More snow and lots of trees

All good things must come to an end so we left Yosemite and headed to Redding where we stayed for 3 nights.  Our first day trip was to the Lassen Volcanic National Park.  We were expecting volcanic or geothermal activity and got SNOW!  So much snow that the road was closed just past the Rangers Station.  We weren’t disappointed though … more snowball fights!  It started to snow while we bravely ate our lunch from the cab of our pick up.  No outside picnic in the snow today.

Yee Haa!  More snow!

 

Sue making a quick phone call
 

Our next day trip included a visit to the Shasta Caverns.  Lots of stalactites and stalagmites – all those things you expect in caves really.  Trip included a short boat ride across the lake and a bus ride into the hills.  Beats walking.  Visited Old Shasta ruins and drove over a couple of dams in the area but didn’t linger as it was raining … a lot.  Wimps that we are. 

Heading to those hills yonder

Shasta Caverns

 

This sign we drove by applicable in some ways but not in others.

The Whiskeytown dam has a glory hole but with water levels right down didn’t get to see the spillway in action.

What we saw

Glory hole in action.  The first time I saw this photo
I thought it was photoshopped for sure



Cathedral Tree. Some people get
married beneath this tree

Leaving Redding behind we headed out towards the Pacific Coast, Highway 101 and the Redwoods.  Such beautiful countryside we are driving (and hiking) through.  The weather has been a mix of cool sunshine, overcast days and rain.  Interestingly enough, the warmest days seem to be when 

Jean coming through a
natural tunnel

we are at the snow.  We drove to Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park just out of Crescent City on Hill Road.  It started out as a regular road but was soon down to a one lane wide track wending amongst the redwoods.  The potholes (along with the width of the track versus the width of our pickup) ensured our speed was a tourist-friendly 15mph. Fantastic.

 

Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park

 

On our return to Kamp Klamath RV Park we called in at a drive through redwood at Klamath, the Tour Thru Tree.  The gap looked very, very narrow and surely was not designed for modern vehicles the size of Ford F250’s but we decided to line it up and have a go.  Jean jumped out to take some photos, decided an inch or two either side is enough and guided Sue through.  She later told Sue that she had a vision of Sue getting halfway through and getting stuck – unable to go forward or backward.  Hmmm.

 

 

Slowly does it

 

 



Arch Rock, Oregon Coast

It was a long, slow haul up the 101 once we crossed into Oregon for no other reason than we were constantly pulling off the road to check out the spectacular coastline.

 

T-Rex at Prehistoric Gardens



Found an interesting spot to have lunch – Prehistoric Gardens at Port Orford.





Comes complete with dinosaurs.  Eventually we made the decision to turn inland again and finished up at a truck stop at Roseburg.





Give us a quiet Walmart’s any day.

 

Next stop was Cave Junction.  On the way we stopped at a gallery called It’s a Burl.  Fantastic artwork and quirky sculptures. 

It's a Burl gallery

Spot the monkey

 

Our final stop at Cave Junction was the Out N About Tree House Resort with, you guessed it, tree houses.  They come with names such as Majestree, Elementee and Pleasantree (shades of Bulls in NZ).



Serendipitree



Treezeebo

Not a tree from the resort.
This one was next door.