Back from another sojourn

The fam and I just returned from another mini-vacation. We left a day earlier than expected because our air conditioner decided to stop working during a record heatwave. So we escaped from the oven-like Central Valley for the mountains of Northern California, which because of the statewide heatwave, weren't appreciably cooler, but cooler just the same. We traveled to my parents' home in the little town of Burney, located in California's volcano country in the northeastern part of the state. On Monday, we took a day trip to the city of Mount Shasta, which - surprise, surprise - sits on the western slope of Mount Shasta itself. I never tire of visiting the Mount Shasta area. My wife once asked me where I would live if I could pick anywhere, and I chose Mount Shasta City. There is a road called the Everitt Memorial Highway that begins in Mount Shasta City, then climbs to about the 8,000 foot level of the 14,162 foot high mountain. At the end of the road, I took this shot:

I don't know who the guy in the photo is, but I appreciate his role as my use of scale. Although I love Mount Shasta, the town of Burney is high up on my list of favorite places also. Burney is about one hour southeast of Mount Shasta, and is built upon and around blankets of lava flows that are tens of thousands of years old. I love that high volcano country where the forests of Ponderosa pines intersperse with the black volcanic rock and red pumice; kind of like this:

Down the road from Burney are a collection of lava tubes, the most famous in the area being Subway Cave; so named because when you walk in it, you feel like you are in exactly that - a subway tunnel. We didn't make it to Subway Caves on this trip, but here are two pics from the last time we went:



One of the places on the top of my list of where I want to take my wife and kids is the Lava Beds National Monument near Tulelake in extreme Northern California. Think of an area with hundreds of caves like Subway Cave, but a lot bigger! I have been there a couple of times before, but my wife hasn't. I would like to wait until our kids are old enough to walk/crawl in the lava tubes with us.

By the way, when we got home, I replaced the thermostat in our hallway. So far, the A/C is running like a champ. Of course, now the heat wave is coming to an end; currently it is a chilly 97 degrees outside. Why couldn't the A/C work properly when it was 111?

Good Day to You, Sir