Sometimes it can get just a bit too warm, too many days in a row, over the course of summer in Redding, and that’s when it’s time to consider heading for the coast. Only 150 scenic miles away, the Northcoast provides welcome dose of fog and seaview. Just the cure for a late summer meltdown.
The road over the hill past the Redwood Curtain offers lovely river canyon views, and you arrive in what might as well be a different country. Certainly, a different climate zone. The complete contrast provides a quick reset to the senses. In Redding, we are blessed with choices. Rivers, redwoods, mountains, ocean, all within range. It’s not Really Redding, but its not that far either.
If Redding was New York, the Northcoast would be our Hamptons.
Shasta Dam 1942
This is one the very earliest color photographs of the dam, a technological feat for the time. The level of detail in the film seems much finer than typical contemporary digital images. The photography was taken in 1942 while Shasta Dam was still very much under construction. This image is from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Collection, and is available at the link in high resolution. All this work was taking place in the middle of World War II. It’s fascinating to see. That was a lot of concrete! It was an ambitious project. Not the same angle, and not the same level of detail, but it looks like this 68 years later:
The Squire Room
Warning to all married dudes about the Squire Room!
If you use your plastic, your credit card statement will read “Thunderbird Lounge.” There is no Thunderbird Lounge in Redding, but there is a Thunderbird Lodge right next to the Squire Room, which is exactly the sort of place in downtown Redding where, if you’re a mack daddy, you might be hooking up with a Craigslist “masseuse.”
Because I’m such a playa, TL has been all up in my mobile phone and email and bank accounts and DNA signature since long before Elin Nordegren Woods decided to take a 3-iron to hubby Tiger’s well-deserving dome. To make matters worse, TL was out of town on the date that the the damning credit card charge posted.
I had to call the Squire Room on speaker phone and ask my man if they were in any way affiliated with Thunderbird Lodge, and if that explained that nasty $38 “Thunderbird Lounge” charge on my VISA, which coincidentally is about what you might expect to be charged for a room at the Thunderbird Lodge.
My man on the speaker phone is like, “Uh huh. Same owner.”
Mmmfuuuck. Not cool, my man. Not cool.
Yelp review by Buzz Fledderjohn, in whose Palo Cedro yard I am not allowed. Photos by Skip Murphy.
A picture of deer
Following up on my slow-news-day-blogpost-series leader from the other day, “A Picture of a Bug,” today I present a picture of some deer. Well, I like them. It was hot waiting in the sun for them to pose. For some reason, they were camera shy. Then the fawns ran off. Anyway, I hope you like the images. They’re Really Redding.
The Buddha out my window
I have this small statue in the garden. I have been asked if I am Buddhist. I’m not, although I find myself in alignment with several of the important concepts. Things like impermanence, mindfulness, attachment, and Karma. Mainly though, I like looking out my window and seeing the serene face. There are lots of times that serenity comes in handy.
I was raised a Catholic in a town with a lot of Hispanics. There, the statues of Jesus usually had painful looking crowns of thorns, and sometimes blood coming from nails in his hands. Not really serene, but very Mexican. I get the point, but for now, the Buddha statue resonates. I think Buddha and Jesus would have had a lot to talk about with one another.
Foodie porn images from a Rivers 4th of July
We received the email invitation to Rivers Restaurant for their 4th of July Dinner:
“Your 7-Course evening will begin with appetizers, and culminate with dessert and the largest fireworks display in Northern California.” Wow. We’ve been trying to shed a few pounds, but this seems worth a rare splurge. The evening was to run from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm. That sounded long, but I knew my dinner companion, the lovely Karry would approve. We reserved a table on the patio.
When we arrived at the lobby, we were greeted by name, and offered a flute of champagne to take with us into the Lounge. For the Appetizer Course, we were served from trays of stuffed bite-sized portobello mushrooms, some kind of Ahi tiny taco looking things whose name I can’t remember, and escargot baked in filo. My companion’s favorite were the crab cakes with lemon aoli. Champagne refills. I realize the key to enjoyment tonight was going to be pacing yourself. Not easy!
At some point, the wait staff found us and showed us to our table. I had some concern about being seated in a western facing patio on a July day. But the staff adjusted the huge motorized shades continuously, and the high misters performed well. We are longtime Reddingites, so a mere 100 degree day is only warm for us, not a “hot day” by our standards. Anyway, the patio was quite pleasantly temperate. And the city views from the patio are incomparable. We spotted one of the famous local bald eagles from the Turtle Bay webcam as it flew by. Time for the second course:
The Soup Course consisted of a “Vichyssoise of potato and leek, with crispy prosciutto.” A thin breadstick completes the scene. This is a chilled soup, but unlike some gazpachos and melon concoctions we’ve tried where you say to one another “that’s, uh, interesting,” this soup really left you wanting more. On to the Salad Course.
“Seared day-boat scallop nestled atop arugula greens, lightly dressed with a lemon thyme vinaigrette, sided by fresh fig compote and crisp Brioche.” The scallops were as mouthwatering as they look. The arugula was actually nestled in what my companion believes was an edible bowl made by frying parmigiano-reggiano into the shape. Nice touch. Soon, it’s time for the Intermezzo Course
The waning sunlight dances on “Strawberry Champagne Mint Ice.” I noticed that the chef had to freeze the strawberry slice first, so that it would match the temperature of the ice. Just right.
Intermezzo was occasion to chat with neighboring tables, and for comparing comments. Good people surround us. I noticed that several had decided to try the wine pairing with the courses, and I enjoyed hearing the descriptions. I’m a beer guy, and tried several of their taps. My favorite was our semi-local Sierra Nevada Summer Fest. It seems like you can’t go wrong with whatever Sierra Nevada brews. Soon enough, it’s time for the Entrée Course.
“Surf and Turf Mixed Grill – Filet Mignon with chanterelle demi, Lamb Chop with Dijonaise, and Lobster tail with a sherry reduction.” I don’t write about food all that often. As a rule, I figure you should avoid cliché, and try to convey some description that offers a reader some verbal image of the experience. Unfortunately, all the words I’m thinking of for this plate veer dangerously close to sexuality. Let it suffice that this course tasted even better than it looked, and the main elements displayed rest on flavored mashed potatoes bordered by perfectly cooked asparagus. Pushing back after a bit, I pop in the main gallery for a look.
The staff worked in synchrony. It occurs to me that this type of event requires more of a cruise ship type dinner timing, with the courses all arriving at once. This is different than the usual Rivers continuous serving of their broad menu throughout an evening. Their anticipatory services and flawless timing was testament to staff training and adaptability.
As our world spins east, we glimpse the last of the day’s direct sunlight. Immediately, the staff raises the blinds, and ignites oil lamps on the rail. The patio is transformed.
A musical duo performs at one end of the patio, and I’m sorry I don’t know your names. But the music is mellow and appropriate. Below, the river has just a few boats and kayaks. The Redding nightscape competes vigorously with the gorgeous food for our attention. Whatever anxiety I had about spending 4 hours at a restaurant patio have long vanished. The time flies by like the ultralight pilot we see tracking the river at our blufftop altitude. Time for another course, this Cheese Course.
“Parmigiano-Reggiano tartlet with fresh pear and rosemary chutney with candied walnuts.” Okay, so it’s hard to follow up on a course I already described as total sensory overload. This was good, which seems like pale praise indeed. I was losing count of the courses by this point, and I think I had mistaken it for dessert. It wasn’t. Here’s the Dessert course:
“A Dessert Tour of the United States of America. New Orleans banana beignet “Fosters Style, Washington DC chocolate and cherry parfait, Hawaiian mango coconut gelato sided by macadamia nut macaroon.” Well, of course it is. And served on a plate painted with red white and blue coloring. By now, I am in no shape for a dessert tour, or any other kind of tour, but resistance is futile. As the evening darkness descends, the musical duo breaks into America the Beautiful. Everyone rises spontaneously from their tables. The moment is beyond poignant, and our appreciation of all that has enabled this sublime Redding evening is overwhelming.
The staff switches the restaurant audio to KCHO/KFPR and we are treated to the familiar voice of Lorraine Dechter, who introduces Redding’s legendary fireworks celebration.
Thanks for coming up with of this idea, Rivers. I took a bunch of fireworks photos, and some video. But hey, let’s just say the fireworks were terrific, as usual. Our deep gratitude goes out to the McConnell Foundation for their sponsorship. You probably saw them too, if you were almost anywhere in our town for the 4th. For us, the setting was unsurpassed. The food exceeded already high expectations. The staff and guests remind us why we like living here so much. And the natural beauty of Redding on a warm July evening is more garnish on the plate of life. Enjoy yours.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled food programming. Hope you enjoyed a look at our splurge. At least the business went to local people.
Massive thunderstorm supercell over Mineral California
I took this quick shot yesterday afternoon from Lema Ranch in Redding. This classic supercell looked almost like a mushroom cloud. Mineral is about 70 miles from Redding by car, so you can just imagine the huge size of this structure in the sky.
This from Wikipedia:
Supercell storms are large, severe quasi-steady-state storms which feature wind speed and direction that vary with height (“wind shear”), separate downdrafts and updrafts (i.e., precipitation is not falling through the updraft) and a strong, rotating updraft. These storms normally have such powerful updrafts that the top of the cloud (or anvil) can break through the troposphere and reach into the lower levels of the stratosphere and can be 15 miles (24 km) wide. At least 90 percent of this type of thunderstorm bring severe weather. These storms can produce destructive tornadoes, sometimes F3 or higher, extremely large hailstones (4 inches / 10 centimeters diameter), straight-line winds in excess of 80 mph (130 km/h), and flash floods. In fact, most tornadoes occur from this type of thunderstorm. Supercells are the most powerful type of thunderstorm.
Thunderstorms are unpredictable in what kinds of damage they could cause to people’s lives, it could be minor or it could be exponential damages to their homes and livelihoods. In America, the thunderstorms are much more extreme than those in places like the UK, due to the difference in climate and wind directions. The damage to peoples homes is mainly a lot of flood damage and the need for reconstruction work onto and in the building, by having disaster cleanup services, it could help to ensure that people are prepared before the thunderstorm, in that they will have reliable services to help them get their lives back on track quicker. Sometimes these huge storms and flooding can damage electricity lines and home plumbing systems, and as a result, homeowners can find themselves stuck with a burst pipe or a broken boiler. The key to avoiding serious long term damage is to deal with the problem as quickly as possible, especially if it means avoiding a cold home. Companies similar to thecomfortdoctors.com/heating-and-cooling-services-archbald-pa/ might be able to offer emergency callout services to help repair any damages. Even though thunderstorms look cool, it is undeniable the amount of carnage they can leave behind them, so always being prepared is key.
Summer is for swimming kids
Burney’s new wind power turbines visible from Redding
RS wag Bruce Ross was wondering if you could see the Burney wind turbines from Redding. Yep. These images were taken yesterday, shimmering in the heat.
This is from a ridge overlooking Walgreens and Starbucks on Lake Blvd.
Image taken with a fairly ordinary 200mm Nikon lens. You have to look hard in person, but you can see them.
Beautiful renewable energy (to run my air conditioning!) Now if only somebody can explain why these graceful machines had to be manufactured overseas, I’d be content. We used to actually build things in the U.S. Elegant and clever things…
ReallyRedding gets a makeover
Break out the vuvuzuelas! ReallyRedding gets a new look! Our old look was starting to appear tattered and worn out. The software was 5 years old; a dogs age in computerland terms. I nearly lost the entire blog back in ’09. It was time. Actually, it was way past time. But I’m always amazed when setting out to do something this ambitious in computerland and it actually works. I’m still tweaking (tweaking bad)…uh, fine tuning it here and there, but check it out.
This is the Pit River from the bridge at Big Bend CA. Just about 40 (or so) miles from Redding. Like another world. But not. Image from last Saturday.
It’s not Really Redding, but not far either.