Leaving Walnut Creek and heading north

On Tuesday morning we packed up and headed out.  We'll be seeing Nick on Friday so it was an easy goodbye.  We stopped at La Boulange in downtown Walnut Creek for breakfast and then got on 680 going north.  The idea was to go from 680 to 80 to 5 and straight up to Lake Shasta but somehow we were distracted and ended up in Napa.  If you're going to take a wrong turn, taking a wrong into Napa is not something to complain about.  We leisurely drove through Oakville, Yountville, St. Helena, Calistoga and continued north.  We didn't stop at any wineries but the vineyards were green and the roads were surprisingly empty given that this is July.

Eventually ( after about 2 extra hours of driving) we hit I-5 and passed through the Sacramento Valley.  We reached the Lake Shasta Recreation area about 2:30 and did a tour of the Lake Shasta Caverns.  The lake itself is down about 50% in the last three years.

You take a long walk down to the lake (even longer now that the lake is so low) then a boat ride across the lake, then a short bus ride up to the caverns and then the tour.  It took about two hours total.  Hopping back into the car we headed to Mt. Shasta the town (I think that was the name of the town, Cindy will know for sure).  She called our host so I wouldn't misdial again.  At least this time the woman spoke english so that was a good sign.  It was too early to settle in so we looked for the Mt. Shasta Brewing Company, which we had read some good reviews about.  Unfortunately, Mt. Shasta the brewery was not in Mt. Shasta the town but rather in Weed Ca., about 10 miles north, so we headed there.

Weed has been in existence for over a hundred years and according to Wikipedia it was not named after marijuana.  None the less,  tee shirts and signs abound with every variation of "We Love Weed"  abound.  We found the brewery and had a beer.  If it weren't for the fact we had to drive 10 miles back to our house I would have had two. They had a jalapeño ale that was excellent.

Heading back to Mt. Shasta it was still early enough that we stopped at another bar for a beer.  Don't remember the name.  Finally we went back to the house, met our hostess and went to bed.  Beds actually.  The room had two single beds.  I wasn't thrilled with this but for vastly different reasons than I would have had 30 years ago.  Then I would be complaining that there was not enough room for having sex and then falling asleep together.  This time I was unhappy that I wouldn't be able to nudge Cindy when she started snoring.