Road Trip

We're in Mount Shasta, California! Chris was able to take a bunch of time off and we wanted to ditch the state for a while. We originally wanted to head to Arizona and Utah, but sickness and Chris' schedule changed our plans (sorry Krista, I know you're disappointed). So we modified the trip and shortened it, but we're still thrilled to be out on the road seeing new places.

Mount Shasta is roughly 570 miles from our house and we opted to drive straight down I-5 in one shot. We made a couple stops along the way and arrived 9 hours later. Owen and the dogs were great (that's Owen playing peek-a-boo in the picture). My cousin Paula and her husband Drew live in Mount Shasta (literally minutes from the mountain) and are letting us crash at their house for a couple days. They've been such good hosts! Within 30 minutes of arriving, we hopped in the car to take the dogs swimming at Lake Siskiyou (they have a black lab Sadie). I was able to get a really nice picture of the mountain.

This morning, we had breakfast in Dunsmuir at the Cornerstone Cafe. If you're ever driving through northern CA and need to stop for food, I definitely recommend stopping there. After breakfast, we stopped at the city park to let the dogs and Owen play.

Later on, we drove to the Bunny Flat trailhead at the base of Mount Shasta. We could feel the elevation difference right away (7000 feet). Chris, Paula and Drew took the dogs for a short hike. I wandered around a little bit but stayed near the truck because Owen had fallen asleep. The view of the mountain was impressive.

Afterward, we headed back into town for ice cream, and then back home to kick back and plan dinner. Owen's been having fun running around the backyard with four dogs, and he likes Paula's chickens. Chris and I have fallen in love with the area and can see why Paula and Drew like it so much. I can definitely see us living here (or someplace similar). We stopped by a real estate office and checked out some listing for the heck of it, but we're tied to Washington because of Chris' job (and retirement plan). Maybe someday.

Tomorrow we will drive south to Redding and pick up some groceries, and then we'll head west toward 101. We'll camp someplace, and then make our way to Redwood National Forest. After that.. who knows. The only thing dictating our plans is the weather.. we're just trying to avoid rain if we can.