After a brief but excellent time in Salt Lake City, we were finally heading south -- the right direction for us most of the time! The scenery on the drive was absolutely gorgeous. I just love the dramatic, rocky topography of this area, probably because it is so very different from the green, tree-covered east and midwest I'm so used to. Rather abruptly, the rock formations changed from a sandy tan color to the brilliant red that this area is so well-known for. Ahhhhhhh....gorgeous! We took a quick pit stop at the "Hole in the Rock" rest stop south of Moab where we remember stopping (heading north) on our southwest trip in 2006. Back then, we spent quite awhile there watching many birds in the trees, including brilliant orange orioles. But that was in the spring, and today was much less "birdy". Before long, we were in Colorado. In contrast to southern Utah, the topography of this part of the state was much greener, with huge stands of evergreen trees flanked by distant snow-capped mountain peaks. Where there were deciduous trees, they were starting to get some fall color -- but nothing like what we'd see in just a day later. This was our first time in Durango, a very pretty city. That evening we met another former Nortel co-worker and cycling buddy from North Carolina for dinner at Zia Taqueria, right across the road from our hotel. Carson and his wife Carol have recently become traveling nomads like us and are spending the month of October in Durango in a rental home. It was an unexpected surprise to find that we would be crossing paths with them briefly as we zipped through town. We really liked this spot, with its "fresh Mex" style food, featuring plenty of unique, flavorful salsas. My fish tacos (below) were some of the best I've had, especially when topped with hot mango-habanero salsa. Barry went with a massive chicken/bean burrito, his favorite. And we had a trio of salsas to dip our chips into. The white one is a pineapple cream cheese variety that I dubbed a "dessert salsa". Yummy! Carol was feeling a little under the weather, unfortunately, so it was just us and Carson for dinner. It was a lot of fun to catch up, talk about traveling, and plan a bike ride for the next day. More to come from beautiful Durango!
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While plotting our eastward trek, Barry noticed Lassen Volcanic National Park on the map, and we decided to check it out. The park is located in northern California east of Redding and was right on our way to Reno, Nevada, where we were spending one night, so why not stop in? With our annual park pass, it would be free, and we always enjoy visiting national parks, especially low-key, less crowded ones. This one certainly met that description. Here's a map showing where the park is located. We had never heard of it and are willing to bet most reading it haven't either! I can't improve upon the fine description of the park on the National Park Service site so will include it here: Explore the Undiscovered. Lassen Volcanic National Park is home to smoking fumaroles, meadows freckled with wildflowers, clear mountain lakes, and numerous volcanoes. Jagged peaks tell the story of its eruptive past while hot water continues to mold the land. Lassen Volcanic offers opportunities to discover the wonder and mysteries of volcanoes and hot water for visitors willing to explore the undiscovered. We took a short hike to check out Manzanita Lake. It was beautiful and so peaceful. We saw only one other person on the trail! On the way back from the lake, I was delighted to see a beautiful Stellar's Jay perfectly posing for a photo. These birds are very common in this part of the country, but exotic to folks from the East and Midwest, like us! From the drive through the park, we caught a glimpse of the highest peak in the park, gorgeous snow-capped Lassen Peak (10457'). It was breathtaking! There is a trail to the top, but it is only open a few times a year to a limited number of hikers. We had to take a self-timer photo here! The road climbed and climbed, and as it climbed, the temperature fell. Finally, we reached the highest (driveable) point, over 8000 feet in elevation. There are several lakes in the park. Lake Helen was small but very blue. So pretty! Near the end of our driving tour, we stopped at "Sulfur Works" to view the park's most easily accessed hydrothermal area featuring boiling mudpots and fumaroles (steam vents). Here's a video we took of a boiling mudpot. Very cool to me! If you're ever in northern California and have a chance to make it to this "hidden gem" of a National Park, go. You won't regret it! I only wish we'd had more time to hike and explore all its treasures.
After our wonderful time on the northern California coast seeing the incredible redwoods for the first time, it was time to start heading east. We had a beautiful drive on twisty mountain roads (no interstates!) enjoying lovely vistas and forests along the way. However, riding on back roads, it can be hard to find a good place to stop for lunch. We'd packed sandwiches so kept our eyes open for a picnic table -- and a rest room! Finally we came upon this nice picnic area in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, right alongside the Trinity River. It was the perfect place to get out of the car, stretch, walk Paisley, and enjoy our lunch. After resuming our drive, we pulled off several times to take photos of the river rushing along beside the road. Photos just can't do it justice. As we got closer to Redding, we got a glimpse of snow-covered peaks in the distance. Once we arrived in town, we checked into our motel and quickly suited up for a late-afternoon bike ride. One of the main reasons we chose to stay in Redding for two nights was to ride the Sacramento River Trail and Sacramento River Rail Trail, but we didn't expect to be able to ride on our first day in town. As it turned out, we had much prettier (and warmer) weather this afternoon than the entire next day, so it's good that we got to take advantage of it. Here's one of the ped/bike bridges over the Sacramento River on the river trail. Barry is the tiny yellow dot on the right side of the photo, getting ready to cross. The rail trail can be accessed at the end of the river trail. There's a 2+ mile connector portion to the actual old railroad right-of-way. The connector involves quite a bit of steep climbing and switchbacks, followed by swoopy ups and downs. Once you get to the actual old railroad right-of-way, the trail is near flat, as you'd expect from a railroad, but getting there is a serious workout -- and one I didn't expect. In this photo, you can see just the beginning of the climb. Once we climbed up high, we were rewarded with beautiful river views and views of the mountains beyond. It was a lovely time of day. We thought this plant was so beautiful, especially as the late-afternoon sun highlighted the silvery green leaves and purplish branches. We had no idea what it was but finally saw a marker the following day (see below) and learned that it is a White-Leaf Manzanita. There are tons of these along the connector portion of the trail. It's getting late -- time to finish up this ride! After the unexpectedly hilly ride, we'd burned enough calories for a pizza dinner. An excellent pizza place was right next door to our motel, so we picked up a yummy BBQ Chicken pizza and enjoyed our new favorite brew, Tangerine Wheat by Lost Coast Brewery, with it. Gotta replenish those carbs! Bringing the pizza back to the hotel, we were delighted by the sight of a beautiful rainbow... ...and, not long after, this amazing sunset -- one of the best we've ever seen. And it was kinda neat to see palm trees again after being up north all summer -- another Redding surprise. Stay tuned...we have one full day in Redding coming up -- more cycling and some delicious local food!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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