The Hilltop Drive trailhead to Sacramento River Trail
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.
Genes Drive In in Redding
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.
Lassen Peak late Fall, from 100 meters up
Popped the drone up for a few minutes and captured this image of Mt. Lassen from the park entrance yesterday.
The road up to the park was filled with cut Christmas trees strapped to the tops of cars, and in in the back of pick-up trucks going west. Lots of families making the outing into an annual tradition, the hunt for the perfect tree. Maybe punctuated with a few sled runs on Eskimo Hill, and some hot cocoa. All this about 50 miles east of Really Redding.
A glorious finale to a fine Fall day in Redding
I captured these images from the boat launch on the Sacramento River at Caldwell Park a few evenings ago.
It was very beautiful. I can’t help but wonder how it would be if passenger trains could traverse our river city by daylight instead of the middle of the night, like they do now. Years ago, the region enjoyed the Shasta Daylight, a passenger train that came through by day.
Railroad and River. That’s Really Redding.
Sunset in The Vineyard
The Vineyard is a gated community in northeast Redding for active, over 55 adults. It’s a truly great neighborhood, and is also very pretty. I happened to be out there helping a client sell her home, when I noticed the November sunset was particularly stunning.
Here are some other images of The Vineyards I recently captured. Below, their clubhouse:
And below, two of the lakes:
It’s a great place to live, and the beauty there is unmatched. Where better to live out your sunset years than a place with actual sunsets like these? The Vineyard is Really Redding.
Sundial sunrise
Nathan’s Artisan Sourdough Bread
Nathan makes amazing bread in his home kitchen in Fall River Mills, and sells it at Redding’s Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings.
Our favorite is the Organic Garlic Asiago. Glorious!
“Ingredients: Organic wheat flour, water, organic sourdough culture, garlic, asiago cheese, sea salt, LOVE.”
The LOVE definitely shows! You can also find Nathan’s artisan sourdough breads at R&R Meats in Redding on Tuesdays and Fridays. His kitchen location is appropriate. Fall River Mills began as a water powered mill town. Nathan told me he has a website, but I can’t find much about his baking online. His phone number is 530 276 3717.
Highly recommended! Nathan’s sourdough is Really Redding.
Fix for DJI OSMO Mobile phone camera stabilizer
Just posting this here so it will be online. I added counterweights to my OSMO Mobile so it will shoot using my iPhone 7+ without overheating. Posting it here in case you have that problem too. and also so I may post this image at their forum. Three 1/4 ounce weights stacked as illustrated worked fine for me. These are weights used for balancing automotive wheels.
The wines of Castello di Amorosa
Okay, yes. This isn’t Really Redding. But it’s not all that far away. This is Castello di Amorosa in the Napa Valley, to the south. What is seen above ground is stunning, but perhaps even more amazing is that there are 8 levels below.
I describe this place as “Disneyland for Oenophiles.” It’s not nearly as old as it looks. And the tastings are plainly designed to entice you to buy some fine wine, cheese, and chocolate. Nothing wrong with that.
Redding falls between the Napa Valley and South-Central Oregon for wine appellations. We are west of the Inwood Valley appellation, and the several good wineries in Shingletown and Manton. My good friend Angelo Passidakis grew Zinfandel grapes here in the Redding heat, with some success. And we have Matson Vineyards on the east side of town. They produce a number of fine local vintages. And local favorite Moseley Family Cellars is based in Redding.
A recent story about the proposed Shasta Wine Village had me thinking, “what if it was as awesome as Castello di Amorosa?”
As we left, I couldn’t help but notice their parking area was filled to overflowing.
Something similar would certainly get passersby on I-5 to stop and stick around. I hope the new wine village project doesn’t just provide more of the usual interstate highway stripmall ambiance. We’ll see.