Life and all in Redding California
Driving around downtown, and bicycling the Sacramento River trail, it’s sometimes easy to forget Redding is also a world class resort town near one of the biggest recreational lakes in California. Our busy season starts Memorial Day weekend. Here are some recent scenes from a couple marinas on the Pit Arm all ready for the 2018 seasonal rush.
Only a few days until high season. The economy has been cooking along, lateley. We’ll start seeing some high-end/big-money boats this weekend. New money from out of town. All part of the fun.
Dramatically rising from Redding’s verdant canopy of riparian trees, the brilliant white gnomon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomon) of the Sundial Bridge is visible for miles. An enormous and poignant timepiece that serves to remind all: Omnes vulnerant, ultima necat. (All hours wound; the last one kills)
We are allotted roughly 28,000 days on this earthly plane. The last hour for each of us will prove fatal. Every day, upon glimpsing our Sundial reminder, we recognize Tempus fugit. Time flies…
Hike Redding! Image captured during a break in the weather on a January day from above the Hilltop Dive trailhead to the river trail. This section of trail gets plenty of use. You can park on Hilltop and be rewarded with a pleasant aerobic walk down to the river and back. Click to enlarge:
Here’s the trailhead on a sunnier day.
A Facebook post reminded me of this image I captured of the old and semi-famous Gene’s Drive In. A classic Highway 99 burger joint that in its day often attracted crowds of hot rod enthusiasts. Seen here with a “classic” dented Geo Metro parked out front, more indicative of the hard times seen a few years back. Gene’s did not survive the economic downturn.
I think it was mostly the big neon sign that made it seem special. In the end, not enough to save it, like many other neon lit Redding landmarks.
A few years back, Redding adopted a “50s Glitz” proclamation. That was to be our design theme for downtown. It hasn’t been widely adopted, luckily. What few new structures that tried it ended up looking ridiculous and forced. Not real neon, but neon-like colors and plastic signage. I hope the idea fades out. Neon elevated Gene’s to a certain charm, but obviously not enough to sustain it. Neo-Redding should look elsewhere for a design theme.
