Saturday, March 19, 2011 (JGW RV Park, Redding, CA)

The first thing I did this morning (other than put the coffee on to brew) was to check the weather and road conditions. With ‘Winter Storm Warning’, ‘Winter Weather Advisory’, ‘Avalanche Watch’ and ‘Hazardous Weather Outlook’...yes, that is 4 warnings posted...I don’t think we will be going anywhere today. Apparently there is one storm going through today with another one right after, so the warnings are up until Sunday night...sheesh!!

A picture of the picnic table this morning...

The rain had let up by the time we were ready to head into Redding for a few groceries. We stopped at the office on the way out to let them know that we would be staying another night, likely two, depending on the road conditions over the mountain pass. We found a Safeway in a large plaza where there were other stores, among them, a SuperCuts so Steve went for a haircut while I did the grocery shopping. Much to his disgust, I still wasn’t finished by the time he wandered into Safeway to find me. Oh well...almost done, honey! After going through the checkout, I went to the ATM for some cash (we needed cash to get a discount at the campground)...a $5 service fee...sheesh! That’s a bit rich...but California does seems to be much more expensive than most of the other States we have been through.

Although cloudy and cool out, it wasn’t raining so we decided to go to a local attraction here in Redding...the Sundial Bridge located at Turtle Bay Exploration Park. It wasn’t too far away and after parking in the visitor’s parking area, we were off to see the bridge. This is really a nice park (and I’m sure it would be even nicer in the sunshine); full of walking and biking paths...there were lots of joggers out this Saturday morning. The free standing foot bridge crosses the Sacramento River and was completed in 2004. “A technological wonder, it is 700 feet long, 23 feet wide, and the pylon inclines 217 feet, and has a massive 580 ton of steel. The expanse of the deck is made up of 200 tons of glass and granite and is supported by more than 4,300 feet of cable. In the evening, the bridge glows with thousands of lights gleaming through the glass deck, making it a stunning way to experience the river.” It is pretty cool...I’d love to see it all lit up at night.

The river is really high...

We crossed the bridge and decided to take a walk on the riverfront path to get a little exercise. It was cold out with that wind so we had to walk fast to keep warm.

We even came across some reminants of snow!

The river was really high and when we came to a spot where the river had flooded the path, we turned around...it was starting to spit out anyway. After battling the wind as we crossed back over the bridge, we stopped at a little cafe for coffee and to warm up.

While inside the cafe, it had started to rain out...so after we finished our coffee, we had to make a mad-dash for the truck, which was a fair distance away...so we were a little wet by the time we got there!

But we had to stop and take this picture...of what the bridge looks like in the sunshine...

We stopped at the office on the way in to pay for another night...I took a picture of the entrance...notice the temp...43 degrees...

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Once home, I put the groceries away and we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting inside watching the rain come down and the river rise...only the top of the picnic table is visible above the water now....