California Here We Come - Northern California

Four days before Thanksgiving we returned from a family road trip that took us down the west coast from Seattle to San Diego and back.  Spanning 17 days we traveled just under 3,000 miles making stops in three different cities and visiting 4 different amusement parks as well as numerous points of interest along the way.  We also had the opportunity to connect with family and friends we hadn't seen in a while.

This was the first time I had ever taken time off from school to do something like this but after the past sad and difficult year our children really wanted us to take some time to do something fun with them and to create some new and happy memories.  So at the end of the first week of November the Inspector and I hopped in our car to caravan down the coast with our two sons and daughter-in-law. Because this is a family trip I will be sharing more pictures of my children than I usually do as most of my photos are of them.

That first day we left right after work and drove 6 hours into central Oregon then got up early the following day heading for the California border, destination San Francisco.  California Here We Come!

Weed is one of the first towns you come to when you cross the border over the Siskiyou pass from Oregon to California.

  

Oldest son is on the right with his wife.  Youngest son is in the middle.

You can see Mount Shasta in the background.

  Driving through Northern California we saw one of the largest land marks in the area, Mount Shasta.  Standing 14,179 feet high, it's the 2nd largest volcano in the 700 mile long Cascade Mountain Range.  It's last recorded eruption took place in the 1790's.   As you get closer to it you can see that it has more than one cone.

 

 

As with any mountain that suddenly rises out of the clouds in the distance, Shasta seems to give off a sense of sacredness. The Native Americans have their legends.  We know that it is not the mountain that is sacred but the hands that created it.   Indeed as I look at it I am reminded of Moses going up the mountain to commune with God in Exodus.  When he came down from the mountain his countenance had change for he had been in the presence of Yahweh.

As we left Mount Shasta behind we came upon Shasta Lake.  Here you can really see the effects of the 4 year long drought.  The water level is down about 140 feet.  Interestingly enough, it seems that a number of old building sites have been found, which would indicate that the water levels have been this low before.

I also noticed that the among the fall color on the hillside the evergreen trees had a pale gray cast to them rather than the rich verdant green of pine trees.  I wonder if that is another sign of the water shortage.

Below are some views of Mount Shasta from the other side as we were making our return trip home.  We were very fortunate both coming and going that there was no snow and so the passes were dry and clear.  Our timing was great as a snow storm hit the area the day after we arrived back home. 
 

Don't you think it looks more like a volcano from this angle? Hopefully it will be a very long time before it erupts again.
When next we meet we will have made it to the city of San Francisco.  See you then.