Road Trip to Mt. Lassen

[goody90q45]

The Q's been running great the past few months so with my confidence up I took her and the wife on another road trip. This one was to an area of Northern California about 200 miles north of Sacramento (home)- Hat Creek and Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park. It was a 550 mile round trip and the Q ran flawlessly again. The $3000 in maintenance catch-up during the first year of ownership is paying off.

We left the kids (22/20) at home with a full refrigerator (and liquor cabinet) to fend for themselves for 3 days. The trip started on Friday morning driving north from Sac to Redding, about 180 miles of flat. Set the cruise control at 80 and watch the almond, walnut and peach trees go by. Miles and miles of them. Stopped in Redding for lunch on the Sacramento River in a restaurant at the foot of the Sundial Bridge, the world's largest sundial. The picture is from a previous trip but you get the idea.



After a quick lunch and walk across the bridge to see what time it was, we made our way up the hill for a 90 minute, 60 mile drive to the Hat Creek Valley at about 4500' elevation. The valley is dwarfed by Mt. Lassen at 10,500 feet. Our campground was near where the road enters the large clump of trees. Mt. Shasta is about 50 miles to the north at 14,000 feet.



Pic of the in-law's motor home that would be our base for the weekend. They were coming back from a trip to Montana and met up with a few friends with motor homes at this park. I wasn't looking forward to the next two nights sleeping on what was the kitchen table during the day.



Much to my suprise, my mother-in-law spent what could be part of our inheritence some day and rented us a small cabin on the site so we didn't have to sleep in the camper. She normally tries to poison me with her cooking so this was a nice welcoming gesture.



The cabin was a pre-fab that had been trailered in. It was small but had all the anemities. Bathroom, shower, AC, microwave, sink, cable TV, double bed and bunk bed. We were living large compared to the tent campers. The double bed wasn't large enough for both of us so guess what poor b@stard lost the coin toss and slept on the bunk bed both nights.



Packed a lunch on Saturday morning and took a day trip to a lava tube. It was 95 degrees outside but about 50 degrees in the tube. It's about 1/4 mile long and reminded me of being inside a whale's throat without the dead fish.



I didn't bring my fishing gear since I never catch fish when I do drop a line in the water but Hat Creek is stocked with rainbow, brown and brook trout. The creek is fed by snowmelt and flows from Mt. Lassen year round. Nice place.



We visited with the in-laws until after lunch on Sunday. I'm happy to report that my mother-in-law was unsuccessful in poisoning me, although she tried (with old clam dip), and I will live to meet with her again. On the return trip we drove through Mt. Lassen National Park and the Feather River Canyon. Here's a nice meadow at 8,000' elevation with Mt. Lassen in the background.



A few miles further and closer to the mountain was Blue Lake (about 8,500' elevation). The picture doesn't do it justice. It was deep, cold and very blue.



When you exit the park heading south within a few miles you are travelling along the Feather River into the Feather River Canyon. It starts out as a wild river but eventually you drive past a series of dams generating power for the Sacramento Valley. Still a very pretty drive. This pic is of a RR bridge and auto bridge crossing above the river. By this time Mrs. Goodwin has had enough of me stopping to take pics (of the Q) and was debating jumping off the bridge (j/k).



Here's a shady spot along the Feather River. For the most part the river is public property and access is free to all areas. Park your car and walk 20 to 50 feet down the embankment and you've got the whole place to yourself.



Some fat, bald guy hanging on to a rock. What a dolt.



It was a relaxing trip and as usual the Q was a pleasure to drive. Got about 21.5 mpg using the AC the whole time.

[szh]

Beautiful scenery!

Reminds me a lot of Northern New Hampshire. I have some pictures of there from many years ago ... I will have to find them and post sometime.

Z