Red Lion Redding

(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 ...

We passed through the buffet breakfast that was included with our room, then drove an hour to Crater Lake, the bluest lake in the world (perhaps a matter of opinion and weather conditions). There was a cold wind that came up while we were there, so we stopped by the lodge to warm up, post a few cards to friends back home. By the time we went back around the lake, it ...

... things so well that I even completed a complete bill processing (for payment) by the end of the day.

Looking forward to tomorrow for the actual Orientation, will I get off for my 2 upcoming trips???? This is the question. Hopefully I'll have that answer tomorrow.

Miss everyone at home and want to thank all of you again for such a wonderful going away lunch on Sunday. What a wonderful surprise, Gwen.

Love....G

... hiking/camping. We hid our camping gear under a gigantic tree so that we wouldn’t have to carry it all. We hiked by some pretty massive trees, though they didn’t seem as big as the Sequoias I have seen in years past. We planned on hiking a loop based on what the map told us, but as we hiked we found that there were way more trails than were marked on the map. After a few hours we realized that we had to backtrack because we were lost ...

... and stuff. it is dangerous stuff!

So basically we are trying to connect two hiking trails to make the Shasta-Trinity trail by August 15th. Our work consists of taking out tree stumps, pulling out big rocks, and making the trail even. It sounds kind of boring but it is actually really fun and we are working on a really beautiful stretch of trail. There is a really nice view of ...

Redding California and Bodies Revealed We left Tahoe and headed north toward redwood country. Along the way, we stopped in Redding CA. We stopped in Redding for the night and ended up there about one week in a campground called Green Acres. Not a bad place, and the owners were very nice people making us feel right at home. While we saw Redding as a stopover point, it turned out to be an interesting place with a lot to do and see. Redding is one of ...

... feeling we were with old friends and kindred spirits. A unique revelation while visiting the Hadleys was to find that Neal is a distant relative of John Woolman', according to a family tree that lists John Woolman's grandfather! We pored over the family tree with enthusiasm, which then led us to have a photo taken of the four of us with Neal wearing the Woolman hat. We had been invited to speak to the Roseburg Unitarian-Universalist Church on Sunday morning. They hosted a ...

... to deal with the water heater. Soon after we got hot water we discovered the pipe was leaking and the carpet was soaked. We had the pipe replaced and the floor dried overnight. During the evening our downstairs neighbor came upstairs worried about the noise. She told us the water heater had exploded a few months ago and had gotten very loud right before it exploded. Not only was the apartment we moved into flooded but hers was as well and she ...

Brad, Nath & I went to the US for 3 weeks to visit our oldest son Adam & his wife Kristina who had recently moved from Denver to Portland Oregon.

We flew into San Francisco from Australia & picked up our hire car ( Brad immediately driving on the wrong side to oncoming traffic!!!) & headed north ...