So Many Places To Go, So Much To See

We arrived at Redding early on Friday afternoon and settled in to our lovely room at the house owned by Bethel members.  We were excited to begin our adventure with God......saying yes to all He sent our way.  We spent 10 days at Bethel ministries, and later when I added them up it came to 40 hours of sitting under their teachings, sessions, classes, and worship services during those 10 days. We are still processing it all, holding it close and praying over it.  I will share more later..........

Whiskeytown Lake

We did a bit of sightseeing while at Redding, seeing Whiskeytown Lake, Mount Shasta, Burney Falls, and the Sundial Bridge in downtown Redding.  Whiskeytown Lake has deep clear waters great for fishing....it is a reservoir covering nearly 3500 acres.  We drove up north to see Burney Falls, an amazing place.  Joel was able to take the steep path down to the base pool.  You could see people fishing at the top further back from the powerful falls.  Well worth the drive on a very hot day of 106 degrees.

Burney Falls

Mount Shasta

 Redding was an easy city to navigate, with everything we needed within 15 minutes of where we were staying.  We attended a festival downtown at an organic store one Saturday where they had a booth with "pet" reptiles to "enjoy".  I found that out when I glanced to my right and saw a 10 year old boy with a boa constrictor around his neck.  It took me awhile to process what I was seeing, and since snakes are NOT my friend, I quickly left him to his pleasure.  Shudder.  We saw a lot of homeless people that burdened our hearts.  In a warm California city of 96,000 you expect to see some. The drought was obvious with the yellow straw like grass and intense heat averaging 102 while we were there. The sunshine was wonderful!  Cool mornings were refreshing!   Redding has intense heat in summer months, and does dip to 30 degrees in the winter season.

Sundial Bridge

Leaving Bethel behind was difficult, but it was time to head back home.  The fires were closing the only road to the Redwoods from Redding, so our plans to go to the Redwood National Forest and stay in a hotel on the ocean were cancelled.  We also changed our route home because of the fires in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and more.  We headed back through Susanville, passing the shoe tree once again.  We stayed the first night in Winnemucca NV.  Joel went out to get gas after dark and came back to the hotel telling me about the mini Vegas strip through town. Definitely not in Iowa anymore. The next day we drove through the rest of Nevada and Utah, landing that night in a very nice, friendly hotel in Evanston WY, elevation 7,000 ft.  It was 30 degrees the next morning!  Yikes!  We saw a bit of snow as we drove through Wyoming, first East and then North.  Beautiful scenery!

Wyoming

We did see a great place hidden from the main interstates ~ Independence Rock.  A massive rock where people on the Oregon Trail passed by.  Some etched their names on the surface before heading further West.  There was a nice visitor's center giving the history of those pioneers.

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We landed in Gillette Wyoming pretty exhausted.  The miles and days seemed to catch up with us.  An early night would prepare us for what was coming.  Western South Dakota where my family history runs deep.