Hampton Inn Stes Red Bluff Ca

(With apologies to Carly Simon!) Well, it's not ALL just waiting. There's obsessively checking the weather in Rome; revising the packing list; dithering about which luggage to use; shopping for must-haves, and then returning them...Very important step today: got my husband set up to use Skype! Only one big hurdle remains: SHOES!

... with a forecast of sun and high of 55. The road was open and we started our tour through the park, stopping at viewpoints along the way. Soon, however, clouds gathered and winds started to pick up. We were unable to see the top of Lassen Peak and winds prevented us from completing a hike on a ridge that led to some thermal features. Not a total bust, but disappointing nonetheless.

We had a ...

... my supervisor and Jean, big boss met us downstairs to escort us to get new pictures taken for our "key cards" It appears the first ones taken were too dark and had to be redone.

We then walked around and met everyone (major who's who people) and the rest of Diane's Unit. I was given a tour of the building and discovered that until I received my "key-card" I could leave my area to go to the restroom but could not re-enter my ...

... Then, suddenly, you see snow and, with binocs, the cratered mountain.  After entering the park it's a couple more miles -- then you crest a hill, see an overlook, and when you pull off and get out of the car there's nothing to say but "Wow!"  The water -- rainwater and snow melt only; no springs flow into the lake nor do any streams or rivers run into it -- is the deepest blue you've ever seen, and clear but there seems to be no bottom.  Even in mid-June the crater is snow-lined ...

... when we got to the top they split us into 3 separate tours, which was much more managable. We had a very sweet guide named Christi who did a wonderful job on the tour. The bus ride up the very winding road was very scenic, though we didn't get to see the black bear the previous tour of hers saw. As for the cave itself... it's a rather good cave. It's not the best one we've seen (that honor goes to Sonora Caves in Texas), but it was certainly up there. In ...

Got to Redding before dark. This little town is at the foothills of Mt. Shasta, and we had a great view of the peak as we drove into town on I-5. The hotel was cheap, with an indoor heated pool and a big parking lot. Can't wait to sleep. Plan to get started early in the morning. Next destination: The Dalles!

Another long day, watching the professional development. It began to rain, and rained most of the day. After lunch, we made the long drive home, mostly through the rain, rain, rain. When I reached home, I made a margarita and sat in the hot tub. Exhausted.

After a long day of work, I met Laurel at BART and we drove up to Red Bluff together. We made good time: about two and a half hours, getting 46 miles to the gallon, driving between 70 and 80 mph. It grew increasingly overcast and began to rain just as we were arriving around 10pm. The space-ship shaped rain clouds over the valley were the most interesting part of the drive.

... Sacramento. We planned to get as far as we could before we needed sleep. We passed through several farming towns & drove about 5 hours before needing a motel at Redding. Nath & I checked out the local TJ Max store & bought some cheap clothes before we all crashed after our long night on a plane.