Hanging out in Redding, California

Our plan was to continue to Lassen Volcanic National Park next. However, the weather forecast predicted heavy rainfall and snow.
Instead, we headed to Redding and have been hanging out here at the Elks, waiting for the weather system to pass. The entire west coast was affected, apparently the aftermath from the recent typhoon that struck Japan. 
Although it rained here too, in between the squalls and windy gusts, we enjoyed several long hikes along the Sacramento River Trail. 

There is an impressive, expansive trail system that follows the riverbank along each side, so we went exploring.

As the map shows (courtesy of Uncle Google), the 11-mile trail stretches from Exploration Bay all the way to Keswick Dam to the north. The trail follows the river bank and is paved though there are numerous side trails into the hills including one that goes all the way to Shasta Dam. It is popular with walkers, joggers, and bikers. 
One day we walked all the way to the iconic Sundial Bridge, a most unusual and striking pedestrian bridge built in 2004. As its name implies, the bridge is a working gigantic sundial, and can only record four hours in a day between 11AM to 3PM because the arc it traces is so large.  

Designed by world-renowned Spanish architect and engineer, Santiago Calatrava, the Sundial Bridge is a steel structure with galvanized steel cables, and the deck material is non-skid glass panels. The bridge is 700 feet long, 23 feet wide, and 217 feet tall.  



To me, the bridge looked like a gigantic modern harp with strings ready to be plucked:
    
The Sundial Bridge is located in Turtle Bay Exploration Park, where we watched these cute creatures paddling about.  They are western pond turtles, the only native turtle species to the West Coast.
We also stopped at the fish viewing area but didn't see any fish that day. 
Another day we walked in the opposite direction, heading north.


This past weekend we dodged the raindrops and walked a 5.7-mile loop between two pedestrian bridges. We were able to see Keswick Dam in the distance.

Keswick Dam in the distance

dodging raindrops along the Sacramento River 

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On a different walk, we strolled through the botanical gardens. I was most intrigued by the sculptures scattered throughout.

several colorful pyramids were scattered
in this section of the gardens

Earth Stone created by a local artist represents
the natural foliage and colors depicted through
hundreds of concrete and ceramic pieces

this is Charlotte, who greets you at the spider bridge that spans a pond

There are other sculptures along the river trail. Someone with a sense of humor adorns this gentleman each day with something different. One day there was an orange construction cone on top of his head. Today, he was holding a long stem red rose.  


Sundials must be popular theme here. Along the trail there is a small park laid out like a sundial. On this sunny morning, it was easy to tell what time it was:

I'm standing on O for October, and my shadow is pointing to 9AM standard time,
though it's really 10AM because of daylight savings time

I particularly enjoyed these sections of treed avenues.


Hanging in Redding turned out to be convenient because we were able to sign our final closing papers on the house. The escrow company arranged for a courtesy agent to meet us and take care of the required documents.

The Elks Lodge here in Redding is first class, and seems to be a great place for meeting new folks and bumping into others we know. Another Alpine arrived while we were here and we got to meet and spend time with Donna and Cecil Schoolcraft. Coincidentally, the Reads whom we know from Anacortes, arrived here this week as well. And as we arrived back from a day trip, we recognized Jack Cunha hooking up his Alpine! Small world.
Alpine friends,Tom and Nancy Polk, live in Redding and we met up with them one evening.

Redding also turned out to be a good place to have Alpine serviced, thanks to Tom's recommendation of A&N Diesel as a highly respected diesel service center. It is something we will need to factor in while living on the road. Not only do we need to have our house-on-wheels go through an emissions inspection every couple of years, but we also need to have the "boy parts" serviced. So Alpine had an oil change, fuel filters changed, brake fluid and coolant checked, chassis lubed, and tire pressure checked.  After all, these "boy parts" are what drive our house from one destination to another and need to be in fine working order.