Life and all in Redding California
Just another spectacular Autumn day in Northern California. The relatively high lake level seems extra fortuitous for this time of year, perhaps heralding another bountiful water year, climate permitting. The lady of the mountain wearing a skimpy, powdery negligee in anticipation of her dense white winter cloak to come. Meanwhile, these balmy days grow shorter. Make the most of them.
About 25 minutes drive on Interstate 5 north of Redding, you come across a spectacular sight. Granite spires rising through the forest to the west. This is Castle Crags State Park. Pull off the highway for hiking, camping, or just plain gazing upon the beauty of it all.
Technically, these are granite pluons. Molten granite has formed beneath the surface in these shapes, cooling more slowly than the rock around them. The spires are what you can see uncovered as the surface eroded around them. Seeing that, and realizing the time scale involved in their formation, one is left to ponder the insignificance of a single human lifetime in the face of geologic time. Yeah, it’s brief.
Music in the video is an Excerpt of “Eternal Path” by Craig Padilla and Skip Murphy (me) from the CD Phantasma on the Groove Unlimited label. Gobsmacking scenery courtesy of planet earth. It’s Really Redding.
About an hour drive north on I-5 from Redding is the Mt Shasta Ski Park. Went up on Sunday 1/22/2023 and captured this photo of my grandson, 9, with the glorious mountain in the background, sporting a lenticular cloud crown.
Such an amazing facility to have so nearby! Winter sports, it’s Really Redding.
World famous Burney Falls is about an hour drive East from Redding. We went up for their Heritage Day festivities, and it was great fun. Here is Burney Falls:
Here’s an image of the event:
There were lot’s of demonstrations and participation for kids in various “Pioneer” crafts like wood cutting, branding irons, and (my grandson’s favorite) candle making. There was a BBQ food fund raiser by the local Rotary, and some Indian Tacos. Speaking of Indians, there was some Indigenous Dance demonstrations by (I assume) the local Pit River people. I read on the flyer where this is the first time they have participated in this annual event, so that’s both progress and sort of a sad commentary on what has passed for “Heritage” around here up until now.
I give it 5 stars, would go again next year. Best of all, admission was FREE.
I last posted here during a grim Christmas season. Despite lockdowns and (frequently ignored) masking and sanitizing regimens, infection rates were on the rise with no end in sight. I could not escape a feeling of gloom and uncertainty about how bad it might get.
But it got better… gradually.
A promised vaccine materialized miraculously (THANK YOU scientists), and now my family members and I are vaccinated. Most local kids got back into school months ago, and thankfully in-person instruction proved not to be a serious source of infection. Rates fell fitfully but steadily, and we recently had a 9 day period when there were no Covid patients in an ICU in the Shasta region. Lately the numbers have started to tick back up again. Probably due to people letting their guard down. Nationwide rates are still fearsome, but California still looks pretty good. Now millions have gotten vaccinated, and vaccines are becoming widely available to all.
So things are looking up again. You can see it clearly in the re-openings, increased traffic, and people out and about enjoying our terrific Spring weather. I’ve never felt anything like the buzz I got after getting that final vaccine injection. Like a veil of impending doom was lifting. Almost giddy. It’s been a hard year on everyone. But that was then, and this is now.
ReallyRedding once again.
