Mountains...

I like mountains. It doesn't matter how many times I've seen them, I'm in awe. I'm in even more awe of volcanic mountains. And when those mountains are relatively close to home, I am humbled by the raw power that lays beneath us.

Driving through much of the northwestern US is a gift to people like me who enjoy the mountains so much. Add the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byways to the mix, and I'm in heaven. Yesterday's drive from Redding, CA to La Pine, OR fed my obsessions.

Before I go on, I have to say how much I enjoyed spending time with Ger's aunt and her family in Redding. Spending Friday afternoon at Whiskeytown Lake was a real treat and a wonderful way to beat the incredible heat. We talked about either meeting up in Tahoe to go skiing, or them coming our way to go skiing. I hope, one way or another, it comes to pass! Great people! Next time we come down, we really do need to spend more than a couple days.

Anyways...we pulled out of the Premier RV Resort shortly right around 10:30 a.m. Not bad for what we figured would be about a 4-hour drive. We travelled on I-5 north to Weed, CA, and then branched off on US Hwy 97. This route gives a wonderful view of Mt. Shasta coming from the south, around the west side and then looking at it from the north.

We stopped at Grass Lake Rest Area on Hwy 97, not too far south of the CA/OR border, to grab some lunch and check out the view. Apparently there used to be a real lake there, and a thriving small resort. However, someone used some dynamite in an unfortunate location, which resulted in a hole being blasted that allowed the lake water to drain away into the porous volcanic rock below. The resort failed not long after, but since then (almost 100 years), a thriving wetland has grown, supporting many different plants and animals.

The rest of our trip to La Pine was uneventful, except for when we were near Crescent, OR. First a big truck flashed its headlights at us, and then another driver in a pickup waved at us. We thought something was flapping off the motorhome, so we stopped in a rest stop and checked things out. Ger even climbed up on the roof. Couldn't find anything, so we kept going.

We got into La Pine around 4'ish, got set up and had a nice visit with an old school friend of Ger's dad before supper. It was still warm outside, but from past experience we knew it would cool off a great deal overnight. It's that altitude thing. It sure made it nice to sleep last night, and quite refreshing this morning. Housecoat and slippers were required as I uploaded my pictures, and had my coffee.

Today is a relax day -- I have some reading to do for the fall (thanks, guys! :-p), and today looks like a good day to do that!

Oh, yeah...I finally got my Flickr stuff all organized. All the pics from the trip are now organized into sets within the Holidays 2009 collection. Yesterday's set is here.