All posts by paula

33-Southern Oregon, Places we Visit-Year 1

Lassen Mountain – a recent volcano that erupted twice in 1915

We took a day and drove southeast from where we’re staying to visit the Lassen Mountain Natl Park and Volcanic area.  The day was very cloudy and overcast unfortunately, but it was a real nice drive.

We were surprised to learn that Lassen Mountain exploded in two volcanic eruptions just in 1915 – which is a blink of the eye in geologic terms!

As we drive up into the mountain area it got colder and finally there was still a lot of snow on the ground.  We could only go as far as the “desolation area” and the rest of the road was closed until June.

The desolation area was what they called the area that was destroyed by the lava flow.  There are still lava rocks laying around where they landed when they were blown out of the mountain!

People lived in the area at the time of the eruption, one man was awakened by his dog and saw the mountain bulging and smoking.  He ran 3 miles to warn neighbors and they all would have died if they hadn’t gotten away as fast as they did.

He and some other people hiked up to see the damage 3 days after the eruption, and barely escaped again when it erupted again!

The mountain itself is fantastic – you can see that it was blown apart by a volcano due to the concave shape of it.

Here are pictures from our trip through the National Park and of the volcanic mountain, still covered in snow in early May!

32-Shasta Lake, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Shasta Lake Cave – a very interesting tour!

While at Shasta Lake we discovered they have a cave that is high up in the cliffs above the lake.  The tour starts across the lake with a boat ride, then a bus that goes up the cliffs about 800 feet to get to the entrance to the cave.

We were the only people on the tour (it’s still early in the season) but there were 75 2nd-graders there for a special kids tour.  We rode across the lake with them and on the bus with about a third of them.  Boy, that many 2nd-graders sure can get noisy!!  But they were all so cute!

We had a different tour guide than the kids as they had a special tour for schools.

The cave tour was very interesting – the “rooms” were at different levels and sometimes we had to walk a ways to get from one room to another.  We learned that the cave was discovered back in 1887 by a native American who was tracking a mountain lion that had been bothering livestock.  He climbed up practically sheer cliff walls following the lion and saw the cave opening.  Since he had no equipment for entering a dark cave, he went about his business and told some neighbors about the cave.  A year later he and a friend went into the cave and started exploring.

It wasn’t until the 1950s that much of the cave was really explored.  Two brothers, seeking to find additional rooms, blasted rock pretty randomly hoping to break into other rooms.  Sometimes they had clues such as air flow or water, sometimes they just decided to blast this wall or that wall.  They destroyed some of the formations doing this.  Since it’s privately owned, they installed steps and the early cave guides actually broke off stalactites by tapping on them with hammers to show the people on the tour.  They also allowed people to wander around on their own with just flashlights!  One ten-year old boy discovered the largest and most impressive room by accident because he was crawling around in the dark.  Yipes!

As we had climbed quite a few stairs while on the tour getting from one room to another, we had to go back down.  The part of the tour climbing back to where the busses waited for us was outside along the cliff wall where they had cut and made steps.  Beautiful views!  treacherous staircase though, narrow steep steps so I was careful going down and then would stop periodically to look around.

Here are some pictures Jeff took of the cave:

32-Shasta Lake, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Beautiful Shasta Lake – man made and only about 60 years old

We’re staying just a couple of miles from Shasta Lake this week, so we spent some time at the lake.  It’s quite inaccessible except in a few places because the hills surrounding it are very VERY steep.

Shasta Lake was only formed about 60 years ago when they built a huge dam to create the lake and provide drinking water for the area.  A few small towns are now underwater because of the dam!

Here are some pictures of the lake, the surrounding hills and the dam:

32-Shasta Lake, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Heading north – we’re now near Mt. Shasta in Shasta Lake

Yesterday we travelled north to Shasta Lake where we’ll stay for a week.  We’re at the Fawndale Lodge and RV Resort, a small place but very pleasant.  It should get to the 70s and possibly low 80s during the week, and it rained last night.  I’m glad it rained, we got a huge amount of pollen and dust on everything while in Gold Run and this cleaned it up real good!

There isn’t a fenced area for dogs, but there’s a large lawn area surrounded by trees and when Jeff and Laddy saw another resident with a Lab off-leash there Jeff decided to take a chance and let Laddy off-leash.  He was very good, playing with the Lab, chasing a ball, and never once going away from the area.  We’re glad to see that so we’ll let him off-leash every day here and do some training with a whistle to better ensure that he won’t stray and will come back when called (with the promise of a treat of course!)

While here we plan to visit Mt. Shasta and Shasta Lake and also see what else might be in this area.

Restaurant Reviews

Birthday Dinner for Jeff at a nearby restaurant

It was Jeff’s birthday yesterday and I took him to dinner.  We checked online to find nearby restaurants, and other than one just across from the freeway from our RV park we would have to drive 30 minutes to get to a restaurant.

We’d walked by this restaurant called the Monte Vista Inn a couple of times in the morning and weren’t sure if it was closed up or what.  It looked deserted although the flower bed was sort of tended to.

But, we  found a website for it online and it looked like good food so we thought we’d take a chance.  WOW!  This was a really great restaurant!  The food was outstanding and the service was great!

I put a review on Yelp, here’s a link to it.

30-Gold Country! Ca, Places we Visit-Year 1

Panning for gold in Gold Run, CA

Since we’re in gold country, Jeff wanted to try his hand at panning for gold.  We visited a gold mine in Grass Valley which is nearby, and Jeff bought a pan made specifically for gold panning.

There’s a small creek near the RV park where we’re staying so we made our way down the fairly steep bank and Jeff spent a few hours trying to collect some gold.  Well, no luck which wasn’t too surprising, but we had a good time trying.  Here are some pictures:

 

Restaurant Reviews

Alfonso’s Hideaway in Coarsegold, CA

When we arrived in Coarsegold we decided to see what the little town had to offer for restaurants.  We stopped at a Mexican place called Alfonso’s Hideaway.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was “small town”, with a counter near the door containing lots of fudge!

They had great food, and Jeff ordered flan which came in a glass usually used for ice cream sundaes instead of in a bowl. He said it was really good!

The floor wasn’t very clean, but the tables and other surfaces were fine.

This place doesn’t have a website, but here are the reviews that were put on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/alfonsos-hideaway-mexican-restaurant-coarsegold

 

31-Yosemite Natl Park, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

A really nice RV park here in Coarsegold!

After the tight space in our Pismo Beach RV site, we headed up to Coarsegold where there is an Escapee Club Co-op RV park.  What a change!  The sites are spacious and separated so there’s quite a bit of privacy at each site.

But, as with all the Escapee Club parks, everyone is very friendly!  The park itself is in the foothills of Yosemite, so all our walks are up and down hills.  Good workout!

And, there’s a small dog park where Laddy can go off leash and run around.  It’s quite hilly as well.  It’s open 7/24 but around 4pm a lot of people show up with their dogs so Laddy can socialize…although almost all are little guys!  Laddy is definitely the biggest dog in the park!

Here are a few pictures of our site and the park: