We left Nicolaus and made the drive north to Paradise, CA. We were excited to visit Paradise because we were going to visit Sara, a former coworker of mine from my teaching days in Charlottesville, VA.  Sara and I last saw each other twelve years ago. 

The Elks Lodge was almost full and was a nice place to stay with full hookup sites. After settling in we met Sara and her family to attend Sara’s daughter’s violin recital. Lucy played ten pieces she had memorized.  She is so talented and it was amazing for someone her age to memorize so many pieces. 

The next day we went on a hike on Table Mountain in nearby Oroville. It was a great day that included waterfalls, beautiful wildflowers and even some kite flying! 

We finished the day at Sara’s house where her husband Ross showed us his excellent barbecuing skills! One of the many wonderful thing about this lifestyle is being able to catch up with dear friends around the country. Thank you so much Sara, Ross, John, Lucy, Oliver and Franki! We can’t wait to see you again down the road! 

Our next stop as we continued north was Weed, CA.  After almost three months in California, this was our last stop before crossing over into Oregon. As we traveled north we were excited to see Mount Shasta in the distance. 

We were last in Weed in the fall of 2014. A week after we left, a catastrophic wildfire burned hundreds of acres and destroyed more than 150 structures including 140 homes, two churches, the library and community center. But most important, no lives were lost. It has been a long recovery for the town and we were told many people took the insurance money and left instead of rebuilding.

We settled into our campsite with an amazing view of Mount Shasta, elevation 14,179 feet. 

Last time we were here was in September and most of the snow on Mount Shasta had melted. This time was very different. Mount Shasta has seven named glaciers. 

One day we drove up Mount Shasta but discovered the upper road was still blocked  by snow. We still managed to go up almost 7,000 feet. Last time we were here we were able to drive all the way up to the Alpine Lodge. 

We stopped throughout the day to find many geocaches.  One geocache took us to the headwaters of the Sacramento River.  A really neat and unexpected place which reminded us of the headwaters of the Mississippi River we visited last summer at Itasca State Park in Minnesota. 

At one point on a beautiful pedestrian bridge a man stopped to ask Bill if he needed any help since Bill appeared to be searching for something lost. Bill decided to take the opportunity to introduce him to geocaching. He thought it was pretty cool. 

Next stop: Grants Pass, Oregon