BigFoot tracks...turned out to be only cows.....what a letdown.

We can never take enough cow photos...especially white faced ones.

Wonderfully framed photo with the wheat in the foreground.

Very friendly horse we visited with.

Fowl at the riverside. They expected food and were not very happy when Kim walked away without giving them any.

The Sacramento River was flowing easily above 5 knots....really moving.

ahhhhh....how cute...baby sheep.

We were driving through this nice neighborhood when we came across what must be the world's largest guard dog!

This deer seemed to adopt this abandoned home as his own.

For once I did not get in the water....water temperature was too cold and, at that fast speed, too dangerous.

One lane bridge crossing over the Sacramento River on a side road 15 miles NE of Red Bluff.

Hope you all enjoyed the photos.... we sure had a good time. More photos are posted here...

https://picasaweb.google.com/stevenlstrick/Red_Bluff?authkey=Gv1sRgCMaj1YPTjdfwdw&feat=directlink

Next trip is back to Red Bluff for the Crawdad Festival !