Woke up to see lovely pictures of Gani and Tom’s wedding. Thank you to you both they look so happy and lovely to see you all there as well.

We went to the sand dunes today. they are about 36 miles away. The route followed the river and through valleys. We saw lots of wetlands and marshes. The dunes are all along the coast with wetlands behind and then even more huge sand dunes behind the wetlands.

It was the first day they hadn’t had rain there for a long time, so we were lucky as it was sunny and warm.

We climbed up the sand dune and right down it… onto the sands below. We went for a walk and saw OHW’s and sand motorbike and cars with sand tyres racing up and down the high dunes in designated places. We watched them for a while it looked such fun to do it. Granddad took these photos of the sand  bikers. 

I feel like I’ve caught the sun today even though I wore factor 50! It was only 68*f but the sun is stronger here so you have to watch for sunburn.

On the way home we saw a field full of elks at Elktown. And the school baseball team were called The Elks!

Hope you all get home safely from the wedding and looking forward to hearing about it when I see you again. xxxxx

Hi we had a good journey with motorway all the way and the road was so picturesque. Oregon is full of woodland, small hills and deep valleys. As before all the rivers seem fast flowing and full due to snow melt I presume.

I only took 1 photo today ! Here it is and what a beautiful mountain!Hope  you all enjoyed Gani and Tom’s wedding and being together. Let me know and send a few photos on messenger if you have any xxxx

Love to you all and a special hug for Alex with your broken foot xx

It was lovely and warm today and as we couldn’t go into the Lassen Volcanic State park as it is also closed due to snow, we headed to the reservoir and dam at Whiskey Creek again. We sat at a picnic table and sunbathed in the afternoon then made our way to the dam and around the perimeter of the lake. It was lovely scenery and reflections in the water.

We helped a Greek lady who had locked herself out of her cabin and drove her to the centre to pick up a spare key and back again to her cabin. She is an artist and we had a good chat with her.

After dark we went back to the Sundial bridge to take night pictures.

Well its another move North tomorrow to Eugene and quite a way but at least the weather is better now to travel. xxxxx

Hope you are all ok and looking forward to Gani and Toms wedding!

We woke up to-day to pouring rain so we decided to go to the museum near the Sundial Bridge. can you see al the hundreds of swallows on the wires? Many nest under the bridge.

Afterwards we walked over the bridge and met a man we’d met yesterday by the waterfall! We couldn’t believe that we met up again what are the chances of that? He is travelling South by himself and we are travelling North so we agreed we would not possibly meet up again for a 3rd time

We went to a huge shopping mall and to taco bell for lunch. Then the rain at last stopped so we made our way up to the Shasta Dam and reservoir.

Next we went passed by an historical town called Whiskey Town (in ruins now) and went to visit the lakes surrounding  Whisky Creek and Whiskey Lake.

Do you like the big blue heron? The wire across the lake is to separate the colder and warmer water. The chinook salmon spawn in this lake in the colder water but the dam has made this lake warmer( if I read this right). and so the waters are divided.

Had a nice meal out tonight at our hotel goodnight for now and more adventures tomorrow, our last full day at Redding. xxxxx

Today we travelled along a pretty road through mountains covered in fir trees and oak trees. We reached a state park called McCarthur-Burnley Falls Memorial State Park what a mouthful! Anyway we saw a powerful tall waterfall and viewed it from the top and the bottom. We got wet from all the spray

and the noise of the falling water was deafening.

We carried on to Mount Shasta and drove up to 7000 feet but the road was blocked by snow after that. It is a huge volcano that towers above the other mountains and volcanoes

There were 2 little birds up there which I think are dark-eyed Junco. They are saying hello to Louis Alice Lily Otis and Xavi. Maybe Anona too ha ha!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx love from grandma

Today we set off at 7.30am and travelled for 9 hours to arrive at Redding at 4.30pm.

We did stop 3 times for a rest and a drink break. We headed towards the high mountains we had to cross in a snow storm. This is what we faced!Well it was bad at first following and overtaking lorries in the snow and spray, but as we descended further down towards the plain, the weather got warmer and the road was so much better.

We passed through many square miles of orchards and nut trees. it was interesting to see all the trees and how they were managed.

We crossed the River Sacramento a few timse

As we got to Redding we realised this was a big city, but we found our best western hotel easily as it was just off a motorway exit.

We managed to do our washing and dried it and so were all sorted!

We went to see the famous Sundial Bridge. It is made of steel and Glass and cost 23.5 million dollars!( It was estimated to cost 3 million)

It has an illuminated frosted glass walk way over it. 

Grandad found out that it only tells the time correctly on June 21st each year.

We are tired now but looking forward to exploring the area tomorrow.

love to you all xxxx

Hi I’ve got email so as I don’t know how long it will last I will send lots of photos.

These are especially for my grandchildren and Ill try to name each one.

These ospreys are on a nest in Mono Lake which is a saltwater lake.

We really like the lakes around here in the high Sienna and have seen so many different birds and snow and mountains. The first 3 pics below are an osprey a vulture and a jack rabbit

Then a grebe and an American robin and a waterfall!

Then a waterfall, Canadian geese

We went down a track along a river parallel with the road into Yosemite. The road which is blocked was about 200 feet above us and full of snow.

can you see the little gosling chicks with their mother goose?

above are blackbirds with the yellow and red bits a bush tit and a yellow warbler.

Sorry I couldn’t find how to write the names by each one xxx

We have a favourite Inn to stop for lunch and then we self cater.

We move further North to Redding on Monday, it is a long journey about 7 hours so we are setting off early!

 

love to you all and hopefully I will be able to write each day from monday

 

We left the heat of Death Valley and travelled North. As we went along we crossed through the White Mountains. The road was smooth following valley bottoms but gradually rising to over 7000 feet. We stopped for coffee and could feel a chill in the air. Further North we increasingly came upon more snow on the hills. It started raining and this turned into a snow storm. We were at 7000 feet. The road was clear and the snow did not lay on the roads.The mountains were all creamy and granite outcrops, very unusual. The snow clouds were low and so we could not see the views.
Then we reached Lee Vining to our disappointment there is no entry to Yosemite because of severe snowfalls all Winter. We went to the tourist office and found that there is only one entrance open part way into the park and it takes 9 hours to travel all round the perimeter to reach it. Never mind we will not see Yosemite this year. They don’t think it will be open until August!
There are lots of lakes in this area and volcanic features, many birds and wildlife too so we will have things to do. We have booked in here for 6 nights though.
The weather is forecast to be better up to the weekend so the storms passing over today will be gone.

Our motel room is lovely and we have a microwave and fridge so we can self cater.

Wifi is not good in this area so I will post my blog when I can.
We have the heater on and the sun is now out. Things are looking up.

We are disappointed but will use our initiative and find other places round here to visit instead

Love to you all xxxx from us

Last night we went back to the sand dunes to see them in shadow. It was so windy the sand was being swept up into the air and swirling around. The sun was behind the clouds and so no shadows oops! Never mind! It was like standing with a hot hairdryer pointed at us.

It was cooler today and we went straight to Dantes view. The air was clearer and we got some lovely views. Here were 5000+ feet above the valley, it was a beautiful sight. 

I used the fish eye lens too and liked the effect I got.

On the way down we saw lots of desert flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

blue

yellow

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We weaved our way through a dirt track to see the hills surrounding. It was bumpy and lots of tight bends but no steep drops to worry about.

This is a strange shaped rock thrown out of a volcano. It looks like an alien.

We slowly stopped at all our favourite spots, had our lunch and then said goodbye to the lowest part of the world we are ever likely to be on again.

 

 

We thought it was going to be a cooler day today as we set off, but we were wrong it got very hot.

We walked through the casino to Denny’s at the back ,to order our breakfast. You should have seen the size of it when it came. Grandad said it was the MOAB mother of all breakfasts. We just couldn’t eat it all and left our pancakes.

We set off for Badwater Basin, one of the lowest parts on earth. There were lots of tourists there already.

There was an orange lizard on the salt flats and we began taking pictures of it, thinking it lived there. But then found it was a pet  dragon. The man let me hold it wasn’t I brave!

We walked right along the salt into the valley and then returned thankfully to the car and cooled down with the air conditioning.

As we made our way along the valley by car we stopped at the “golf course” It is crystallised salt and very deep and sharp.

Next we went around the “Artists Palate”

It was good to revisit Death Valley and although we want to explore new parts, it would have been such a shame not to come here again!

We called back for an ice cream and will return this evening when it is cooler as we want to see the sand dunes in shadow.

We had such a lovely Easter Sunday and I know you all will have done too xxxx