Departure Time: 10:30 AM
Odometer: 11,643
Miles Travelled Today: 190
Miles Travelled to Date: 3,012
So, it wasn't originally on the itinerary, but since the "layover" cost us quite a bit of time, we ended up spending the night in Lake Shasta last night and going to Shasta Caverns this morning. Although their website bragged that they were "RV accessible," I think that they probably didn't mean a 36-foot Class A flat towing an SUV. We very cautiously made it up the extremely narrow and winding road to the caverns and experienced a profound sense of relief upon seeing that they had a large parking lot for us to turn around in. Otherwise, it would have been backwards down the mountain! The caves themselves were really cool. They are on an island in the middle of Lake Shasta and were formed from rainwater seeping into the limestone. There were hundreds of steps to climb (no joke - the tour guide said there were over 600). I carried Charlie, Pat carried Fi, and Maddie hoofed it like a big kid.
Since our plans got a little warped, we ended up spending the night in Vacaville. Not too much to say about that.
I sat Charlie up in the corner of the couch while I was getting us ready to leave. He kept trying to sit up on his own and pitching himself forward. He has also taken to chewing on his thumb.
The boat ride across Lake Shasta. The waterline is about at its highest of the year right now.
Pat was laughing at Chachi on the boat because he was strapped to my chest in the Snuggli, leaning forward like Leo of the bow of Titanic.
Pictures of the different formations
Me and Chachi at the top of 80 steep, dark, narrow steps. The Thompson brothers, who discovered many of these caverns, built all of the steps bucket brigade style out of concrete. Each step took about 5 buckets to make.
More cool cavern stuff
They called these "fantasy formations." One looks like Santa Claus and the other like one of his elves near a Christmas tree.
The picture with the ladder is called the chimney room. The Thompson bros. would gain access to the caverns by climbing down that ladder. You can't see because it is too dark, but it goes up and around at least 30 more feet.
The Cathedral Room - They are very dramatic about it. You walk in and it is very dimly lit, and then the tour guide gives the spiel. After that they flip on the lights and it is all lit up and fabulous.
Lake Shasta and our lizard friend
Taken by a somewhat disgruntled, Dr. House look-a-like, German tourist who was cranky that so many things were closed in the Northwest during Spring. He was actually pretty nice. He and his wife are visiting "the States" for four weeks. He insisted on carrying Madeline over all of the big puddles inside the caverns. Whenever she would start to step into one, he would shout, "Noo, noo! Stop!" In his thick German accent. It sure got her attention. I think I may adopt such an accent for myself. Something tells me German parental discipline is rather effective.
Isn't she just too cute in monkey ears (a hairdo introduced to us by the Blomquist girls). The girls really wanted to play at the "playground" outside the cavern gift shop. Turns out they had a sluice, and they gave the kids bags full of dirt so they could pan out the minerals. They also got a card with the names and pictures of all the different rocks. They thought this was really cool.
Showing their finds. Madeline was very impressed that the rocks changed colors when wet.
I love Fi's "all business" look in these pics.
In honor of the original National Lampoon's Vacation soundtrack. And, Pat just thinks that the camper signs look cool.
Ah, the spirit of cooperation!
Crazy "I put my sandwich in my lap and lunch plate full of ranch dressing on my head to fall asleep" Girl signing off
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